Motivated to be lazy
Ya hallo

Published: 2023
Source: https/

Prologue

Prologue

Arisu POV

My name is Sakayanagi Arisu and there are two things that I would like to share with you before I begin my explanation: I love my brother, Ayanokoji Kiyotaka. Six years ago, my father took me to a facility run by his former sensei where I saw Kiyotaka for the first time.

To put it simply, my brother was incredible. I watched as the manufactured genius completed tasks that would have been difficult for an adult as though it were nothing but a boring annoyance.

Complicated mathematical equations, multiple languages, memory tests, martial arts, he had completed every task put in front of him with that same apathetic look on his face.

I watched him play chess against a ranked grandmaster and thoroughly defeat him while his opponent stared at him bewildered as though he couldn't believe what he was seeing before his eyes. I understood exactly what that man was thinking and it was on that day that I fell in love with chess and vowed that when I had got home, that I would study the game to its most intimate foundations to one day hopefully challenge this laboratory rat.

I envied him. He was in a place that was solely catering to his education, a facility where its sole purpose was to make him the most complete man that could be produced.

He was incredibly handsome, well built from all of the rigorous training that they put him through and with a mind that would make me; a true natural born genius, hungry with absolute envy.

It wasn't until later on that day that I came to a horrifying conclusion and I can vividly remember the look of pure disbelief on my fathers face as he turned pale in realization.

The conditions that they had made this poor boy that would later become my brother lived in were the most horrifyingly heartless conditions that anyone can be put through and it was disgusting to discover. To think that the boy who I had come to admire and envy in such a brief period of time lived like this was... unthinkable.

The explanation behind the theory was terrifying in and of itself, but the manner in which it was delivered was even more bone chilling as my fathers sensei had explained in the most matter of fact manner. It was as though he were describing the decorations of his home.

"Complete sensory deprivation," Ayanokouji-sensei explained. "The hypothesis is built on the white room principals rumored to be used in the United States and Iran. The theory we tested was that if in early childhood, an adolescent was put in an isolated environment, we can induce a state of hyper-focus."

"From here all stimulants are given their maximum attention span," He continued.

"By completely depriving the subject of color, sound and physical stimulants, literary and kinetic tasks are treated as rewards." Ayanokouji-sensei explained while indicating a timetable shown on a large screen mounted to the wall.

"Therefore on that basis, the subject would dedicate their utmost to increase a reward based feedback loop, becoming hungry with tasks and objectives to be given at a more frequent capacity. The results are staggering, the teaching staff here are astonished with his growth." He finished with an arrogant smirk.

"How fascinating," My father said while scratching his chin. He had a look of complete composure, matching the energy of the man next to him. "How many are able to produce results that mirror the child that we have just seen?"

"None," Ayanokouji-sensei replied nonchalantly. "He's the pride and joy of the white room. No other has been able to replicate his results, we are in the process of tweaking procedures for the other subjects of other generations. This however, is proving to show diminishing returns, the other generations have not been able to match him even when we give them the stimulus of competition using his achievements as a baseline. It is a rather unfortunate set back."

"How many other subjects were brought up with him?"

"Forty, unfortunately they've all failed and they have been dealt with accordingly."

It was the first time that I had seen my fathers act start to slip and the knuckles on his hands had turned white at the time as he clenched them into fists.

"Dealt with accordingly?" My father asked.

"They have been disposed of." Ayanokouji-sensei blinked owlishly.

We had been there for several more hours before he had given my father an offer, to join him in his research and to help him build upon the concept of the White Room.

My father sat there while this was all pitched to him and gave him a commitment to join the project. It was the first time that I had seen Ayanokouji-sensei smile the entire time, but there was absolutely no kindness in that smile. It was cold and repugnant, like a devil who had just successfully convinced an innocent to bite into the forbidden fruit.

It wasn't until we left the place and returned to our limousine that I had seen how much the meeting had taken out of my father. We had driven for several kilometers before he suddenly instructed our driver to pull over.

The moment that he was out of the car he vomited on the side of the road, heaving everything in his stomach until nothing would come out and he continued to dry heave for several more minutes.

When he returned, he calmly drank from a bottle of water from the mini-fridge with a determined look in his eye. Two weeks later, I was introduced to that same boy by my father in the foyer of our home as a new member of our family.

The joy that I felt in my heart at that moment was palpable. I haven't mentioned this yet, but I am crippled. I was defective at birth, weakened legs have caused me to need to use crutches all of my life. Because of my pride and my own hubris though, I have learned to walk and pushed myself to use a simple cane for aid. When I was a child, I asked my mother why I was cursed with such a fate and at the time she smiled sadly at me.

"You were blessed with a brilliant mind, Arisu. Unfortunately, God doesn't give with both hands." She said while comfortingly stroking my head. It was one of the few pieces of wisdom she had given me before she died.

At the time that I saw him there I was elated. Finally, a sibling. My condition had led to complete loneliness. Some children were intimidated by my intelligence, others simply wouldn't play with me or spend time with me because of my lack of physical capabilities.

But here, there stood a boy who was capable of matching me intellectually. Capable of teaching me the wonders of Chess and many other things that I had never been exposed to in my entire existence.

"Hello," Kiyotaka greeted apathetically, glancing around the room and taking in his surroundings.

My father looked downcast at the time before quickly donning a mask of excitement. He encouraged the both of us to get acquainted with each other and Kiyotaka had taken to my side, glancing at me again before offering his arm for me to take to help me to where I was leading him.

That was the start of a beautiful sibling relationship.

My brother, the benchmark to any man that I would ever come across.

My brother, who had suffered a cruel and tumultuous fate.

My brother, who I later on discovered, was not a product of the success of that place, but a victim.

A natural born once in a lifetime genius that was a victim of simply being born into the geneology of a madman who tortured him, desperate to find a way to manufacture his own evolutionary short-comings.

The next month, my father had done his absolute best to shield me from the circumstances that led to my new beloved family member, but it was all in vain as the media had got a hold of the story and ran with it.

It was touted as the greatest human rights violation in all of history. The reports had shown that hundreds of children had perished in that repulsive mans quest, all of them procured through international human trafficking rings aside from my brother.

The Japanese government had vowed to rehabilitate the surviving children, moving them to another facility temporarily to reintegrate them into society before they would be released to foster families. My father had worked with the Japanese military in order to bring down the facility.

Every staff member and that man had been ruthlessly slaughtered and gunned down in retribution. The media criticized the military for its heavy handedness, many were saying that they should have been captured and tried but in my heart I knew why that wasn't the case.

There was something about the innocence of children being stolen that drove any sane man to absolute madness. I theorized that the commanding general who was tasked to bring the facility down was given the details and in his rage ordered his troops to show no mercy.

It had taken a year before my brother showed any semblance of emotion. He would spend his days with me, entertaining my companionship with the same apathetic disposition.

We celebrated his birthday for the first time and he looked genuinely confused about the purpose of such an event.

"Happy Birthday, Kiyotaka" I said with a wide smile, holding out a wrapped gift that I bought with my father.

Father had his hand clasped on my shoulder also grinning at the confused boy in front of me.

"Thank you, Arisu," Kiyotaka replied hesitantly, he gingerly took the wrapped box from my hand.

When he held the gift in his fingertips he just stared at it curiously in deep contemplation.

"Open it," I said with a laugh. "You're acting like you've never been given a gift before." I joked.

He looked at me with his eyes slightly widened before tilting his head to the left.

"Actually, this is the first gift I've ever been given. I've never celebrated my birthday before, I've only ever read about it in stories," He said back matter-of-factly.

It hurt at my core to hear that, my father had averted his gaze in sadness at the revelation but to me I had felt my already weakened legs start to give way and I gripped my cane with such ferocity that my hands started to go numb.

Slowly, I released my grip on the cane and carefully forced my shakily legs to take the step towards him. Before I could stumble forward, he caught me in his arms bringing me back to my feet as I wrapped my arms around his neck and hugged him tightly.

His eyes widened in shock as he continued to cradle me while I buried my face into his neck. Forcing back tears from my eyes, I looked up at him and smiled kindly while I caressed his cheek fondly.

"Kiyotaka, from now on we'll celebrate everything together. Your birthday, Christmas, holidays- everything. You're my brother now Kiyo... Onii-chan. You'll never be alone again, okay?"

At the time his face didn't change in the slightest but I could tell that my proclamation had had a profound effect. He simply nodded in return before holding me up and collecting my forgotten cane and handing it to me. My father stood behind watching with a proud smile and hadn't even bothered to hide or hold back the tears of joy in his eyes.

We continued to grow closer and from that day, there was barely a moment when we weren't glued to each other's side. We would study together, play chess together and do almost everything together.

I watched as I came to the realization that he was truly a natural born genius given every gift evolution could give to a single person. Private tutoring was provided to my brother at the same extent that he had been given in that place.

Innumerable instructors and experts were sent by the Japanese Government to further my brother's education. His growth accelerated to a degree even greater than compared to the White Room. The combination of a loving family and a stable environment made him flourish.

Eventually, he started to smile. It was as though that place had forced him to lock away his personality and emotions. As though he locked them away in order to keep his mind from breaking in the hellish conditions.

He has a sarcastic sense of humor, he's cunning and sly; a master of manipulation. I shudder to think what he would become if he were to only be raised in that place. He was devilishly good at maneuvering himself to get his way, often convincing my stern father into allowing us to do things that he would never accept.

If he had continued to be that emotionless child that I had met that day, all of us would be at his mercy. All would have been treated like pawns, dancing to his tune and none of us would be any the wiser. I am not so contemptuous to admit that even I wouldn't have been coerced to play along with any of his mascinations.

The truth of the matter is that we are all still human beings and in the face of such a handsome specimen, I would be a defenseless lamb. I am a young maiden after all, irrespective of my brilliance.

I would love to say that I was the sole purpose for fostering the growth of how Kiyotaka grew into the caring person that he is but it brings me a great deal of shame to say that it was not I.

Even now as I tell you the circumstances that led to this day, I can't help but hang my head in humiliation. One of our helpers, a butler named Matsuo, had brought his son to meet us. Young Eiichiro and Kiyotaka became instant friends.

As much as I wanted to be the sole beneficiary of my brother's attention, I am still a girl. There must have been a desire within Kiyotaka to have a male compatriot and it showed when his eyes lit up in delight when Matsuo introduced the two.

They always included me, I joined them on their various quests for entertainment and was never excluded. Eiichiro was a reasonably intelligent and fairly handsome boy with a heart of gold. He would always be smiling no matter the circumstance, always friendly and helping me whenever I struggled to keep up.

As time went on, Kiyotaka began to emulate him. It started as imitating various slang that the young man would use that he learned at his school and he had even brought his childhood friend to our home on several occasions, a breathtakingly beautiful younger girl named Nanase Tsubasa.

I mentioned the shame of not being the catalyst for his personal epiphany. It's humiliating not because I selfishly want to be the center of every major development of my brother, that would be completely absurd.

No... The reason for my self-abasement is because my brother and I are brilliant. We study the literary works of some of the greatest minds throughout human history. Authors to the likes of Ernest Hemmingway, Jane Austen, George Orwell or William Shakespeare. These are the kinds of people who brilliantly and masterfully used fiction to move the hearts of intellectuals through the test of time.

So you would believe that it would be any of the masterpieces that any of these types of authors that would have fostered my brother's enlightenment but no.

It was a blasted anime of all things.

Kiyotaka, Eiichiro, Tsubasa and I were sitting in our theater room watching a popular anime called Demon Slayer.

I wasn't interested in the slightest and sat there merely for company while reading a novel on the couch. A few glances later I noticed that Kiyotaka was entranced. He was leaning forward in his seat drinking in absolutely everything about what he was seeing.

All five senses were focused with the utmost concentration on what was happening on the screen. I vaguely paid attention and thought that he was showing interest in the main characters, siblings who were on some sort of ridiculous adventure or some other tosh.

Perhaps he saw the similarities between us and them. Curious, I turned to the screen to see what was happening.

"What do you want to do?" The boy said.

"It doesn't matter," The girl replied with a fake smile. The boy was looking back with a kind look on his face.

"I don't think there's anything in this world that doesn't matter," The boy rebuffed. A few moments later he asked the girl for the coin which she passed to him as he ran out into the garden.

"Okay, let's toss this to decide it then!" The boy yelled out with excitement.

"Decide what?" She asked in confusion.

"Whether or not you're going to listen to the voice in your heart from now on!" He explained before flipping the coin high into the sky. It landed on heads and the boy gave a cheer, grabbing the young girl's hand within his and he stared directly into her eyes with pure elation.

"Good luck!" He said with determination. "It's the heart that drives people."

A few moments later there was some sappy love scene where the boy said he would continue flipping the coin until it landed on what he wanted or some other rubbish. The scene ended with the camera zooming in on the young girl's face with her eyes shining as she very obviously fell in love.

I glanced at Kiyotaka to see his reaction and his own eyes shone almost exactly as the girls.

It was upsetting to see my brilliant brother being moved by such a low-grade pile of garbage. I was just about to rebuke the attempt of profoundness in a stupid cartoon when I heard him muttering under his breath.

"It's the heart that drives people..." He repeatedly murmured to himself with his eyes staring forward, unfocused in deep contemplation.

Slowly but surely he would spend more and more time with Eiichiro and Tsubasa while I would spend less and less.

I was determined to hone my intelligence to the greatest extent while the three of them would do the most unproductive rubbish. My brother was still ever the genius, completing any of the tasks that were given to him by his sensei both physical and mental, he would continue to never neglect his physical conditioning, training under ungodly conditions on a regular basis.

But he treated them as if they were chores. There was nothing driving him, it was as if he was just humoring the requests of the government and my father, there was no ambition in the slightest.

I was never neglected by him, on the contrary he was always available and willing, always offering to spend time with me. We would continue to play chess on a regular basis and I would continue to lose.

As more time passed, the losses started to make me feel humiliated. He would beat me over and over, and the losses weren't what made me angry, it was the fact that he was starting to go easier on me, taking pity on me and being ashamed of himself that before he would trounce me with no regard, the epitome of ruthlessness.

Perhaps he felt embarrassed thinking that his previous lack of social skills meant that it was harsh of him to coldly win in a brutish fashion while I was learning. It was exactly what I wanted as a genius who had never had to struggle intellectually in my entire life.

Then one day he did something that infuriated me. Something that enraged me to the deepest pits of my existence... He let me win. Not only did he let me win, he smiled proudly at me congratulating me on my victory.

"I'm so proud of you, great job!" Kiyotaka grinned widely, patting my head.

"Well, I had a great teacher," I fake smiled back.

I wanted to see if this idiot would come clean, if this manipulative bastard would have the balls to come clean on his own accord. Despite him being incredibly perceptive however, he didn't show any acknowledgment that I knew.

"It was bound to happen eventually," Kiyotaka laughed, removing his hand from my head.

"Are you hungry? I'll ask Matsuo to make us something." He clapped his hands on his knees standing to his feet.

"...How dare you..." I seethed angrily. My brother's eyes widened in realization hearing me.

At the very least he had the awareness to look at the ground in shame.

"Do you think I'm stupid? Do you think that I'm so weak willed that I can't accept loss? You cowardly bastard, how dare you throw a match! Have some respect for me as an opponent! Have some respect for me as your sister!"

He stood there in silence not being able to say anything before leaving without saying another word.

That happened a year ago and we have never spoken about that incident since, we are still close and we spend time with each other at every opportunity but since then, Kiyotaka has never done anything with me that can ever be considered a competition and he has never played chess with me again.

In the beginning I mentioned that there are two truths that I wanted to share with you, the first being that I love my brother.

The other truth that I want to share with you, is that I hate my brother.

I loathe the fact that he is an unrivaled generational genius that has absolutely no motivation. A brilliant mind who wants nothing but to be normal. A savant who curses and stifles himself in order to blend in with the peasants.

My brother, who has everything in life, wants to do nothing. He takes every route he can to avoid and shun his own exceptionalism, donning a mask of stupidity to blend in with apes.

We are not normal, we are above that. We transcend other people our age, while they are slaves to their own ignorance and stupidity we're above them.

We see the bigger picture that they couldn't have any hope to even comprehend. Like an ant who only sees the ground in which it walks on, it can't tell whether it's on a wall or a piece of paper, whether it will live carrying its food home or whether it will be squashed and destroyed by a human just for being an annoyance.

Now that I know that the two of us will be attending ANHS together, I am excited. It would be great if that anchor who drags my brother into the depravity of living like an imbecile wasn't attending as well but unfortunately he will be.

That bastard Matsuo Eiichiro will be attending ANHS with us and there is nothing I can do about it. It goes to show how far my brother has fallen, wasting his free time playing video games and watching anime with that cretin instead of continuing to set the bar for me.

I'm upset and angry at my father for placing me in a different class to Kiyotaka.

Ivehemently disagreed and fought with my father. He was the closest person to me, my only friend. Why did that bastard Matsuo get to stay with him? Why should we be seperated?

Have I been replaced?

Father just smiled at me knowingly, I know that look. There is something about this situation that I don't know about.

"Don't worry, Arisu," Father continued to smile with his eyes twinkling in amusement. "I'm sure you'll thank me later."

Chapter 1

A/N: A BIG THANK YOU TO INFERNO3054 FOR PROOF READING THIS AS A BETA BEFORE IT'S PUBLISHED. THANK YOU FOR THE HELP

"This is beyond stupid," Arisu seethed. "Why on earth are we in separate classes?"

I sighed for what felt like the third time in the twenty minutes. My sister Arisu has been ranting ever since we found out that we were separated into different classes. Despite the fact that we were only separated by a few walls, it seemed to really bother her.

Today was my first day as a student at ANHS and to be frank, it was actually my first time attending any school ever. A little over six years ago I lived in an educational facility that had been started by my biological father.

It was shortly after a visit by my father and sister to that place that I had been rescued. At the time I didn't think of it as being rescued, I barely knew what was happening outside of the silent walls that confined me.

When the door to my room had opened I was curious as to what was happening when I saw a soldier. After the soldier had identified me, he stayed with me keeping me company while his team was busy outside. It was the first time that I had been in a social interaction.

Not long after I was taken to the place that later became my home. I had no idea how to interact with Arisu or my new father and had been slightly apprehensive at first. I constantly studied their actions, wondering what their motive was.

How was I going to be used by these people? I had asked myself. I strategize in my mind constantly on how I could turn their objectives in my favor whenever I was with them.

At the time I could see the pity in their eyes when they looked at me and confused it with guilt. Guilt that they were being kind to me at the moment only to turn me over to whatever government official there was that wanted me under their thumb.

Despite being on guard, they were constantly kind to me. Arisu was like a little puppy with a wounded leg, constantly following me about and wanting my attention. Always asking me if I was okay, if I was having fun. Sometimes she would ask if her presence annoyed me with downturned eyes.

After a year of their behavior never changing I decided to give them the benefit of the doubt. I genuinely enjoyed their company and to this day I will never forget the beaming joy that was palpable when I gave Arisu a heartfelt smile for the first time.

It was through their kindness and selflessness that I learned to do the same for others.

Now, I'm free. No more tutors, no more lessons or interruptions. Sure, I'll have to attend classes that cover material that I learned as an adolescent but it doesn't matter.

Here I can be normal. I can finally experience something new, I can finally be a nobody.

"It'll be fine," I laughed, patting the hand holding onto my arm. "We'll still be in the same building and I can make dinner for you when the day's over."

"Please for the love of God no," Arisu said with a grimace.

"I've been practicing," I frowned. "Matsuo said I've improved a lot."

"Of course he would say that," Arisu rebuffed. "He works for us, he has to tell you whatever rubbish will make you happy."

We made the turn into the corridor where our classrooms were located and I led her to the room labeled 1-A. Before I could open the door for her she tugged lightly on the arm that she was holding.

"You don't have to walk me in there, I am not a child," Arisu admonished.

"I know, what does that have to do with anything? We're the same age."

"Then how about I walk you to 1-D instead and introduce you to your class."

"You can do that if you like, just be prepared to get to class 3 hours la-" I didn't even get to finish before I felt her cane slam onto the top of my foot.

"Just open the damn door before I ram my cane into a different spot," Arisu shot quickly with a glare.

Not wanting to test her patience, I opened the door and moved aside so she could enter before following in behind her. The room was almost filled with students who all turned to look at us as we entered.

"Good morning," Arisu greeted with a slight bow. "My name is Sakayanagi Arisu, I look forward to meeting you all. Please treat me well."

A few girls suddenly stood up moving toward her talking to her side before greeting her while glancing at me.

"Good morning, Sakayanagi-san," A black haired girl smiled. "I'm Yamamura Miki, it's nice to meet you." She glanced up at me standing behind her before turning back to Arisu.

"Ayanokouji Kiyotaka," I offered politely, dipping my head slightly. Yamamura and the other girls around Arisu nodded back, averting their eyes with their cheeks dusted pink.

"Are you in our class as well, Ayanokouji-kun?"

"No, no,no" I said back quickly. "I'm just here to drop my sister off."

Immediately muffled chatter filled the room as people kept repeating the word sister in confusion, likely because our surnames were different.

"I'll be off then, your homeroom teacher should be here any minute."

Just as I finished saying that, her homeroom teacher opened the door and strode to the podium. The girls waved me off as I exited the room quietly, turning back to see Arisu one more time before I shut the door as she looked back at me with sad eyes at my retreating form.

I quickly made my way to my homeroom without running, taking a quick moment to glance at the other classes as I passed. Taking a brief peek into 1-B and 1-C through the window as I passed I didn't notice anyone remarkable that stood out.

Reaching 1-D I gave the door a firm knock before sliding the door open to see everyone already inside while my new homeroom teacher abruptly stopped to look at me in the doorway.

"I'm sorry for being late sensei," I offered with a deep bow. "I was just accompanying my sister to her homeroom in 1-A and it took longer than expected."

I stood there waiting to be invited in as I appraised my new homeroom teacher. She was incredibly attractive, most likely in her early thirties. Her long brown hair was tied in a ponytail wearing form fitting business attire.

I did everything I could to make sure I was looking directly into her eyes.

When she looked at me her eyes widened in shock. I sighed internally when I realized what this was. She recognized me. In the span of just a few minutes, I was recognized.

I don't know why I'm surprised or disappointed that an adult would recognize who I was. She would have been in her mid twenties when the media reported on me once I was freed from the White Room.

The way that she looked at me changed from shock, to recognition and then to hunger. She realized that she was staring and quickly averted her gaze to the empty table at the back of the room. Reading the name on the plate she suddenly looked back at me and smiled so widely that I was concerned that her face was going to split in two.

"Ayanokouji Kiyotaka?" She asked with hope in her voice.

"Yes, sensei." I confirmed with a nod. "May I enter? Again I apologize for my tardiness."

"No, no it's fine," She brushed off with a wave of her hand. "Take your seat and don't let it happen again."

I quickly made my way to my seat while bobbing my head in apology to every classmate that I passed. I made eye contact with Eiichiro who was grinning wolfishly at me while tapping his wrist indicating the time. I discreetly scratched my temple with my middle finger in his direction and watched as he stifled a laugh, covering his mouth with both of his hands.

My seatmate was an incredibly beautiful girl with black hair and red eyes. She sat up straight with her complete attention to the front of the room and as I slid into my seat she turned to me and glared before turning back to the front.

Apparently she wasn't impressed with my being late.

"As I was saying, my name is Chabashira Sae. I teach Japanese history and I will be your homeroom teacher for the next three years."

She continued to explain things while passing out our admissions guides and student ID cards, continuing to speak as she moved around the classroom distributing everything to us. This confused me.

The easier thing to do would be to pass out our admission guides to the front of the room and allow them to pass it back but she didn't. She could have asked us to individually collect our Student ID's but she didn't do that either.

While she was explaining and handing our things out, I noticed her move one ID to the back of the pile before continuing on.

"Your student cards can be used simply by swiping them through the machine scanner. The method is simple, so you shouldn't get confused. Points are automatically deposited into your account on the first of every month. You should have received 100,000 points already. Keep in mind that one point is worth one yen. No further explanation should be necessary."

The class was in pandemonium at the exorbitant amount of money that they had been given.

"Shocked by the amount of points you've been given? This school evaluates its students' talents. Everyone here has passed the entrance examination, which itself speaks to your value and potential. The amount you've received reflects the evaluation of your worth. You can use your points without restraint. After graduation, however, all of your points return to the school. Because it's impossible to exchange your points for cash, there's no advantage to saving them. Once points have been deposited into your account, it's up to you how to spend them."

She continued to speak as she handed out the last of the student ID's. After a while she stopped speaking and continued to hand out the materials before she had the last admission guide and ID left in her hands and I was the last.

She walked slowly to my table and the room descended into silence, all eyes were on me as she stalked toward me like a predator, the hungry look in her eyes was back again.

"Does anyone have any questions?" She asked while staring directly into my eyes, the question was asked to the room but it looked like she was directly addressing me.

I raised my hand politely and she looked at me with glee and expectations.

"Yes, Ayanokouji," She asked excitedly, leaning forward waiting for me to continue.

"Just one question, sensei,"

"You said that anything can be purchased with points?"

"Yes, that's correct. There are certain limitations, nothing illegal is permitted. For example, you can not purchase a person's life."

"Then, sensei," I asked slowly, pausing for dramatic effect. "If I wanted to switch seats with that young lady over there, how many points would it cost me?"

As I asked my question, I gestured toward the seat next to Eiichiro where a young girl with short brown hair with a white headband.

When I asked the question, Chabashira-sensei's eyes narrowed in annoyance.

"10,000 points," She replied curtly. "I suggest you ask her first though, it would not do well for you to antagonize your peers on your first day after all."

I nodded once in reply before waiting for her to dismiss us. She continued to stare at me, begging with her eyes to ask another question.

"Do you have any other questions?" Chabashira-sensei asked again.

"No sensei, you explained everything quite thoroughly."

She glared at me. I had no idea what she wanted me to ask. She said we'd get 100,000 points as a starting balance and that our allowance was based on our worth. What else was there to elaborate on?

"The entrance ceremony will be held in an hour, please make sure you are punctual this time, Ayanokouji Kiyotaka." She glared at me once more before turning on her heel, collecting her things at the podium and briskly leaving the room.

The moment the door closed, Eiichiro snorted with laughter. Getting up, I made my way to his desk while the rest of the class started chatting amongst themselves. He held out his fist as I reached his desk which I promptly bumped with my own.

"Your first day and you've already pissed off your first ever homeroom teacher, eh Kiyo,"

I shrugged leaning against the wall, before we could continue to talk a blonde boy stood from his desk and clapped his hands trying to get our attention.

"Everyone, can I have a minute?"

The class quietened down and turned their attention to the handsome boy.

"Starting today we're all going to be classmates. Therefore, I think it'd be good to introduce ourselves and become friends as soon as possible. We still have some time until the entrance ceremony. What do you say?"

Before anyone could say anything to agree or disagree, another blonde boy stood from his seat. He was tall and well built, his posture exuding supreme self-confidence. Before anyone could say anything he strode from his seat before stopping in front of me while I continued to lean against the wall.

"My name is Kouenji Rokusuke, the heir to the Kouenji conglomerate group." He said firmly, extending his hand to me.

Why was he addressing me directly? What was with this classroom and people addressing me alone while ignoring the rest of the group?

"Ayanokouji Kiyotaka, someone not very special." I said back politely, taking his hand. Grasping my hand, he squeezed firmly, increasing the pressure slowly to the point that others would wince.

I gazed back, raising an eyebrow questioningly at the sudden aggressiveness. As if satisfied, he primly shook my hand once before letting go.

"It's a pleasure to finally meet you. I look forward to what you accomplish while we're here."

With that he turned and exited the room, not even looking at the rest of the students as though their mere presence was a stain on his existence. What an odd fellow.

"You're quite popular, Ayanokouji-kun." The first blonde boy said with a kind smile. "Since everyone already heard your name would you like to start us off?"

Before I could say anything, Eiichiro suddenly shot to his feet. Mimicking my usual facial expression and voice he drawled in a near perfect imitation of me.

"My name is Ayanokouji Kiyotaka. I like being lazy and my sister. I dislike having to do stuff. I enjoy reading hen-"

I buried my fist into his midsection before he could continue as the boys laughed loudly and the girls looked at me like I was scum.

"Aside from this idiot trying to paint me as a pervert, he's not far off. I enjoy spending time with this imbecile and his girlfriend who is finishing her final year of middle school."

Eiichiro blushed all the way to his hairline and sputtered, realizing what I had said. The girls stopped looking at me with hatred in their eyes and immediately blushed while giving Eiichiro the once over.

He was slightly taller than me with a slender build and jet black hair that was messily styled. Objectively, he was quite handsome himself with a mischievous dimpled smile plastered on his face constantly.

"Please take care of me," I finished with a slight bow to my classmates.

Chapter 2

Chapter 2.

It all made sense now, I understood why Chabashira-sensei was asking if I had any further questions.

After the entrance ceremony, I stayed behind to chat with a few of my fellow classmates. The first person who I got to know was a girl named Kushida Kikyou.

She was the girl that sat next to Eiichiro, the one that I indicated whom I wanted to switch seats with. She was an incredibly bubbly personality who seemed overjoyed at switching seats with me. She even insisted on paying half for the seat switch, saying over and over that it was no issue.

There were others after, almost exclusively girls which was surprising. Aside from Hirata Yousuke, the blonde boy who suggested we introduce ourselves in the classroom, I also met Karuizawa Kei, Satou Maya and Shinohara Satsuki. They were quite pleasant, if not a little overbearing.

This morning however, I was making my way back to the dorms from the gym. As per my usual schedule, I woke up at 4:30am without my alarm, got ready and made my way there.

At the entrance ceremony, I spoke to a few senpai's who were watching from the gallery. The first thing that I noticed was that he was quite rude. He looked disheveled and angrily asked if I was mocking him. Confused, I asked why he would think that before he told me to piss off angrily stomping away.

"Don't mind him, he's from class D." A girl who saw the exchange offered.

I turned around and looked at her in confusion.

"Ah, my apologies kouhai. My name is Nazuna Asahina from class A,"

"Ayanokouji Kiyotaka from class D," I responded politely with a bow. "Why would he be like that just because he's from class D, Senpai?"

Her eyes widened at her slip up. She bit her lip slightly before carefully answering me.

"Oh, never mind. I overheard what you asked, I'm from the Student Council. If you like I can show you where the gym is located on your Admission Guide." Nazuna-senpai offered quickly.

She was polite but there was something about the way she brushed over the detail she accidentally slipped out that had me on guard.

She took out a pen and started circling locations. I noticed that the further away from the dorms, the cheaper the locations were. Also the price directly influenced the differing locations in terms of service. The 24 hour gym located closest to the dorms had a price of 5000 points per month, while the location located on the outskirts which required a bus to reach was only 300 per month with limited opening hours.

After her explanation she put the pen away before tapping me on the shoulder. She inched so close to my ear that I could feel her breath on my neck as she spoke.

"Please, don't tell anyone about my slip up." She whispered before pulling away looking straight into my eyes. She looked frightened.

"What slip up?" I asked in faux confusion.

She instantly relaxed, smiling gratefully before pulling out her phone.

"Let's exchange contact info, okay? I'll treat you to lunch or something at Pallet Café if you'd like."

With that I exchanged details with someone else for the first time in my life. After waving goodbye and walking off I looked up to see what my classmates were doing only to see Eiichiro grinning at me, almost bouncing at the opportunity to tease me.

The girls were blushing and whispering to each other while two boys in particular were glaring at me as though they were trying to kill me with their eyes. I rejoined the group to hear hushed voices of the two boys angrily talking to each other.

"... ikemen bastard,"

A girl from class A had come over during that time telling me that Arisu wanted to meet for dinner at this Pallet café. As one of the only male patrons in the café, I was drawing far too much attention.

We ate dinner and talked about how our day had gone thus far. Numerous times, girls would come over asking if we were dating, only to be informed that we were siblings. Each time their eyes would light up and they'd introduce themselves offering their phone numbers.

I swear if the vein on Arisu's forehead throbbed any harder it'd burst.

Afterward as I walked her back to the dorms at our sluggish pace I noticed them. There were cameras everywhere seemingly leaving no blind spots on any spot out in the open. As I pointed them out, Arisu smirked but gave no indication that she shared my suspicions.

After getting ready for school and eating breakfast, I entered the lift deep in thought. Judging by conversations that I heard yesterday when the points were explained my classmates were doomed. They had automatically assumed that they were getting 100,000 points a month. Any indication otherwise would be met with backlash.

That meant that there was some kind of system, a ranking system that we would be paid based on that ranking. But what was the criteria? What were we judged on?

I ran all the known information in my head over and over trying to figure out if there were any other minute details that I had missed when I suddenly felt a weight on my shoulders pulling me from my thoughts. I turned to see Eiichiro with his arm draped over me leaning his weight against me.

"To think my best friend would be Mr. Popular the first time he ever attended a school," Eiichiro started with a teasing grin.

"How am I popular? I've hardly done anything. Yesterday after dinner I went straight to my dorm and binge watched YouTube, it was great."

"And this morning?" Eiichiro asked. Why did I smell a trap?

"I went to the gym and did my morning training like I've done every day for the last 6 years?" I was genuinely confused. Eiichiro knew my routine so why was he suddenly asking about this.

"Pose for any photos or videos while you were there?"

Without waiting for my answer, he turned his phone to me showing his screen. It was a post on the school forums with photos and video footage of us training. I wasn't aware that anyone was filming me or even if it was allowed. Judging by the view count underneath it had indeed been seen by a lot of people.

'THE NEW FIRST YEARS ARE BEASTS' The title read, poster anonymous.

"You know, for someone who doesn't like doing anything I never understood why you train every morning." Eiichiro mused with a frown watching the video of Koenji progressing through an ungodly amount of pull ups.

"Habit, I suppose," I replied with a shrug. "Besides, if I don't keep training I'll end up with your noodle arms."

"That hurts you know,"

Scanning the faces as we walked to school, I could see that a number of people had definitely seen the post.

"Well, that aside with 100,000 points every month you'll be able to buy any L/N or anime series you want to watch or read without breaking a sweat. I'm glad your dad put me down as a recommendation to come here, I don't think I would have made it in without it."

I frowned slightly in disappointment. I didn't know anything about my other classmates and in truth while the majority of them were gushing over having 100,000 points per month there was the possibility that some of them had figured out what I had.

I didn't care about any of them though, as of right now none of them were my friends. The only ones I cared about were Arisu and Eiichiro. I'm positive that Arisu had figured out what I had and she was in class A. If what I found out meant something, that meant that they were a gifted group. They'd be able to figure everything out and would most likely get the maximum amount of points that were available, whatever that number would be.

Eiichiro on the other hand, while not a genius, was reasonably intelligent. I was disappointed that he hadn't figured out anything, that he hadn't paid attention to the details of what Chabashira-sensei had mentioned. Even still he was my friend, my best friend. If there was anyone I was going to tell it would be him.

"Eiichiro, be careful. We're not getting 100,000 per month."

He looked at me in confusion before giving me his utmost attention. No matter how aloof and mischievous he was, the one thing I admired was that when there was a time to be serious, he flipped into that mode like a light switch. He respected my intelligence and whenever I said something of importance he always listened.

"Chabashira-sensei said that we were getting a starting balance of 100,000 points. She didn't say anything about what we're getting next month." I paused for a moment before continuing on, scanning around to see if anyone else was listening.

"There are cameras littered all over the school. There are hardly any blind spots, I'm pretty sure there are cameras in the classroom but I didn't have time to check. I think our allowance is tied into performance, behavior is most likely a key factor.

"Don't spend your points needlessly, our monthly stipend could very well not even be in our hands."

"What do you mean not in our hands?" Eiichiro asked with a frown.

"The classes are ranked A-D. Yesterday, I asked an upperclassman from class D for some information on the gyms here. He bit my head off asking if I was looking down on him, I assume it meant financially. He was pretty disheveled and it was as though he couldn't afford a membership...

"Yesterday I had dinner with Arisu at Pallet. Not a single person that introduced themselves to me was from class C or D. There's something to this Eiichiro."

"So what are you going to do?" Eiichiro asked seriously.

"Nothing," I replied quickly. Why would he even ask me that?

"What do you mean nothing?"

"If I say anything, our class won't listen to me, I'm nobody to them and I'd literally be telling them to do things they don't want to do. God forbid, if things go downhill and we're all broke next month, they'll remember that I mentioned something and they may even want me to be the class leader."

"Kiyotaka," Eiichiro said seriously, grabbing onto my arm and stopping me.

"If you're serious about this, and I've never doubted anything that you've ever said to me, then you need to tell them."

"I just sai-"

"I know what you're saying, Kiyotaka. Honestly, I do. If anyone deserves to have a laidback lifestyle it's you, I understand that. But you're the best chance that we have. It's the first day and I'm sure you've seen through everything.

"I never said this before because we were young and none of it mattered at the time. But you have a gift, Kiyotaka. You're smarter than anyone, you have everything going for you. If you don't help them they're all screwed, me included."

"Don't worry about it. If our private points end up down to zero I'll fi-"

"No Kiyotaka! There's a bigger picture! What if the 100% employment guarantee is only given to class A students!?" Eiichiro hissed at me angrily. He constantly scanned around him to make sure no one was listening in on our conversation as well.

"Then they get in on merit. I don't think it matters if you're class B through D either way. You're smart, Eiichiro and you're good athletically. You'll be able to get into a good university or find a company regardless of how you graduate."

"Good isn't good enough, Kiyotaka!" Eiichiro shouted, grabbing my shoulders in frustration and shaking me.

"Kiyotaka, my dad's an old man. He has a job with your dad out of pity at the moment. The house doesn't need keeping with you and Arisu at school and your dad needs very little help. Even still, he can't do this for much longer. I need a job and a good one so that I can look after him."

"Please..." He pleaded, grabbing both of my hands begging.

I didn't answer. I wasn't going to do it and he knew it. I have no ambition to do any of this, I just wanted to live a normal high school life. I didn't want to do anything more than what I had to do; plain and simple.

Eiichiro let me go shooting me a look of anger before stomping off in the direction of our class. It was the first time that my best friend had ever been angry with me.

Making my way to class, I checked my phone to see if I had any messages. Seeing nothing and scrolling through the main app I looked over various features absentmindedly.

There was a GPS feature which could be useful. I could see Asahina-senpai was walking to the school at a rapid pace, Arisu was already in class. Scrolling through and testing features I quickly found myself at the door.

As the day progressed I saw my predictions unfold before my very eyes. It started with Sudo sleeping through the first period with other students noticing him. They were confused when they saw that the teacher didn't say anything about it and aside from glancing at him and noticing, he said nothing to rebuke him. The next did the same and by the third teacher, almost everyone was either talking or playing with their phones not paying attention in the slightest.

I watched as Eiichiro saw this occur and his demeanor visibly dropped lower and lower as the morning progressed. It was as though he were staring at the sinking titanic with no idea what to do or how to act. To his credit, he paid rapt attention to the lessons, never allowing his attention to waver.

When I had first entered I instantly noted the hidden cameras. They were rather inconspicuous so it was unsurprising that no one had seen them or noticed. If you didn't know specifically what you were looking for, it was very easy to overlook them as they were incredibly well placed. I specifically made a point to stare at them when the first lesson had ended and upon noticing where my gaze was fixated, Eiichiro looked, saw them and his face hardened.

As the day went on the third lesson ended and our lunch break began. Before I could even turn to Eiichiro, two sets of arms wrapped themselves around both of mine from either side.

"Ayanokouji-kun, would you like to eat with us?" Karuizawa asked.

"Actually, Ayanokouji-kun wants to eat with us, right Ayanokouji-kun?" Kushida countered.

I turned my attention to Eiichiro ready to plead for help but before I could say anything, he already had his things put away and he quickly exited the classroom on his own.

"Sorry guys, I'm actually going to have lunch with Eiichiro." I apologized curtly before quickly removing myself from their grasp and chasing after Eiichiro in the direction of the cafeteria. Catching up I grabbed onto his arm and he instantly wrenched it from my grip angrily.

"Don't you think you're being a little dramatic?" I deadpanned.

"The problem is that you're not taking this seriously at all," Eiichiro shot back angrily. "This is our future we're talking about, my future Kiyotaka."

"Which as far as we know is still very bright. I shouldn't have told you anything, you're panicking. All of this is just speculation, you don't even know if your theory holds any water. I don't even know if mine does."

"Tell me one time that you've ever been wrong in your life and I'll concede that."

That shut me up. For about 3 seconds.

"That time when Tsubasa fell over at the park and her skirt flipped up. I guessed her panties were white when they were pink."

That shut him up for far longer.

"You're an idiot," Eiichiro conceded. He tried to stifle his laughter with his cheeks dusted with a slight blush at the memory.

We didn't say much of anything else before we got to the cafeteria. Both of us collected our tickets and found an empty table. Notably, Eiichiro decided on a cheaper option.

"If you're still concerned about it, ask Chabashira-sensei before we finish up today. She'll probably be there to dismiss us after we're done for the day." I offered with a shrug.

"Okay fine, but if you're proven right, which I know you will be, will you tell the class about it?"

"Nope."

Eiichiro just sighed in defeat before digging into his food.

Not long after he had taken his first bite, an announcement played through the speakers in the cafeteria.

"At five PM Japan Standard Time today, we will be holding a student club fair in the Gymnasium No.1. Students interested in joining a club, please gather in Gymnasium No. 1. I repeat..."

Chapter 3

Chapter 3.

I didn't end up going to the student club fair. Unless they had a food tasting club, an anime/manga club or a napping club I wasn't interested in any of it. Besides, anything was better than hearing Eiichiro's constant crusading. He's my best friend and I wasn't thinking of cutting ties with him or anything like that. At the moment he was emotional, scared and desperate.

He wasn't going to get out of his funk without processing it himself. I couldn't convince him and he couldn't convince me, so it would seem that we are at an impasse.

I turned my attention to the current issue at hand. Just because I was brushing aside Eiichiros concerns, that didn't mean that I didn't acknowledge that there was a problem. The truth of the matter is that he was right to be panicking. I was actually mildly impressed when he connected the dots with the ranking system as I had dubbed it and the promise of a guaranteed job of your choosing.

It was for this reason that I lay in my bed staring at the ceiling while contemplating how to rectify the problem. Class A,D, future prospects. None of that mattered to me at all. I didn't even need to go to college, I already learned everything that I needed to know, there was no other knowledge that I needed to seek. After I was done with school, I'd have government official job offers thrown at me from every direction.

The next three years were supposed to be my only chance at living a normal teenage life. From what I understood, we were supposed to be carefree, not concerning ourselves with these issues. It made me wonder why my father even put me in this school.

Was it to watch out for Arisu? Unlikely. If that were the case he would have put me in Class A with her. He very purposely put me in Class D. Did he put me here because he sensed my exasperation with the homeschooling curriculum I had? It was possible, most likely the most probable reason. I can't deny that my father dotes on Arisu and I. There's very little that he would deny us if we asked for it earnestly.

If that was the case, why this school? He could have sent me to any normal school in the country and that would have been just as easy if not better. No other school from my understanding had a curriculum like this, it was a classroom for the elite. Responsible for shaping the most brilliant minds the country had to offer into the future leaders of Japan.

If he did this for the protection of my teenage years, there was every possibility that the Japanese Government was pressuring him to have a more direct influence in my life. In here, with no contact to the outside world and free from external pressure, I was free to do whatever I wanted.

There was another slightly more devious scenario. Perhaps he thought that by forging bonds with the other students at the school they would motivate me to do something. That they would be able to make an impact on my laissez-faire attitude.

I scoffed at the notion physically as the thought crossed my mind. Everything I experienced at school was a luxury and I was left to do as little or as much as I wanted. As long as I stayed under the radar, there really wasn't any reason for anyone to ask me to do more than the minimum.

I'm allowing myself to get distracted, there's a problem here that needs to be addressed. What can I do to maximize the amount of private points I can acquire with the minimal amount of effort? The most obvious course of action is to farm points from as many students as possible.

Extortion was out of the question. Chabashira-sensei indicated that it was harshly judged and one wrong move on the wrong person could spell expulsion. If this was my only safe haven then I needed to protect it for as long as possible. Furthermore, I can't look out for Eiichiro if I'm no longer in the school.

After taking a deep breath, I got up from my bed and moved to the kitchen to make a cup of coffee. As I waited for the water to boil I noticed the admission guide on my dining table that Asahina-senpai drew on for me. Inspiration struck suddenly and I quickly retrieved my phone and the admission guide. Looking at the key at the bottom of the guide, I noted every restaurant, eatery and store located outside of the central hub of Keyaki Mall.

The campus stretched over 600,000 square meters and functioned like a small city. As far as I was aware currently, there were only three dorm apartment buildings for each of the grades alone. It was possible that some of the wealthier class A students would probably spend private points to get nicer lodgings but the rest of the people on campus would be staff.

Groundskeepers, shop owners and workers all of whom would need to function within the ecosystem paying with points. As a general plan formed in my head, I leafed through the booklet and found the section that listed all of the contact information for each of the stores. It was a list not unlike the old phone books of old.

Currently, the only way for students to get points was for them to wait for the monthly stipend. What if they could earn points from their peers? If students were exposed to other food options from outside of Keyaki Mall and the convenience store would they be willing to pay a class D student to go get it for them?

I was lazy enough to part with a couple hundred points if it meant I didn't have to leave my bed, surely I wasn't the only one.

With a plan in mind, I went back to my room and took out my laptop. This was going to take a few days and if I wanted to accelerate my plans I needed time off school. It really was the perfect time to do it. The reality is that the rest of the class isn't doing much of anything at the moment and more than likely our worth would be judged as worthless by the end of the month.

With my mind made up, I picked up my phone and called Eiichiro while I set up what would be my workstation for the next few days. It was going to be a tough call to get through but it was necessary, especially now.

"Kiyo," Eiichiro greeted without even saying hello.

"Hey Eiichiro, are you still up?"

"No I'm asleep, I'm talking to you through telepathy."

"You've been really snippy with me lately, you're never like this. Is the lack of Tsubasa stressing you out?" I teased.

"I'll be honest with you because you're my best friend. I really don't like what you've become since we got here. I know we used to play and mess around whenever we were together before but I've never seen this side of you. You never knew because we didn't go to school together but I take my education seriously..." He didn't even bite at my teasing.

"I'm not doing any less than anyone else in the class."

"Is it wrong that I hold you to a higher standard than everyone else?" Eiichiro asked.

"No but you and Arisu need to stop putting me on a pedestal. I'm not any more special than anyone else, I just happen to be a little smarter than average."

I could practically feel Eiichiro's frustration through the phone as he let out an exasperated breath.

"I don't have the energy for this right now, it's been a long day. What do you want?"

I knew exactly where this was going to go and I ended up hesitating, bracing myself for the incoming storm. He was annoyed and he wasn't going to take the next revelation well.

"I won't be coming into class for the next three days. Before you get angry, I have a plan. If it wasn't time sensitive I'd do it over a longer period but this is really the only time I can do it. After this month everyone is going to knuckle down."

"...whatever, do whatever you want. I don't really care right now." He replied after a long pause.

"I'll need your help the day after tomorrow. Can you come to my dorm at around 7:00pm?"

"Will you be angry if I say I will but I don't want to?"

I was starting to get annoyed with his attitude. It was a new experience, we'd never fought or argued as friends. We always had fun and did everything together with Tsubasa so it was a new experience for me. Save for the one time Arisu figured out that I let her win in chess, I never really had anyone hostile with me since I was freed from that place.

"Eiichiro, is this what our friendship is? You ask me for something, I say no, and you hold a grudge against me? If you don't want to come, don't come. I would never force you to do something you don't want to do." I said calmly.

I was playing dirty and I knew it. I was conjuring a feeling of guilt from within by telling him I'd never do to him what he was doing to me. I've never manipulated my best friend before and ironically, while trying to bring about guilt in him, I actually ended up feeling a little guilty myself to my surprise.

"I'll be there," He finally said before cutting the call.

After getting his confirmation I went over everything that I needed to complete in the short timeframe I had. There were plenty of holes in the plan and I had contingencies in mind but in order for everything to work to the maximum capacity, plan A needed to succeed.

One of the reasons I love being lazy and hate taking anything seriously is because of what I need to do to dedicate myself to a goal. When undertaking a serious task I need to hyperfocus to an extreme degree. A mental state that I only achieved while in the White Room.

Closing my eyes I began to manifest the White Room around me. Suddenly I wasn't in my dorm anymore. The walls were all white, my furniture was white. There were no longer any textures on my keyboard or table, everything was smooth to the point that running my fingers along the surfaces didn't stimulate a feeling of touch. All sound was cut out and the temperature in the room reached equilibrium.

Going through message boards I found posts, courses and information on how to code. I was blessed with an eidetic memory, in order for me to learn all I needed to do was to read it once. If I understood it, I would never forget. Tests were meaningless for someone like me, all I needed to do was comprehend what I was reading and everything else would fall into place.

It took three hours to go through all of the basic material I could find. Introductory courses to coding through an online college would take three to six months at a time for normal people. I'd gone through six of them by the time the clock struck 11:00pm. After reading through everything once, cross referencing commonalities between the courses and skipping over the practical sections the knowledge was mine.

If ever I needed the information, anyone could ask me to recall a specific line and page number from the course and I would be able to recite the information word for word without any issues.

Stretching slightly and returning to the kitchen I grabbed some water before returning to my seat. After researching and finding all of the courses I could find on coding apps. After procuring all the course material and bookmarking links that I'd need I went to bed and lay on top of the sheets. In my mind I was still in the White Room, the temperature didn't bother me and the sheets felt as though I was resting atop cloth of the smoothest paper.

The moment I closed my eyes I was instantly asleep. Like clockwork, the second that six hours had passed my eyes opened, my body refreshed and I got ready to go to the gym. After an intense two hour workout I returned and ate a breakfast of plain oatmeal. Even the taste didn't affect me in this state, I could have been eating sand; in the white room all that matters is the goal.

From there it was nothing but pure concentration. Sixteen hours straight of reading through all of the course material, sourcing the app building software and researching how I could apply everything I already knew about psychology into the app. I hadn't left my chair the entire time sans for going to the toilet and getting water from the kitchen.

Deciding that that was enough for the day, I closed my eyes as I sat in my chair and concentrated. After breathing deeply and focusing my thoughts, I opened my eyes and watched as the room slowly started to bleed color again. An entire day of blocking out my senses took its toll and I felt myself starting to feel the strain.

The first thing that I noticed was the searing headache. As the temperature of the room felt warmer and I could feel the woodgrain of the table against my forearms again, I could feel my heartbeat throbbing in my temple like a rhythmic hammer, a metronome with a resounding thud.

Trying to ignore it I went to bed with my phone still off, not bothering to check what was probably a plethora of missed calls from Eiichiro, Arisu and most likely the school and my classmates. Hopefully I only had to enter this state one more time, then I could go back to my monotonous boring existence.

A/N; Guys just wanted to take a quick sec to thank you all for reading this. I pretty much started writing this on a whim getting an idea and didn't really have any expectations for it other than giving it my best effort. To see so many people reading and following the story after only a few days is really humbling.

Moving forward though, I can't continue to update at this pace. The only reason I've been able to upload and write this on a daily basis is because of the Easter Long weekend and once real life starts up again tomorrow, more than likely the upload schedule will probably be weekly.

Also again a big thank you to INFERNO3054 who has been basically proof reading and editing the story quite literally the moment I'm finished with the chapter, even sometimes while I'm writing. The story wouldn't be what it is at the moment without their input and they also took time to edit the cover photo which I originally just googled.

I'm not an experienced writer so I may make mistakes, but I'm grateful that you've given it a chance. This chapter is a little short but there will be an upload of an SS hopefully later today, just seemed to flow better that way.

I hope your holidays have been great and thank you for taking the time to read.

SS Leadership

Matsuo Eiichiro SS - Leadership

I was annoyed. Forget that I'm pissed. I had it in my head that when Kiyotaka said that he wasn't coming to class for the next three days, he would be able to tell that I was mad and that he'd scrap whatever plans he had to laze about in his room. Then the next day he didn't come to class.

I sent him what felt like a hundred messages only to not get a reply. At lunch I called only for his phone to be switched off. I was so excited to find out that Kiyotaka and I would be going to school together, it would be us hanging out, working in class together and next year hopefully Tsubasa would be here and it'd be the three of us all over again only this time we wouldn't be separated during the day time.

I know that Kiyotaka is brilliant and I was beyond excited to finally see what he could do up close in front of my eyes. His lessons and sessions were always during the day on school days so I never got to see any of it. We would play and have fun when I came over but I was always told by my father who worked for them about how amazing Kiyotaka was.

Now two days into our first school year and I already want to punch him in the face. It's not like he wouldn't be able to dodge or take the punch so it wouldn't do anything except for maybe my ass getting beaten instead but I doubt Kiyotaka would hit me, no matter the circumstances.

Still I was mad but more than anything I was terrified. My dad is everything to me, he's an old man and my mum is already dead. I saw my admission to this school as the greatest of blessings, I wanted to make him proud. I wanted to provide for him once he could no longer work so that he could live the rest of his life without a worry. Now my best friend who I thought would make things easier is turning out to be my biggest anchor.

Maybe I'm exaggerating. He said that I was panicking and he was probably right but I'd never been in a situation like this. I had no idea what to do and usually my fate was in my own hands but the prospect that my future was in the hands of a collective filled me with anxiety.

I was supposed to meet Kiyotaka at 7:00pm but I was anxious. Rather than wait to 7:00 I knocked on his door at 5:00pm only to be greeted a few minutes later.

For a moment I wondered if it really was Kiyotaka who opened the door. His eyes were completely cold and dead as though he was looking straight through me completely unfocused. His face was completely apathetic, none of the joy that was usually there was present and his entire body was tense like a tiger ready to attack his prey. It was the first time I ever felt like I was in danger in his presence and the hair on the back of my neck stood up.

"You're early," Kiyotaka said in a completely monotonous voice. His voice was normally a bit of a boring drawl save for when we were doing something fun or when he was with Arisu, never like this.

"I-I was worried. You haven't replied to any of my texts or calls so I wanted to check on you."

He stared at me for about ten seconds but it felt like hours. His gaze was still unfocused but it was though he was staring straight into my soul.

"I see," He said simply, not moving or continuing.

"C-... Can I come in?" Why the hell was I stammering and afraid of my best friend?

He moved out of the doorway and let me in. When the door closed, even though it was quiet it felt as though it closed with a resounding boom and I could hear my thudding heartbeat pounding in my ears.

"Take a seat on the bed and give me a minute."

I sat down and watched as he took a seat at his dining table. He closed his eyes and took deep breaths for roughly a minute before he opened them and he looked at me smiling with a completely different demeanor. Seconds later he clutched at his head groaning before cold sweats appeared on his forehead.

"Sorry about that, can I get you some tea?"

"Fuck the tea, what in the hell was that?" The strange pressure in the room was suddenly gone and Kiyotaka was back to his usual self. I learned something new about myself, apparently I had the propensity to panic.

"Nothing, nothing. I was just in work mode. There's nothing to be concerned about, tea?" He asked again, waving away my concerns nonchalantly.

"Actually, have you had dinner? If you're hungry I was hoping to grab dinner with you."

"Sure! Let's go, I actually haven't eaten anything today." He smiled. Wiping the sweat from his forehead he got up grabbing his phone and wallet before ushering me to the door. I could tell he was putting more energy into his demeanor to appease me but I decided to let it go for now. He wouldn't tell me anything anyway.

We made our way into the hall and Kiyotaka turned on his phone while locking the door to his dorm. He winced when his phone suddenly vibrated and rang nonstop as two days worth of messages and missed calls suddenly bombarded his phone.

"Well I better not do that again," He muttered, quickly scanning through all the notifications. "I don't even recognise half of these numbers.

"Most of them are probably the girls from class, they all asked for your number. All your adoring fans were very upset that their Ayanokouji-kun hadn't turned up for two days. They miss their eye candy."

"And how exactly did they get my number?"

Suddenly the ceiling of the elevator was incredibly interesting. When the doors opened I thanked whatever deity existed to be freed from the confining space.

"Hey we better get going before the restaurants are all closed,"

"Don't change the subject, traitor!"

We continued walking toward Keyaki Mall, laughing and chatting like we normally would. I think that the two days away from my best friend made me realize how much of an ass I was being. A friendship like this is hard to come by, I only had one other friend who I valued as much as Kiyotaka and I missed this. Maybe I really was too wound up.

Not long after as we got closer, the senpai who I saw Kiyotaka with at the entrance ceremony suddenly waved at us before hurriedly coming.

"Ayanokouji-kun!" The senpai called out as she got closer.

"Nazuna-senpai, I hope you're well." Kiyotaka said with a small bow of his head.

"You would know if you answered my texts!" Nazuna huffed with a pout.

"Ah, I'm very sorry senpai. I haven't been well for the last couple of days so I've had my phone off."

"And yet you still went to the gym this morning and yesterday morning but didn't go to class for the last two days." She rebuffed, tapping her foot in annoyance.

Kiyotaka smirked suddenly after hearing her words before leaning in close into her personal space. Her face went red and she slowly leaned back for some distance between the two.

"Are you stalking me, Asahina-senpai?"

If her face went any redder from that she would have passed out on the spot. Quickly shaking her head to clear whatever was going through her mind, she suddenly waved her hands in front of her in denial.

"Of course not! As your senpai and a member of the student council, I have a responsibility to check up on my kouhai don't I?"

Kiyotaka laughed before gesturing in my direction.

"This is my best friend Matsuo Eiichiro. Eiichiro, this is Asahina Nazuna-senpai. We were just heading to dinner if you'd like to join us?"

Asahina-senpai nodded while indicating to her friends that she left behind.

"I'll just say bye to my friends and I'll meet you? I did promise that I'd treat you at Pallet one day, I don't mind paying for Matsuo-san as well.

"Sure but we'll wait for you here and we can go together if that's alright." Kiyotaka offered. Asahina-senpai nodded before hurrying off to her friends.

"Ayanokouji Kiyotaka," I taunted with a sly grin as soon as she was out of earshot. "With an older lady, how very bold of you... Am I interrupting? Should I leave you two to get better acquainted?"

"Who knows," He said with a shrug. "The timing isn't perfect but I was planning to reach out to her tomorrow. Stay because I still need to talk to you about what I worked on."

Before I could say anything Asahina-senpai was back and we quickly made our way to the cafe. I went in for the first time and instantly noticed that we were the only two guys there. Attention instantly turned to the three of us and I noticed Arisu sitting at a table on the other side of the cafe. She stood to come over to us but instantly sat back down when she saw Kiyotaka take Asahina-senpai's hand before leading her to a table.

Arisu pretended not to be watching us like a hawk while her eyebrow twitched like she was being shocked with electricity.

As dinner progressed I couldn't help but be thoroughly impressed with Kiyotaka. He only ever had us but he was incredibly perceptive and knew exactly how to treat Asahina-senpai. I had no idea how he knew what to do but she was quite literally putty in his hands. He pulled out her chair before we sat, paid his full attention to everything she was saying and reacted at the right times.

He even knew exactly when to tease her without being taken as bad natured. Brushing her hair behind her ear when she bent down to take a bite and even wiping her lip with a napkin at one point. I have never been more uncomfortable in my life, it was quite literally like I was a third wheel on a date.

"Asahina-senpai, you're on the student council right?" Kiyotaka asked, leaning forward.

"Yes, I've been on the council since my first year. It's hard work but the benefits are worth it, you should apply."

The moment I heard hard work and you should apply in the same sentence I fought with every fiber of my being to not to laugh.

"I don't know if I'm suitable for it, I'm not nearly as impressive or talented as Asahina-senpai."

Asahina-senpai smirked at him before leaning back in her chair crossing her legs.

"Ayanokouji-kun, you're really good. Honestly, you're handsome and charming and if it were any other girl they probably wouldn't have realized what was going on. But you've laid it on too thick. You want something and you're not subtle in the slightest.

"Ask what you want from me and I'll give it to you as a reward for the fan service. Let's not beat around the bush anymore..." She finished with upturned eyes and a grin.

Kiyotaka laughed good naturedly before sheepishly rubbing the back of his head. I had no idea what was going on.

"What gave me away?" Kiyotaka asked curiously.

"Like I said you laid it on too thick. Full attentiveness from any boy is rare, especially one who has already got the attention of almost every girl in the first year and half of second year."

"Maybe I'm just that kind of guy,"

"No, it's painfully obvious you have no experience and everything you did was read from either the internet or a book. Out with it." Asahina-senpai explained brutally.

"What do you need? I'll help you if I can. After all, every girl in here is jealous after watching what you've done with me so it's the least I can do to reward you for boosting my ego."

"Would you be able to get me a private meeting with the student council president as soon as possible?" Kiyotaka asked bluntly.

Asahina-senpai's eyes widened and she looked a little scared.

"You're not going to tell him ab-"

"About what? I have no idea what you're talking about." Kiyotaka cut her off quickly, glancing at me. It was as though Asahina-senpai finally realized that I had been sitting there for the last thirty minutes.

"Oh god, Matsuo-kun. I'm so sorry I've completely ignored you this entire time."

"No, no it's fine. It actually helped me out. I've never seen Kiyotaka act this way, he looked like he was having success and I was taking notes." I said with a laugh. "If you didn't call him out on it I may have thought it actually worked and tried it myself. I would have looked like an idiot so thank you."

"Well... I didn't say that it didn't work..." Asahina-senpai trailed off with a blush.

"Anyway, about the meeting, sure, that's not a problem. You could have done it yourself easily enough. All you had to do was email him, his contact information is on the student council section of the student boards."

Kiyotaka said nothing and just continued sipping his water.

"But you're trying to meet him in secret without having anything documented on the email servers." Asahina-senpai continued catching on. She laughed good naturedly before agreeing with a nod.

"Okay, I'll set it up for tomorrow. I'll text you the time and place during the day so try to reply to me this time okay?"

Kiyotaka thanked her and the two of us got up to leave. Apparently Asahina-senpai's friends were watching the entire time from a table in our line of sight. Before we went, Kiyotaka bent down and kissed her on the cheek.

"Thank you, Nazuna." Kiyotaka said and we both left quickly. Asahina-senpai looked like she was going to explode.

While we walked back to the dorms I could feel myself getting a headache. What in the hell is going on? First Kiyotaka starts acting like an ass on the second day we get here, then I walk into him behaving like a robot after coming early and now he'd turned into a pick up artist or something. All of these changes of events were giving me whiplash. What a pain in the ass.

After what I saw I was praying to myself that he never turned his attention to Tsubasa or I would be screwed before I ever got the chance to confess.

"Mind telling me what all that was about?" I asked when we were halfway back.

"I'll explain it more in detail when we get back to the dorm but it has something to do with what I was working on the past two days."

"Asahina-senpai seems nice, you guys look good together. When did you become a pick up artist?"

"Didn't you hear what she said? She was right, I got it all from the internet. That was the first time I've ever done anything like that. As you can see, it didn't work."

"I know that you got all that online. The fact that you did it without getting embarrassed is nuts," I couldn't remove the smile from my face. Kiyotaka never ceases to amaze me, everything he sets his mind to he seems to achieve with the utmost confidence even if it's his first time. I've never been jealous of him or resentful. As much as I respect his intelligence, the thing that I want to emulate most is his confidence.

"Doesn't matter if I did it with confidence, it didn't work."

"Do you honestly believe that it didn't work?" I deadpanned while giving him a look.

He just smirked at me with a sidelong glance before hitting the button for his floor. It didn't take long before we got to his room and before he could start saying anything I needed to get something off my chest first. I had been feeling guilty since the last phone call we had a couple days ago. What Kiyotaka said to me before I cut the call really seemed to hit home. In the end I couldn't say anything so I awkwardly told him I'd be there before quickly ending the call in shame.

After thinking about it, Kiyotaka never asked me for anything. We've been friends for years now and not once did he ever ask if we could do something or if I could give him anything, he always went along with Tsubasa and my plans. If anyone was to blame for his attitude now it would be me. I influenced his behavior when he was still malleable learning what it meant to be a normal boy, using me as the reference.

It hurt when he asked me if our friendship meant so little to me that the one time he said no to something I asked for I would get mad, that wasn't the case. I think deep down to some degree, I'm a selfish person. It's not an easy thing to admit to myself but it's true. I know that if class A was the goal, having Kiyotaka take the lead would be the easy way and we'd get there without question.

But what he said about graduating from any of the other classes was true too. It may not be 100% but if I worked hard, better myself and gave my best effort, at the very least I would have other options. After all, what was the point of having Kiyotaka drag me to the promised land if I'd only die at the summit? I can't have Kiyotaka do my university degree and I certainly couldn't get him to do my job for me.

This was a chance for me to show that I had my own worth. If Kiyotaka has the talent and the knowledge, I should have built my own confidence. Build confidence in myself and my abilities, learn to inspire those around me, and make Kiyotaka want to become involved with the class. I should help him make friends with the other classmates so that he wants to help them too like he does with me. I can't let my insecurities stop me from doing what's best for him, it isn't right that I try to be his only friend in fear that he would replace me as his best friend.

But more than anything I never want to see Kiyotaka in the state again. With those dead eyes and the apathetic face, the monotone voice. It was frightening, like a shell of a person merely existing. Someone who felt more like a machine than a human being, that wasn't what I wanted for my friend. If it meant that he would be lazy and never have to do anything, it would mean more to me to lose in this school than to lose my friend's humanity.

"Take a seat," Kiyotaka offered, leading me to the chair in front of the laptop. "I need your phone so I can set everything up. I need to show you how it works so I'll install the app on yours, I already have it on mine and I'll explain as we go along."

He grabbed a couple of drinks from the fridge, tossing me one and got my phone off me before plugging it into his laptop. He wasn't using any normal software that I was familiar with and not long after there was a loading screen with a progress bar filling up.

"Right now the only way that we know of to get points is through the school system, we don't know how they're assigned or what amount we get. As far as we know it's only distributed on a monthly basis, so where can we get more private points?"

"I don't know," I answered with a frown. Why ask me? He already had the answer.

"From other students and staff/faculty." He said simply before opening the app.

"It's basically just an interface app that uses our student ID account that stores our points. Routing through the apps API we use that for the transactions. There are categories that people can post up if they want something done for them or if they're willing to do it for other people. The price gets listed, someone accepts and the student ID app takes care of the transaction.

"You can ask someone to tutor you, ask someone to get you food, anything that is allowed within the rules can be bartered on the app. A 100 point transaction fee gets taken from both parties and goes into my account. I estimate that roughly half of the student population will most likely use it on a daily basis. Class A will use it because it's a status symbol, why do something yourself when you can pay a class D loser to do it for you? The more you use it the better your status I would guess.

"The class D students will probably use it to make money. The third years more than others, they've been eating the free vegetable sets for years now, they're probably begging for a way to get points. At 200 points per transaction, 240 students that'd be 48,000 points per day. It's a really conservative number though."

"Are there any other people who'd use it?" I asked curiously.

"Well we know for a fact that there are teachers, caretakers, shop staff and coaches etc. They'd probably use it too, if not to just get a student to get them food then they'd probably get them to do data entry, maybe even get them to do some of the tedious work that they don't want to do themselves. If they're in the equation the amount goes up substantially." Kiyotaka shrugged as though he were discussing the weather.

I was stunned into silence. I was barely paying attention to what he was saying, I was so deep in my thoughts. Everyone was gushing over a possible 100,000 points per month, Kiyotaka figured out how he could make it in two days. Arisu who was a genius in and of herself had figured out the system too and was probably leading her class to work within the system. Kiyotaka found a way outside the system.

In three fucking days.

"...in the third menu people can post services they're willing to sell, prices and their rating by previous patrons. The fourth menu here people can buy and sell used goods like a marketplace. I found information on the student boards on contracts that the school enforces. If anyone does anything illegal or against the school rules, because everyone signs on with their ID they'd be punished. There's no liability for us."

"Why is the price at 100 points? If you bumped it to 200 then you'd be making 400 per transaction." I honestly felt completely out of my depth here. Kiyotaka kept saying 'we' as though we did this together, I contributed nothing. I wasn't even contributing to the conversation, I felt as though if I atleast asked something even if it was dumb, at least I was showing that I was paying attention.

Even though I felt like an ape in comparison to him, he never made me feel stupid. He always propped me up, always supported me. I wished that he would be mean to me, yell at me or something for the way I acted the past couple of days. I felt like I didn't deserve this from him.

"48,000 points a day is not enough for you?" He teased with a laugh. "I'm sure eventually it'll come out that the transaction fees are being routed to a student. If you knew that you were enriching a single student with huge fees..."

"Then other classes wouldn't want to use it anymore." I finished for him in realization.

"By doing this and keeping quiet with low fees, people will get used to having it and become dependent. With a low fee, most people will justify that it isn't that much and wouldn't think you're profiteering as much as you really are..."

Kiyotaka grinned proudly as I figured it out, clapping me on the shoulder in praise. I sat there quietly while mustering up the courage to say what I wanted to say.

"On the food side of things I'm working out a deal with some of the places I contacted so I'll get a cut of the profits there. I won't factor it into the projection though, it messes with the numbers."

"Why did you do this, Kiyotaka?" I started hesitantly. "You said you just wanted to be a normal high school student, but you did this. Managing this is going to be a huge undertaking, the amount of money you have isn't normal either. How did you even get someone to code this?"

"Well, to start with. I coded this." Kiyotaka sheepishly scratched the back of his head.

"You know how to code?"

"I do now,"

"When did you learn?"

"Yesterday. I coded it today, the course files are there," He said pointing to a folder on the desktop of his notebook. Curiously, I opened the folder thinking I could learn something. Maybe I could code something to make myself some money too. My jaw nearly hit the table when I saw university course files, roughly twenty different course curriculums ranging from beginner to advanced.

"You studied all of this... in one day?" I struggled in shock.

"A little over a day," Kiyotaka shrugged. "It took about five hours to code the app. The functions are pretty basic."

...I really need to stop forgetting that my best friend was a once in a generation genius.

"Anyway, that's why we needed to get Asahina-senpai to organize the meeting with the student council president discreetly. If the student council sponsors this and announces it, more students would be willing to use it. He'll probably want a cut of the points but if it means all of the students use it then it's worth it for us."

"Can you please, please stop saying us? Kiyotaka, this is all yours, I had nothing to do with this,"

"What do you mean you had nothing to do with this? Most of why I did this was for you," Kiyotaka retorted in confusion.

"What!?" Why me? What do I have to do with any of this?

"Well, you said that you were worried about points, this solves that. You're worried about getting to class A, well this would probably help. Chabashira-sensei said that anything could be bought with points, if a class change costs 50,000,000 points then we should be able to save that by the end of our third year."

I couldn't help but feel ashamed and embarrassed, I didn't deserve a friend like this. Maybe I was overreacting, it was a small fight and I was only annoyed with him. I didn't curse at him, I didn't betray him or anything like that so it wasn't something to beat myself up over.

But I knew Kiyotaka had a rough life. He was tortured. How could I be so selfish to not allow him a memorable high school experience? As a friend, I should be doing everything in my power to make his dream a reality, just like he was doing for me...

Standing up, I got on my knees and bent down in a bow, folding myself in half with my forehead on the floor at his feet. I couldn't see his face but Kiyotaka was instantly on his feet grabbing at me and trying to force me up.

"What the hell are you doing Eiichiro? Get up, why are you bowing?" He said frantically.

"When I came here today for our meeting, is that what you were like in that place?" I asked quietly, keeping my forehead glued to the floor. He stopped trying to make me stand and I felt him go completely still.

"You put yourself through that for me. You want to be normal so you never have to be like that. It was probably traumatizing for you, I saw you grabbing your head..."

Kiyotaka said nothing and just let me talk. After a few moments, I got up to my feet grabbing his shoulders and looking straight in his eyes with determination.

"Keep the points for yourself. Spend them how you see fit. We'll make other friends, we'll make memories and we'll look back at our high school years with a smile. We'll get girlfriends and go on dates and read all the manga and watch all the anime we can get our hands on.

"Do as much or as little as you want for the class, I'll become the leader of class D and drag them up the ranks. I don't know how but I'll learn, I can't compete with Arisu but I'll try. I'll protect you from the others so you can do whatever the hell you want." I finished firmly.

"We don't even know if we're competing yet Eiichiro," Kiyotaka chided me with a teasing grin. "How about you wait and see if that's the case before you start making speeches and promises?"

"If Kiyotaka says that class A is the goal, then class A is the goal." I said with determination

Chapter 4

Chapter 4

I was ready for school after taking care of what now became my morning ritual. The gym was getting to be a little annoying and I was tossing up my options. I debated whether I should change to the next gym over, it was cheaper but not as well equipped. It still had 24 hour access which was good for me but the current gym was getting a little crowded.

People, mainly girls if I'm being honest, had started working out at the gym at the same time as us. It was painfully obvious what they were there for, almost all of them were wearing brand new clothes, full make up and were incredibly unfit. I honestly couldn't see the appeal of getting up in the morning just to perv on someone and it was getting a little unnerving at some of the not so discreet cameras being pointed in my direction but I can't really help it. Koenji seemed to thoroughly enjoy it though.

I figured I'd just give it some time and they'd get bored of it and go back to sleeping in.

Getting into the elevator, I glanced at my phone wondering if Asahina-senpai managed to organize a meeting. It was still early and she more than likely wouldn't have had a chance to even speak to the Student Council President but I was really excited about it. In a life where I excelled at everything and had very few first experiences, entrepreneurship was never something I wanted to do but it was still a new experience. I wanted to see if any of my work had paid off.

I did see a message from Arisu... A thoroughly pissed off Arisu. Two days of no calls or messages from me and then seeing me at Pallet last night with Asahina-senpai meant a very very pissed off little sister. I made a mental note to prostrate myself later and beg for forgiveness. I wonder if I would have even considered doing that for anyone if I had never left that place and forged any bonds with people.

Lost in my thoughts, the moment I stepped out of the elevator an arm was draped over my shoulder and I saw the tired face of my best friend.

"G'morning," Eiichiro grumbled, leaning all of his weight on me.

"Morning," I offered back. "Do I have to drag you for the entire day?"

"Just to the school," He murmured. "I was up all night after I left, I looked through the student boards for anything I could find about the ranking system."

"You wasted your time," I laughed. "If it's supposed to be a secret it's not going to be in an obvious place like the student boards."

"Go screw yourself with you and your brain..."

We continued toward the school with Eiichiro dragging his feet and trying with all his might to keep his eyes open. I detoured us to the gym so I could buy him a pre-work out drink. Coffee wasn't going to do it, I'd have to give him something strong enough to wake a dead rhinoceros. Leaving him against the wall, I bought one from the vending machine before thrusting it into his hand.

"Don't taste it just chug it, it tastes terrible but it'll keep you awake at least until lunch."

"What is this?" Eiichiro asked, tiredly eyeing the bottle.

"Don't ask. But if you start having heart palpitations you may need to go to the infirmary."

Wisely, he drank half before closing it up and shoving it into his bag.

"I didn't think you'd come to school today. I was trying to wake up when I saw you come out of the elevator, you said you weren't going to come in for three days." Eiichiro asked with a bit more energy in his voice.

"I finished faster than I expected and now that most of it is done all I can do is wait on answers. Besides, now that you're class D's fearless leader, what kind of friend would I be if I didn't do the bare minimum I promised?" I joked.

Eiichiro grinned in appreciation before putting his arm over my shoulders again and walking in step with me. Yamamura Miki and a purple haired girl from class A were among some of the people around us. Eiichiro tended to be overly affectionate with the bromance but I didn't usually mind too much. It was embarrassing in such a public place though. Yamamura was blushing faintly and gave me a shy wave which I returned.

"Why do people always blush when they see me?" I asked Eiichiro with a frown.

"...No one can be that dense." Eiichiro deadpanned at me.

"No, I understand the psychology behind it, I'm aware that I have attractive features but they don't know anything about me."

"The reason why I wanted to keep a low profile is because I want more friends like you. I want people who like me for me, not because they can use me in the future. I don't know why I'm even bringing this up, it was just a random thought." I finished with a shrug.

"You know everything that happened to you and where you came from is public record right? Eventually, it's going to come out."

"I know, I just have to socialize more while it's still quiet. When it comes out, if people are only interested in me because of that, I just have to pay more attention to people's intentions I guess."

"Well today will be a good day to hang out more, we're going to the pool today for swimming lessons." Eiichiro let me go and put his hands in his pockets when we reached the front gates of the school. "It'll be rough though, we have a few... unsavory individuals in our class."

"What did I miss?" I asked curiously.

"There's a group of three that have started hanging out together. Sudo, the basketballer is alright but the other two are complete perverts. I wanted to try and start bringing the class together today but it's going to be hard to get the girls to participate in the lesson with those two."

"If they say or do anything I'll put those bastards through a window." I said coldly as we walked down the hall to our class. Eiichiro stopped me with a hand on my shoulder.

"Don't do anything like that, you'll get suspended. Maybe even expelled!"

"I have a sister, Eiichiro. What if they were ogling her? What if it was Tsubasa? Would you care about suspension or expulsion?"

Eiichiro went quiet. He was trying to be pragmatic but at the same time I could tell he didn't want to start another fight with me. That was part of being a leader though, you were always going to upset someone, you couldn't please everyone. It was better that he learn that sooner rather than later so he could decide if he really wanted to lead the class.

"Why don't you go and see Arisu first? I'll go to class ahead of you, if you're late I'll pay with my points so that there's no trouble." He offered. With a slight nod, I made my way over to class A without hesitation. A few people looked at me in confusion as I made my way there, wondering why I was going to a different class as I slid the door open and looked inside to see everyone already sitting at their desk at attention.

"My, my Onii-chan. Are you lost?" Airsu said frostily.

"You only ever call me that on my birthday," I pointed out walking over to her desk.

"And when I'm incredibly annoyed with you. You're going to get us in trouble, go back to your class before the bell goes off and our sensei comes in." Arisu rebuffed with heat.

"I'm sorry that I made you mad," I offered, lowering myself to eye level next to her desk.

"You can apologize for ignoring my calls and texts and when you were on your date another time when it doesn't negatively impact me." Arisu spat with venom. I sighed as some of the girls looked at me with a bit of sympathy. No one stood up for me in my defense though, apparently a number of them knew to be afraid of her already, as expected of Arisu.

"Tiramisu for dessert after lunch? My treat?" I asked hopefully. Arisu's glare softened only a fraction.

"You would be so lucky if I let you off that easily." Arisu said simply with a dismissive wave of her hand. Not wanting to antagonize her anymore, I quickly left the room just as the bell went off. I rushed back to 1-D and slid inside before Chabashira-sensei arrived.

Chabashira-sensei took roll call, giving me a small glare when I announced that I was present. Once she was finished, she informed us of our swimming lessons later on that day before gathering her things and got ready to leave.

"Sensei," Eiichiro asked with his hand raised. "I have a few questions I'd like to ask you, could you spare a few moments?"

"Your first lesson begins in thirty minutes. I have to prepare for my own lessons, you'll have to see me another time." Chabashira said curtly, making her way to the door.

"How many points would it cost me to get ten minutes of your time to ask my questions in front of the class?" Eiichiro negotiated. Chabashira stopped suddenly, looking at him with a piercing gaze. After five seconds, she stopped before putting her stuff back down on the podium before giving him her attention.

"I'll make an exception, I hope you're not wasting my time."

"Will we be receiving 100,000 points next month?" Eiichiro asked quickly.

"The guy's gone nuts, Yamauchi," One boy chuckled.

"Sae-chan-sensei is going to rip his throat out," Yamauchi giggled with glee. "She literally just told him not to waste her time, what a dumbass."

"I'm not allowed to say," Chabashira-sensei replied once the shock wore off, her face broke into the widest of smiles. The room went silent.

"Ike... why is she smiling? Sae-chan-sensei never smiles..." Yamauchi asked the first boy. Ike, as I now knew him, said nothing.

"Can you tell us how many points we will receive next month?" Eiichiro pressed.

"No, I can't say how many points any of you will receive next month," Chabashira-sensei answered carefully. She had excitement all over her face, as though pressing for Eiichiro to ask the right questions.

"Is it because you're not allowed to say or because you don't know?"

I had to say I was thoroughly impressed. I wasn't deluding myself thinking that he was coming up with these questions on the fly. He must have analyzed my suspicions and carefully thought out what to ask, predicting these answers. He wasn't asking these questions anticipating getting answers, he was asking the questions to make the rest of the class try to fill in the blanks, or at the very least, ask him why he asked those questions later.

"I'm not allowed to answer those questions," Chabashira-sensei was practically vibrating with excitement.

"How much would it cost me to get answers to my questions?"

"More than you alone could afford, unfortunately."

Eiichiro frowned... He was so close. I wanted to jump in for him but decided against it for two reasons. Number one, I didn't want to undermine him. If he was going to be a leader, I couldn't undermine him. The first rule in the book 'The 48 rules of Power by Robert Greene', never outshine the master. He was my friend, not my master. But in the early stages of him wanting to take a leadership role, I couldn't do it. He had to do this alone and make his own mistakes if he didn't figure it out for himself. Thankfully, help came from another student.

"How much will it cost us collectively?" A girl with brown hair asked.

If I was ever going to witness what was known as an orgasm in my life, I swear I had just seen it with how happy Chabashira-sensei looked when she heard someone else ask the golden question.

"You will need to sacrifice part of your future points for a detailed explanation."

Before she could ask if we would like to do it, Eiichiro cut her off.

"Thank you sensei, we'll discuss it as a group and let you know next time we see you." He said with a nod. Chabashira-sensei collected her belongings with gusto almost bouncing to the door. Before she left she turned and made direct eye contact with me.

"I expected these questions from you on our first day." Chabashira-sensei said with a cold glare.

"Please don't expect too much from me sensei," I offered with a bow of my head. "I'm just an average student, I'm no more exceptional than any other."

"I wonder how long you plan to continue this farce, Ayanokouji."

I said nothing and didn't let it show but inside I was seething with rage. It's obvious she knows but how dare she talk about my private matters in front of the others. Questioning glances suddenly turned in my direction as she left the room.

There was utter silence in the room for about thirty seconds. No one really understands how long thirty seconds of silence actually is unless you actually count it out. It really does feel like an eternity.

"Matsuo-kun, do you mind telling us what that was all about?" Hirata asked, suddenly breaking the silence.

"Look, I'm not so sure about it myself. It's just that something weird is going on with this school. Hasn't anyone noticed the cameras all around the school? There are even cameras in the class. Also, when I was shopping I noticed there are free items there and some of the other senpai's were also eating free meals in the cafeteria yesterday at lunch.

"It made me wonder, if it's the beginning of the month and everyone gets 100,000 points every month, why would they be giving out free items and why would they be eating those meals when we're only three days into the semester?"

"Maybe they're saving up to buy something expensive?" Ike offered.

"I don't know but I think we should consider giving up some of our future allowance to get the answers," Matsushita offered.

"Who asked you, bitch?" Yamauchi shouted, getting to his feet. "I'm not giving up my allowance just to get answers to questions we already know the answers to!"

"Who are you to call her a bitch, pervert!" Karuizawa yelled, getting to her feet as well.

The class erupted into chaos as everyone started yelling at each other. Eiichiro looked completely out of his depth at the pandemonium around him while Koenji stayed quiet, leaning back in his chair with a smile.

"Calm down everyone!" Hirata yelled out, clapping his hands. "Yelling at each other isn't going to solve anything, we need to figure out what we should do as a group, majority rules."

"I think we should get the information, I can understand why those imbeciles wouldn't want to think about their future." My former seatmate with black hair and red eyes piped in, nodding her head in Ike and Yamauchi's direction.

"Horikita-san, I know that we all have different opinions but it isn't nice to call them that, we're all supposed to be classmates and friends here," Kushida tried to reason.

"Irrespective, Matsuo-kun brings up some great points that do need to be answered. If only he had the stones to get his best friend to attend class." Horikita said scornfully.

Great, how the hell did I get dragged into this.

"I was sick, there's nothing I can do about that," I said with a shrug.

"And yet you were still able to go to the gym the past two days." She rebuked.

"Are you stalking me, Horikita-san?"

"It's hard not to notice when your fangirls post up videos and photos of you working out on the school boards. If you want to feign sickness and be truant, you should atleast have the brains to go to the gym when no one is there or skip on it altogether. That gym has 24 hour access, does it not?"

I couldn't really argue with that logic.

"Look we only have ten minutes to get to the pool so let's all discuss this when we're done." Hirata tried to placate us. He really seems like a good guy, maybe I should be friends with him.

"I agree, let's head over there now. Kushida-san? Hirata-san? Would you mind walking over there with me? We can talk as we go." Eiichiro asked.

"Sure," Hirata said quickly

"No problem!" Kushida bounded over.

"Ayanokouji-kun," Kushida started. "You should at least reply to my texts, you know. I thought we were supposed to be friends."

"Sorry about that, I've been out of it for the last couple of days." I offered, following them out.

"You can make it up to me by having lunch with us today." Kushida smiled clapping her hands excitedly.

"I'm really sorry, but I'm having lunch with my sister today. I'm planning to go shopping after class, maybe then?"

"It's a date," Kushida winked before going over to Eiichiro before I could correct her. Leaving it be, I made my way over alone before Matsushita sidled up to me. The rest seemed to congregate in their own groups, her usual friends Karuizawa and the rest looked at her before leaving her be.

"It must be hard," She joked as we walked. "All these girls vying for your attention, whatever will you do?"

"I know, such is the pain of life," I joked back. "Thank god that I have a nice boy like you to keep me company as we go to the pool."

Matsushita snorted but didn't continue with the joke and didn't seem bothered by it.

"Will you be swimming with the rest of the group?"

"Yeah, I wasn't going to but Matsuo-kun really did put the fear of God into the rest of the boys. I don't think there's going to be anything perverted going on anymore."

"What did he say?"

"That you would cave in their skull if they let their eyes wander for too long," Matsushita laughed. "At first they didn't believe him but Koenji piped in and said that if they thought you wouldn't, they should try it and see what happens. They seemed to take it seriously after that."

"I wonder why they would say that," I mused.

"Maybe because they both know all about the secret you're so desperately trying to keep hidden." Matsushita said nonchalantly. I stopped dead in my tracks and Matsushita kept walking for a couple of steps before noticing and stopping as well.

"Look, I've known since the beginning but I haven't said anything to anyone. I'm pretty sure Koenji knows as well after what he said on the first day, Matsuo definitely knows since he's your best friend. Please don't worry, I understand. If anyone finds out it won't be from me."

"How do you know?" I asked, I began walking again once the shock wore off.

"Koenji and I are both from pretty well off families. Mine isn't as well known as Koenji's but we're comfortable. My parents made it a point to keep me informed growing up.

"I'm fairly talented myself, it hasn't been easy making friends in middle school so I know exactly what you're going through. I understand what you're doing because I went through it myself and I'm doing what you're doing here too. So don't worry, when your secret comes out I can promise you it won't be from me." She finished sincerely.

"I really appreciate that, Matsushita-san." I didn't know what else to say. I was pretty touched if I'm honest, I felt like I found someone who may understand me. Maybe I found a new friend.

"I didn't really know how to approach you with other girls hovering about constantly, but I'd like for us to be friends. If you wouldn't mind, can we exchange contact info and hang out sometime?"

"Didn't Eiichiro already hand out my contact information like it was a pamphlet?" I said bitterly. She giggled, obviously she knew what had happened the previous days.

"I didn't get it from him to be honest. I couldn't be so shameless," Matsushita said bashfully. I nodded with a smile, handing over my phone.

Once we entered the pool, we split off to the different change rooms and soon after we were all reunited at the poolside with almost everyone in their swimsuits.

Looking up at the gallery, I noticed only three people decided not to join us, Karuizawa and two other girls. Noticing the other two, there were four reasons why they definitely didn't want to join us but Karuizawa was a bit of a surprise. Curious as to why, I moved next to her noticing Eiichiro was talking to the sensei.

"Karuizawa-san, you're not going to swim?" I asked as I sat beside her.

"No, no I don't really like the water," Karuizawa answered, averting her eyes.

"If it's because of those two you don't have to worry about it."

"No, really. Matsuo-kun already told them off, most of my friends were going to sit it out so thank you, I just really don't want to swim. It'll mess up my make-up, you know?" Karuizawa said, flipping her ponytail to her other shoulder.

"I don't even know why you wear it, it's not like you need it," I countered with an eye roll. Karuizawa went red and sputtered back a retort.

"Dummy! How can you say something like that, people will get the wrong idea!"

"What wrong idea?" I asked, feigning ignorance.

She stayed quiet looking at the ground for a while.

"Aren't you going to swim? I know you work out, I've seen the photos, you don't have to stay here with me,"

I pretended to cover my chest in indignation.

"Karuizawa-san, how lewd. I'm not just a piece of meat you know."

I had no idea why I was even doing this, it's a bother. For someone who wanted to do nothing, I was putting in far too much effort. Maybe I was inspired a little by how hard Eiichiro was working today. Maybe I was a little touched by Matsushita's willingness to go out of her way for me. Karuizawa was her friend so I felt a little obligated not to leave her alone.

"T-that's not what I'm saying! Ahh mou, you're teasing me aren't you! That isn't nice you know!"

"To be honest, I don't even want to swim. I'm just here because I have to, I did ditch two days of school. The least I could do was show up and change into my swimwear."

Karuizawa hid a giggle behind her hand laughing at me.

"You really are lazy aren't you?"

The instructor was teaching the others who didn't know how to swim what to do. Not long after, he started explaining the terms and rules of a race he was proposing.

"Alright, I'll have you start competing against each other. We'll separate groups by gender. Fifty-meter freestyle."

"You can't be serious?" Yamauchi sputtered.

"Didn't you say you were the flying fish? It should be easy for you! I'll give out a special bonus to the first-place winner: 5000 points. The student who comes in last place, however, will have to take supplementary lessons. Get ready."

"Are you going to race?" Karuizawa asked.

"Not if I don't have to," I answered as the girls were separated and started to race. "I don't want to give you free eye-candy of me dripping with water."

"Dummy! Stop saying embarrassing things!"

We sat quietly watching as the races progressed, Onodera taking the win with a speed of twenty-six seconds. A pretty significant win over the rest.

"She's in the swim team," Karuizawa said, nodding in her direction. "Guess it was expected that she would win."

"It'll be interesting to see how the guys do," I offered, watching as the boys started to line up.

"Get down there and win it for me," Karuizawa poked with a smile. "Since I can't swim, I'd like to see you give it your all. Please? For me?"

She smiled shyly with upturned eyes. Damn women and those eyes.

"Fine, but if I win, what's in it for me?" I challenged her.

"W-what do you want?" Karuizawa asked fearfully.

I smirked at her standing up and stretched slightly, pausing for dramatic effect. As the first race concluded, I waved at Eiichiro that I was coming down and he quickly talked to the instructor who suddenly got excited. Another who knew who I was, this was becoming troublesome.

"Eiichiro is probably going to have a tough time with the class. It'd be nice if he had someone else in his corner," I said over my shoulder walking down to the pool.

Reaching lane four, I was next to Koenji who was in lane three with Sudo in lane five. Koenji grinned at me before his eyes narrowed in concentration, he must really want to go head to head.

"I won't lose to you Ayanokouji. That 5000 is mine," Sudo spat, getting ready himself.

With opponents like these, it'd be disrespectful not to give them my best effort. After all, I already saw how angry Arisu got when I let her win and Koenji was very aware of me. Even if he respected my desire to keep my secret for as long as possible, I didn't want to offend him and risk him revealing me in anger.

"Are you ready Koenji?" I asked as the others got into position.

"A perfect existence such as myself deserves only the finest competition," He answered with a smirk as he got ready. The starter gun went off and we all dove in instantaneously.

I gave it my all, holding nothing back. I didn't even look to see where the others were, such a distraction would shave precious micro-seconds off my time. It was over quickly, as soon as my hand hit the wall I bobbed my head out of the water to see Onodera there with a timer.

"2–21.6 seconds," She stuttered. I nodded at her with a smile before pulling myself out of the water. Koenji finished behind me at 23.22 seconds and seemed to take the loss good naturedly.

"Exactly as I predicted," He said curtly, walking away soon after.

"You're not angry?" I asked, his retreating form.

"A perfect existence doesn't mean to never lose, it's to not allow losses to affect your progression moving forward." Koenji answered, not pausing in his exit.

A/N: I completely understand that Kiyotaka is OOC beyond belief in this story. This is my take on what he would be like if he had connections with people and if he left the WR earlier. I know that pointing that out is kind of redundant since it's painfully obvious but I just thought I'd say it anyway.

On another note, I've said it many times before but Inferno3054 has been a really big part of why these updates are coming in so frequently. They've been proofreading my chapters pretty much on demand, checking through grammar etc and giving feedback on the story and I honestly can't thank them enough for their hard work.

On a final note, once again thank you for the votes and the comments. As superficial as it may sound, it's the appreciation that's motivating to update and really gives me the energy to update more than what I originally planned. I can't say that I can keep up this pace indefinitely but for right now please know that the support has really been pushing me forward.

I hope you all continue enjoying reading this as much as I'm enjoying writing it.

Chapter 5

A/N: I have a confession to make, work the last two days has been busy and I understand I warned you guys that once work starts that I wouldn't be uploading as frequently but I wanted to and I'm anxious to get this out. I also didn't want to forget what I had planned for the chapter and pushed it out. It may be rushed and there may be mistakes because I didn't have this proof read. So, if I make any major screw ups that anyone points out, I'll delete the chapter, fix it and reupload it. Enjoy everyone

Chapter 5

I am in a utopia. No forget that, I am in heaven. It's the weekend of my second week at Advanced Nurturing High School and I have come to reach nirvana, I have reached peak elation. A heightened state of being where it's as though the dots of the universe have connected and spontaneously, everything right now, in this moment is exactly how I want it to be.

What could I possibly be doing that has made me feel such elation, you may ask? Could I be shopping with my new growing circle of casual friends? Could I be watching a movie, eating popcorn next to Kushida, Karuizawa or even Asahina-senpai? Or perhaps I'm on a date, exploring the new found wonders of youth?

No, no I am not. I am in my room reading the latest copy of 'I tripped over a vine, fell off a cliff and now I'm engaged to a water sprite' while lying on my bed.

Alone. In silence.

I have done absolutely nothing for the last two days. Aside from visits from Eiichiro yesterday where we watched the latest anime episodes that we had missed in the lead up to coming here and the occasional phone call, I have not left this glorious oasis known as my bed except to go to the toilet, shower or my kitchen.

What have I done in my life to deserve this moment of absolute bliss?

High school life has taught me many things in such a short period of time. I always thought that I knew just about everything there is to know in life. Everything that was covered in classes was second nature. To be frank, I learned all of it at the age of seven so there was nothing stimulating in classes. I had a fundamental understanding of psychology, social dynamics, had a couple of friends and my sister. There should be no revelations to be had about people and association, but I was naive.

Now I've come to realize women are exhausting. I felt like the last pack of toilet paper being fought over in a pandemic. I wanted to enjoy a normal high school life, being popular was one of those possible experiences. I could have been an ass and lived out life as a loner but that wasn't appealing to me. Kinship with the people I consider my family has made me cherish relationships and I did want to have people around me. I just didn't anticipate how troublesome it would be when that circle grew.

I understood now that Hirata was a god amongst men. He was not a mere mortal such as myself. That poor man. Everyday he would be tugged at by all directions by a different girl, all of them wanting his attention and affection. Other boys in the class glared at him in jealousy, wanting to be in his position. Those poor fools. He took all of it with a pained smile, begging for someone to free him from their clutches, but I am a coward. I watch while offering incense in my mind at his sacrifice for my freedom. He is like a modern day Jesus, being crucified for my cowardice as I watch his struggle with no intention to intervene.

In the last two weeks I have been subjected to a similar hellish nightmare to a smaller degree. I have been to more clothing stores in the last two weeks than I have in my entire fifteen years of life. Forced to endure the hell of watching girls change into countless garment variations, suffering the repeated agony of giving a thumbs up to every outfit, subjected to the recurring nightmare of having to think of a new compliment so as not to seem disinterested.

Sure, there were benefits. I had managed to save a fair amount of points by being treated to lunches, dinners and movies with whomever invited me out. It wasn't that their company was unpleasant and it's not as though they were annoying to be around. But I have suffered the inane gossip of who likes who, who is hot, who should die, who's a pervert...

NO! This train of thought is poisonous. This is supposed to be my sanctuary. I can not allow this haven to be tainted with such a dangerous train of thought. I will enjoy this precious moment with every fiber of my being while I ca-

The familiar sound of my bell ringing to my apartment sounded and suddenly I was reduced to comical tears internally. Why... WHY!? Just as I manifested the White Room, I have now manifested an interruption. What was originally a perfect weekend was ruined now. The serene surroundings came crumbling and dying around me as the bell rang once again, my visitor impatient with my lack of response. Before I could continue cursing whatever demon was outside of my door, the bell sounded twice again rapidly.

Vowing to myself to destroy whoever dared to ruin my peaceful sanctuary, I got up from my bed with a groan fully intending to give whomever it was a piece of my mind. Upon opening the door, I was confused to see a man that I've never seen before. It was what looked to be an upperclassman.

He was roughly my height, with black hair and glasses carrying a leather folder. He exuded an air of authority and the biting words suddenly died in my throat. Curiosity won out over anger as I was greeted suddenly before I could say anything.

"Ayanokouji Kiyotaka?" The man asked.

"Yes, that's me. How can I help you, senpai?" I asked confusedly.

"My name is Horikita Manabu, I'm the student council president. Asahina-san told me that you wanted to meet with me, I'm sorry that it has taken so long. Do you have a moment?"

I snapped to attention, I had been waiting for this. It had taken longer than I anticipated and I honestly thought that Asahina-senpai had either forgotten or wasn't successful. I had already planned to proceed with plan B if I hadn't heard back from her about a meeting by the time that the second month rolled around.

"Oh yes, senpai. Please come in, would you like something to drink?"

"Tea, if you would be so kind. I hope that I wasn't interrupting you, I apologize for coming over unannounced but I don't have your contact information." Horikita offered before stepping through the threshold and taking off his shoes, closing the door behind him.

"My apologies for coming over unannounced, I hope I wasn't interrupting anything important." He called out to me, scanning the room.

"No, that's fine. I was starting to wonder if I needed to follow up with Asahina-senpai. I thought maybe she forgot to pass on my message." I said politely. God, I really am a coward.

Finishing making tea, I gingerly took both cups before setting one in front of him and taking a seat. He took a careful sip before crossing his legs and leaning back in his chair.

"Well she had no idea what you wanted to speak about but spoke very highly of you. I'm surprised at how she holds you in such high regard while thinking that you're just an average kouhai. When I realized, I was careful not to accidentally inform her that you are the chairman's son."

I went silent at the knowledge that he knew about my father. If he knew that, there's a possibility he knew everything else. There was no need to confirm, if he wanted to keep that part of things quiet then I was grateful not to talk about it. If he didn't know, there was no need for me to give that information up freely.

The new information made me rethink my tactics. I was fully prepared to give up a percentage of the points that the app was going to generate but if he knew that I was the chairman's adopted son, more than likely he would probably want a favor in return. While I'm not a fan of nepotism, I wasn't completely against using it.

"I appreciate you keeping it a secret, I wouldn't want someone to use me because of my family. Speaking of family, I have someone in my class named Horikita, is she a relation of yours?" I kept a close eye on him and watched as he visibly flinched.

"Yes, unfortunately Suzune is my younger sister. Is she a friend of yours?"

"Unfortunately?" I asked with a frown.

"Unlike your adopted sister, mine is ... unremarkable. She's quite the disappointment to me," Manabu explained. The frown on my face deepened even when I tried not to, an involuntary reaction to his explanation.

"You seem displeased,"

"I'm pretty fond of my sister even if we're not related by blood, it's hard for me to relate with how you feel."

"I suppose I can understand that, however I'm pretty sure you didn't want to discuss my family matters with me when you asked for this meeting. Perhaps we should return to business."

I gratefully accepted the segway. Regardless of my viewpoint, it wasn't any of my business anyway. I wasn't a big fan of Horikita, she had been nothing but hostile with me since the day I met her. I was actually thinking to myself that I should buy Kushida a gift for being so willing to change seats with me, I'd probably stab myself if I was still in my old spot. Kushida really is an angel.

I moved to get my notebook, politely excusing myself before returning and showing him the features of the application. I carefully explained everything, the payment structures, the functions and the benefits to the school as a whole. Manabu gave me his undivided attention, only interjecting for clarification on points but freely allowing me to speak.

The app had a few key selling points. It allowed for people to post requests for tasks that they wanted done without a category and also had a menu to give a timeframe on the expected completion. People were free to set their own pricing and there was an option for people to counter offer if they wanted to haggle.

The second menu allowed for people to show an available status for ad hoc tasks that were time sensitive for people who needed things done in a hurry. There were categories available here where task seekers could choose from a set menu of jobs they were willing to do from cleaning to picking up goods/food for people. It allowed for people to input their own categories if they wished.

The third menu was a list of partnered restaurants and businesses that I contacted via email early on in the process. Many wanted to be a part of the program. It allowed for the businesses on campus to list their inventory with pricing and payment done through the apps processing system. Available students would be able to go pick up the items and deliver. This was where I could make a large bulk of revenue.

The companies listed were split by categories but they negotiated their own rates. They were split into three different revenue share categories, the ones willing to give me 15% of the products sold were listed at the top, 10% next and finally 5%. A few places offered to pay me a monthly set of points to be listed at the top. In a school where there was essentially zero advertising for businesses on campus it was a rare opportunity for them

When I was done showing him the functionality and the stability of the app I waited patiently for him to speak. He stayed silent, playing with the app for an hour. He meticulously checked features asking questions, thoroughly read through the terms and conditions and asked general questions on possible future features before putting down his phone and adjusting his glasses.

"This... was definitely not what I was thinking this meeting was going to be about," Manabu said massaging his temples.

"I apologize if I have caused you a problem, I'm sure you can understand why I couldn't tell Asahina-senpai any of this when I asked for the favor."

"This causes more issues than you could possibly imagine,"

"I don't understand why, I thought that this would solve a lot of problems rather than cause them," I offered. What issues could I possibly be causing? Perhaps I was missing something with the limited information that I had on how the school functions.

"On the contrary, for the student populus this solves an enormous problem. I don't think that there is a student here that is a skilled enough coder to be able to make something like this, so a solution like it has never been presented." Manabu said in reply.

"Then what's the issue?"

"The issue is the amount of points that you will have funneled to you." He paused for a moment before carefully choosing his next words. "Have you made any projections on how many points you would make from this venture?"

"I estimate that half the student populus would use the service once per day. Based on those projections, I think I would make roughly 48,000 points per day."

"And what if I told you that you grossly underestimated those projections?"

I went quiet, waiting for him to continue. I only had a limited knowledge on how the school functioned. It wasn't as though the school or our teachers were very forthcoming with information, or at the very least Chabashira-sensei wasn't. It was very possible that with the limited information I had, it had influenced my projections. I wasn't aware of the budgets of the upperclassmen after all.

"You're only in your first month here so you're most likely under the assumption that 100,000 points per month is the ceiling of the monthly allocation of points per student. That isn't the case. In actuality, I can't reveal much because of the limitations on what upperclassmen can tell younger students, but that isn't the case." Manabu explained.

"I've already revealed too much so your discretion would be greatly appreciated, as I'm sure you already noticed I have an agenda of my own for meeting with you. Having said that, agreeing to this proposal causes a significant problem for people outside the school."

"My father," I guessed.

Manabu nodded once, hesitating before continuing on.

"There would be a perceived conflict of interest if suddenly the chairman's son had come up with a way to funnel points from the students of all year groups. I'm sure that it isn't the case that the chairman has broken any rules informing you of anything beforehand, nor do I think that you had this made before coming to the school. But there will most likely be an inquiry from the Japanese government. They are, after all, the ones who are funding the school." Manabu finished.

I thought carefully about my options. If I had it my way, I would just leave this here. I had no interest in being wealthy and the app caused significant problems for me personally. Not only would it take up far more time than I would want to dedicate to anything, but even with my modest projections I wouldn't be able to spend those points without drawing attention to myself.

With my desire to keep a low profile and make genuine friendships, private points complicates those things.

However, if I wanted to simply make something to generate points for myself as spending money that wasn't affected by the class' actions as a whole, I would have chosen something on a smaller scale. I primarily did this so that I could move Eiichiro to class A if he had failed to reach it on his own accord. I had no idea how much it would cost to do so, I was just confident that it could be done. For that reason, I could not just let this go and thank Horikita-senpai for his time.

"I can make a personal guarantee that the government will not have an issue the moment you mention my name,"

"While I don't doubt that you believe that, you understand that I can't simply take you at your word, correct?"

"Well then, I would be willing to draft and sign a memorandum assuming all responsibility in the event of an enquiry with them." I offered simply. "I'm very confident that nothing negative will come from your concerns, I can't say why but I can assure you wholeheartedly that while your concerns are valid, they are unnecessary. The real question is, what do you want in return."

Horikita Manabu smirked knowing that I saw through this smoke show he was playing. We both knew that he only brought that up to make out as though my proposal was a difficult task so that I would feel obligated to do something in return for him. He wanted something and he wanted to leverage a favor for a favor, now things were going to be interesting.

"What do you think I want, Ayanokouji?"

"The most obvious request would be a share in the points I'd imagine," I said with a shrug.

"Do you think that I would be bought by something as mundane as private points?" Manabu countered finishing his tea. "I want you to serve on the student council as the second Vice President."

I laughed instantly at his request. He sat there calmly, not showing any reaction to my sudden outburst. It was some time before I finally stopped and glared at him.

"You can't be serious," I deadpanned.

"Have I given you any indication that I am one to make jokes?" Manabu asked, narrowing his eyes.

"With all due respect, President Manabu. To use a saying from one of my classmates, I'd rather drag my balls through broken glass." He said nothing and waited for me to continue with my explanation.

"You seem to misunderstand my intentions. I didn't do this to help the student body, I'm not a bleeding heart who cares about society as a whole. I care about my friends and my family but more than anything I'm incredibly lazy, you won't get a lot of work out of me, of that I can assure you.

"Finally, I'm in class D. I don't think that anyone is going to respect someone who is in class D with middling grades, how are you going to sell that to the rest of the student council, let alone the student body."

Manabu grinned like a Cheshire cat and I realized instantly that I walked into a trap and asked the exact question he wanted me to ask. It's incredibly rare if not unthinkable that someone got the drop on me. At this moment, I realized that Horikita Manabu was someone who was incredibly sharp and deserved my respect.

"Yes, 50's across the board on all subjects. I had my suspicions on how the chairman's son, adopted or not, was so mediocre. Especially since his own daughter was incredibly gifted, a genius by all accounts. So I had your entrance exam's pulled so I can look at them."

He reached for his leather folder before opening it and taking out a stack of papers, passing them over to me. There were copies of my tests from my entrance examinations.

"On the surface, if you only looked at the results you are most certainly a mediocre student. But look at the answer sheets themselves and it reveals the truth. Mathematics you only answered every odd question, English every even question, History odd and so on and so forth. Meaning that if you answered every question on the exam, it stands to reason that you could have answered every single question correctly. A feat that not even your brilliant sister could have achieved and quite frankly, has never been achieved in the entire history of this school." Manabu concluded triumphantly.

"I was surprised when I did the tests myself," I nodded in agreement. "It was a strange coincidence that I only knew those answers and I thought that perhaps my father had purposely put the questions in that order as a joke."
"Don't patronize me, the questions for the entrance exams are virtually identical on an annual basis in terms of the order of difficulty, there's only a slight variance in the questions themselves and some of them are the same word for word year to year. You've been honest with me so far with your proposal so let's not break that trust, shall we?" He countered while narrowing his eyes.

"The fact that you already know what your placing in class D means when we're only two weeks into the semester and the purchase of the school systems hasn't been made by class D shows that you have things figured out for the most part, a clear indication that you're more than meets the eye." He finished his tea before gathering his thoughts.

"I believe that your father placed you in class D for one of two reasons. The first being that he humors your lack of ambition. That he had put you there so that you could spend your school life playing around at the bottom of the food chain where you can remain inconspicuous." Manabu speculated.

"Ambition is for people who don't have the guts to be lazy," I cut him off rudely.

"The other possibility is that he believes in you wholeheartedly. He believes in your ability so profoundly that he thinks that you're brilliant enough to drag class D to the top. He placed your best friend with you did he not? I think he did that to give you purpose, to motivate you to fulfill his expectations that he has in you." Manabu continued as though I hadn't interrupted him

"If that is what my father is hoping for then I'm sorry to say that he will be thoroughly disappointed. I just want to experience the average life of a high schooler."

He paused for a moment considering me carefully. It was as though he was gauging me, trying to figure out if any of his words were having any impact. I simply sat in silence ensuring he wouldn't get anything from my facial expressions or body language.

"Ayanokouji, do you believe that you can see the heart of another person in a short interaction?" He asked suddenly.

I frowned at the question simply because I didn't know. It took me quite some time before I let my guard down to anyone originally. I was still discovering what kind of a person I wanted to be and found myself debating his question in my mind. I found myself warring with two sides constantly ever since I found out that I was going to be enrolled in this school.

In my ways the torturous isolation of the White Room forced me to lock away a part of myself to keep me from losing my sanity. I had made improvements in some ways but in others I was hopeless.

I wanted to do nothing but I wanted people to like me. I didn't care about reaching class A but I wanted Eiichiro to succeed. I didn't want to do anything troublesome and yet I humored the requests of people in my class that I genuinely liked. The constant paradoxes made me doubt myself and my motives all the time.

"I don't know how to answer that, President Horikita,"

"I do believe that you can see the heart of a person, sometimes the very moment you meet them. I believe we are similar people, that we have similar values. You love your sister even if she isn't your blood. I love my sister and want nothing more than for her to succeed. We have different methods in how we show that love and how we lead them to that success, but the end results that we hope for are the same. To see them succeed."

"You said that she's unremarkable and a disappointment," I huffed with exasperation. "Which one is it?"

"It doesn't mean that I don't love her or that I don't want her to succeed. As I said our methods for cultivating their growth may differ but rest assured, there is nothing that I want more. Now if I may continue?"

I nodded curtly, urging him to continue with his soliloquy.

"The same with friendship, you say you're doing this for your best friend Eiichiro. I have dedicated myself to the students here and I want them to have an enjoyable school life. I have spent the last three years building a legacy here and an environment in which I believe students can flourish. I simply want you to help me preserve that legacy and in return I want to see if my vision can be entrusted with you."

"If you allow me the opportunity, I will try to show you exactly what I'm trying to convey to you. If I haven't shown you that by the time that my presence in this school has concluded, then that would be a failure on my part. Regardless of the outcome, I'm willing to push through your app and ensure that you will have sole control of the profits generated until your time in this school is over."

"The question is, Ayanokouji Kiyotaka, will you put your faith in me?" Manabu asked, concluding his speech.

I should say no. I don't want to do this. Eiichiro's future is his responsibility, I'm not the leader of class D and he's going to give it his all. I won't go broke even without the app and I can step in when needed to advise him on the best course of action if he's close to failing. Screw the student council and everything it entails. I'm not giving up my precious free time to serve on some stupid council.

"Okay, President Manabu. I accept your offer to serve as the second Vice President of the Student council,"

"Well then, shall we break some glass?" Manabu joked with a grateful smile.

"I thought you said you didn't make jokes," I sighed in exasperation.

I really am a coward. Why didn't I just say no?

Chapter 6

Chapter 6.

May 1, 6:00 am.

The day has only just begun and I already know, with certainty, that today will be an absolute firestorm.

To start with, checking my points this morning I can see that I've received zero points from the school for our monthly allowance. It stood to reason that there was simply a delay, perhaps even a mistake on the side of the school but I was positive that this wasn't the case. I already received a text from Eiichiro that he wanted us to walk to school together, the tone gave away that this was something he wanted to talk to me about.

After I agreed to join the Student Council as the second Vice President, he filled me in on the current situation within the organization and I instantly wanted to take back my consensus to join.

The other Vice President, Nagumo Miyabi, was an ambitious person. He was someone who was placed in class B upon his enrollment and took it as a personal insult. Not long after, his class ascended to class A and he took it as proof that the school system was flawed. He wanted to turn the school into one that functioned on meritocracy, a system that rewarded individual efforts.

This was terrible news. How on earth was I supposed to let everyone in my class carry me through my high school years if we were rewarded and punished based on individual merits? How could the school allow such a monster to exist?

Manabu appointed him to the chair of Vice President, hoping that he could guide him to see things his way but unfortunately it wasn't going so well for him. Worse than that, it seemed that Nagumo was incredibly charismatic, convincing the other second years to join him in his crusade and furthering Nagumo's resolve to mold the school in his image.

After hearing about this I had my suspicions of Horikita Manabu. The man was very obviously a masochist and I seriously started to doubt the man's ability to judge a person's character. It wasn't as though he had a great track record, just look at his two choices in Vice President's? You couldn't choose a better example of Oil or Water if you tried and I couldn't help but surmise that there was every possibility that Manabu simply wanted to make his life more difficult.

Irrespective, we discussed many things that night. How we were going to sell my appointment, what my role was, how we were going to implement BUDDY without anyone in the council knowing that the fees were going to me etc. It was a tight rope that we had to walk with very little margin for error but I was confident that we would be able to maneuver unimpeded with the story we had agreed on.

So, Manabu made me a proposition, one that would ingratiate me with Nagumo. Nagumo was proposing an app of his own called the OAA, 'Over All Ability'. It was an app that held the personal data of all students across every school year. Separated by class, you had the ability to search the profile of any student within the school to bring up their abilities and ranking within the school. I wasn't a fan of the additional work but it did present me with a solution to a huge problem that I narrowly managed to escape after reluctantly agreeing to code it for the council to save money within their budget.

Class 1-D Ayanokouji Kiyotaka

First-Year Evaluation

Academic Ability: C (50)

Physical Ability: A (100)

Adaptability: D (37)

Social Contribution: C (74)

Evaluation: Ayanokouji Kiyotaka is an incredibly gifted student that lacks any form of motivation. He is capable of scoring 100 in each category. With his past, it is understandable that there is unprecedented psychological damage and it is difficult to ascertain to what extent it affects him. Ayanokouji is unmotivated and doesn't seem to be willing to engage in any competitive scenarios. It will be incredibly difficult for any of his peers or the faculty to inspire him and with preposterous knowledge on human psychology, it is inconceivable that any will be able to bring about his full potential through conventional means.

For this reason, in our professional opinion class D is the best allocation for him.

Upon reading my own evaluation, I realized what a bullet I dodged. All it would take was for someone to take an interest in me, read my evaluation and then hell would break loose. Subtly, I convinced Manabu to remove the evaluations from the app and only allow for relevant information to be shown.

I carefully brought up the fact that it was a breach of privacy and that many students would not be happy to be exposed in such an intimate way, that people would have said things in their evaluation that they would not have if they knew that the information would go public. He agreed easily, and if he looked up my evaluation in the coming days after our initial meeting, he didn't show it nor ask about it.

My respect for him as a man grew in a short amount of time. He was someone who respected privacy, someone who rewarded good work honestly and showed a genuine appreciation for anything that I did that was above the bar of nothing. I felt as though I was being manipulated on a subconscious level.

Manabu definitely earned his position. I am yet to meet a single person who held him any lower than in the highest of regard.

As for the reward, I was paid incredibly handsomely from the treasury. Manabu assured me that it was actually a bargain for the council in itself and that it was actually I that was being incredibly generous. He heaped so much praise on me that it made me uncomfortable. He told me that my accomplishments should not be sold short and reiterated that the work was done not only exponentially faster than if they outsourced the projects externally, but also at a significant discount. Almost a quarter of the cost to the budget that they projected for making and maintaining OAA.

Looking down at my screen, I proudly stared at my Private Point Balance of 6,410,025.

BUDDY and OAA weren't even live yet and were scheduled for release June 1. In reality, it was easier to just integrate OAA into BUDDY but I purposely didn't do so or bring up the fact to Manabu. This was Nagumo's vision and it wouldn't do well for me to hijack it. I agreed to code it in order to build rapport, unaware at the time that I would be paid. We already carefully constructed an alibi so that it wouldn't be known that it was I personally who made it, so I was in the clear.

After getting ready, I went downstairs to meet with Eiichiro so that we could talk in private before lessons started. The moment I stepped into the lobby, I saw Eiichiro standing at the exit. He was deep in thought, chewing on his fingernails and leaning against the wall while staring at the ground. The normally energetic demeanor that usually befitted my best friend was nowhere to be seen.

"Let's go," I said suddenly when I was next to him, snapping him from his thoughts with a jolt. He didn't even greet me, simply nodding before falling in step with me to a smaller cafe near the convenience store on the way to school.

"We didn't get any points," Eiichiro said gravely. I nodded, not saying anything in return and simply continued to our destination.

"This is really bad, it's going to be World War 3 in class today."

"There really isn't anything you can do at this stage," I offered, trying to be helpful.

He huffed in frustration, pulling at his hair as he ran his fingers through it. We got to the cafe and I left him to his thoughts for the moment as we waited on our coffee and breakfast. The cafe was fairly quiet without many patrons as we took an isolated table.

"I should have worked harder to convince the class to buy the information from Chabashira-sensei. I didn't expect so many people to be so against the idea..." Eiichiro said, clearly downtrodden.

"While it isn't ideal, there is a silver lining to the situation,"

He suddenly looked up from his coffee cup, hope practically pouring from his eyes. Suddenly, the room may as well have been empty to him. Nothing mattered aside from every syllable that came from my lips, it was slightly uncomfortable.

"Rule 9: Win through your actions, never through argument. The truth is, you came up with a solution, you proposed it and they rejected it. They're reaping what they sowed. The infractions came from a third of the class, after you mentioned your suspicions a number of students heeded your warning and worked harder.

"They improved their behavior, paid attention in class, and came in on time. At the very least this is progress. Not only that, but at least you've established a reliable base. When we go to class and it erupts, at the very least you'll have allies. The people who caused the infractions will most likely be shamed, it's critical that you do not blame them. If they feel attacked, they're more likely to lash out rather than comply.

"It's a golden opportunity to cement your position as a leader of the class, if that's still what you want. It isn't too late to back out now." I finished with a shrug.

"It's a very opportunistic way of looking at it, I'm not sure that I like it." Eiichiro said with a frown, he looked back down at his coffee with a pensive look on his face.

"You have to hold people accountable, you can't show favoritism. Being a leader means you're going to have to make hard choices and sacrifices. If the situation calls for it, you have to be ready to call people out on it, even me."

Eiichiro's head turned up at me so quickly, I couldn't help but wince as I could have sworn I heard his neck crack. His eyes narrowed, angry at what I said but I couldn't understand why.

"Absolutely not, I won't have our friendship ruined for the sake of building clout."

"I'm not made of tissue," I joked light-heartedly. "Don't worry about me, honestly. I can handle anything you say and besides, I deserve it. I'll reap what I sow as well. I didn't expect my choice of lifestyle to be without consequence so don't worry about it. If the situation arises where you can get something out of it, call me out. Trust me, you'll see it when you find out."

If his eyes narrowed any further I could swear that he would go cross eyed.

"What did you do..."

"Absolutely nothing,"

He analyzed me, carefully considering what I said, or rather what I didn't say.

"What didn't you do?" He pressed with even more growing suspicion.

"...do you remember the short quiz that Chabashira-sensei gave us last week? The one where she said the results wouldn't be reflected in our report cards?"

I could see the impending doom on his face as he remembered and realization grew on his features. The air around him grew thick with dread as he seemed afraid to ask me to continue.

"How did you score on the test?" He asked fearfully.

"I got a perfect score," I deflected, averting my eyes.

"Oh, thank god." Eiichiro cried in relief. "For a second I thought you threw the test."

I said nothing in embarrassment, continuing to stare interestedly at the window to the right of us. He noticed and his relief instantly died, panic setting into his features as realization set in for him.

"A perfect score of what, Kiyotaka?"

"Zero. I didn't answer a single question."

There was a loud thud as his head hit the table and he cried comical tears.

"She said that it wouldn't affect our report cards," I tried to defend.

"I'm fucked. I'm so fucked. We're all fucked." With my breakfast already long finished, I got up and patted him on the back feeling guilty. Not long after he rose from the table in a comatose state, as we walked into class as Eiichiro dragged his feet at the impending doom. On our way there, we ran into Matsushita.

I slowed my pace to a stop to greet her as Eiichiro continued on, not noticing and continued in a zombie like fashion. It was as though he were a soldier who just got told that he was going on a suicide mission. I actually really did feel bad about it.

As soon as we were close, Matsushita gently grabbed at my wrist before putting my arm over her shoulders and melded herself right into my side before pulling me toward the school. I noticed a few curious glances and thankfully the glares were directed at Matsushita rather than myself for a change from some of the girls.

"That is... incredibly forward," I observed with a nod.

"Easier to not get overheard, we didn't get any points today."

"A point you could have made with a text or a phone call,"

"Is it so bad that I wanted you to hug me?" Matsushita asked. She looked up at me and fluttered her eyes at me.

"No, not necessarily," I said with a shrug. She pouted and huffed cutely, clearly annoyed.

"Couldn't even get you flustered with that, how annoying. Do you even like girls?"

"I thought I established when we first met that you were a boy, was I wrong?"

"I have feelings you know!" Matsushita protested as we got to the door. She opened it and eyes instantly went to us and Karuizawa looked strangely incensed.

"Matsushita-san, what are you doing?" She asked when we separated and moved to our tables.

"You have Hirata-san now, the rest of us have to make moves before all the good ones are taken," Matsushita said with a shrug. Karuizawa looked as though she was going to protest before falling silent. The room was strangely far quieter than usual, more than likely all of them thinking about how none of us got any points.

Chabashira-sensei entered not long after, humming a tune as she got to the podium. After taking out her things, she grinned at all of us sitting quietly, mocking us with her eyes as she scanned the room.

"Well, well, well. Would you look at this? Look how well behaved all of you are. I wonder what could have possibly brought about this change in all of you." She said mockingly, scanning the room like a predator. "Does anyone have any questions?"

The room stayed completely silent.

"No? Nothing? How about you, Yamauchi? Or you, Ike? Nothing at all?"

The two remained completely silent, not looking up from the desks in front of them.

"What an overwhelming disappointment all of you are, useless, the lot of you. I had such high expectations, some of you seemed to ask all of the right questions and yet look at you all. I do have to commend you though, this class seems to be setting all kinds of records in your first month at this institution." Chabashira continued tauntingly.

"Forty six instances of lateness or absences to class. Two hundred and four instances of talking in class, using phones and reading non-course materials." While saying this she stalked around the class like a predator before stopping directly in front of my desk. "Two instances of outright truancy. I must say, all of you are the very definition of defective. Congratulations to all of you."

Chabashira clapped mockingly while the rest of the class sat in silent shame.

"And to think that Matsuo had a lot of the system figured out. Matsushita urged all of you to sacrifice a portion of your future points to get critical information. You all had the necessary tools to better your positions and instead look at you." Chabashira turned to Eiichiro and glared at him. It lacked the heat that she showed previously, almost as though she was scolding him to teach him a lesson rather than berate him.

"Why did you not push for the rest of the class to go along with your theory?"

Eiichiro said nothing and continued to stare at his desk.

"Look at me!" Chabashira yelled, slamming her open palm on his desk. Eiichiro reluctantly dragged his gaze from his desk and looked at her pitifully. "You lack charisma. You lack conviction. You saw the bigger picture but floundered at the first sight of confrontation. Have some self-confidence and step up or you will have people walking over you for the rest of your life."

Finished with him she carefully strode to Matsushita's desk before stopping in front of her as well. Not wanting to get yelled at as well, she tore her gaze from her desk and looked up at Chabashira-sensei before being addressed.

"You have a good social standing within this class, why did you give up so easily when those two idiots pushed back on your proposal to buy information on the S-System?"

"I-.. I don't know," Matsushita said meekly.

"Were you being shrewd? Did you want to teach your fellow classmates a lesson by allowing them to fail? Do you not care about your future in this school?" Chabashira pressed. She placed her hands on her table, leaning forward until their faces were directly in front of each other. Matsushita leaned back and looked as though she was going to cry.

Chabashira stopped suddenly, looking to the back of the room. She straightened and made her way to the back of the room, stopping in front of Horikita's desk who was sitting in silence and writing something. She didn't notice when Chabashira-sensei reached her but looked up a moment later when she noticed she stopped talking.

"Am I boring you Horikita-san?" Chabashira asked.

"No, sensei." Horikita answered curtly.

"Do I not deserve your undivided attention?"

"No, Chabashira-sensei you do. I was just-"

"You also supported the idea of purchasing information on the S-System, did you not?" Chabashira asked, cutting her off.

"Yes I d-."

"And yet all you did was insult your classmates rather than bring up a convincing argument."

"Well, I-"

Before she could finish, Chabashira turned and walked away again. Horikita looked as though she was going to stand up and yell at her retreating back for repeatedly cutting her off but remained seated clenching her fists. Even if she was furious, her respect for authority kept her firmly in her seat.

As she walked to Yamauchi, he seemed to notice and I watched as a cold sweat seemed to build on his forehead. He visibly flinched when Chabashira laid a hand on his shoulder.

"Yamauchi," Chabashira said softly.

"Yes, sensei," He said fearfully.

"No, Sae-chan-sensei today?" She asked innocently.

He very wisely kept his mouth shut keeping his eyes forward determinedly. Seconds passed and she said nothing, simply keeping her hand on his shoulder. As time continued to pass he started to tremble.

"You were instrumental in the downfall of the class, well done. Your empowered speech of calling Matsushita a bitch for her suggestion convinced the rest of the peasants in this class to ignore a valuable chance. Congratulations, are you proud of yourself?"

When Yamauchi started to shake violently as the tremble got worse, she let him go before moving back to the lectern and took out a sheet of paper. With some magnets, she put the paper up on the board.

Class A - 940

Class B - 770

Class C - 490

Class D - 0

"The actions of some have affected you all. All of you have done as you saw fit and the school has no intention of preventing you from doing as you will. We put no restrictions on your freedom, you are welcome to act in any manner that you see fit.

"But freedom of choice does not mean freedom of consequences. As a result, all of you are being paid your monthly allowance based on the school's perception of your worth." Chabashira explained.

"Sensei," Matsuo called with his hand raised, finally mustering his courage under the immense pressure of the room. "Is there a way we can come back from this?"

"Yes, absolutely. If you like, you can sacrifice some of your points from next mon... oh wait..." Chabashira trailed off grinning maniacally at Yamauchi. He shrunk into his seat at the sudden attention.

"As you can see from the list, students are sorted by their level of excellence. The superior students are sorted into Class A and the least capable in Class D. In other words, Class D is basically the place where all of the failures of the school are placed. You're all deemed worthless. You're all deemed failures. All of you are the definition of defects."

Apparently that was the last straw for Horikita as she violently got to her feet. Chabashira looked incredibly happy at the sudden interruption.

"How dare you..." Horikita seethed. "The rest of these imbeciles may be defective but this school clearly makes mistakes. If it didn't then I wouldn't be put in the same category as this band of apes."

"So, you believe yourself to be superior to the rest of your classmates?"

"Absolutely, without question." Horikita replied quickly with confidence.

Chabashira appraised her with her arms crossed over her chest. Under normal circumstances, the rest of the class would be furious at the proclamation that they were idiots and animals. Instead they all stayed quiet, still in shock over the verbal assault they had endured.

"My, my. What confidence you have in yourself, however misguided it may be." Chabashira mocked. "Why do you think so highly of yourself, Horikita?"

"It's obvious isn't it," Horikita spat in frustration. "My scores on the entrance exam speak for themselves."

"Oh yes," Chabashira acknowledged with a nod. "Actually, you scored within the top 5% of the entire grade in all entrance exam scores. Your academic ability is most definitely up to an elite standard. Do you believe that that is the only category in which students are judged?"

"Of course it is, as it should be." Horikita was practically foaming at the mouth. "This is a school. What else would matter if not our academic ability? I don't even know how half of these idiots even ended up in this school."

Chabashira casually looked about the room before her eyes stopped on Sudou. Gesturing to him with both hands she looked back challengingly at Horikita.

"Sudou is exceptional physically. His academic scores however are well below average. Schools around the country offer scholarships based on physical ability and allow for lower grade point averages. Should Sudou be upset about his placement in Class D?"

The normally loud and delinquent Sudou continued to remain silent even at the praise of his abilities. He didn't even acknowledge the compliment. As someone who was hot headed, it was surprising that he didn't even make a sound the entire time.

"You are arrogant, Horikita. You treat your peers as though they are inferior to you while having a misguided view of your own worth and abilities. Your brother is right to look at you as a disappointment."

That one seemed to hit hard with her. Her mouth suddenly snapped closed and she weakly took her seat again. Her eyes were unfocused and she looked broken as her shoulders slumped forward. The bell sounded suddenly and it was as though life was slowly breathed back into the room. There was a collective feeling of gratefulness that it was all over but when Chabashira made no move to leave the room, the tense atmosphere returned quickly.

Chabashira moved to her things before putting up another paper onto the board. It listed everyone's names along with a number next to it. Immediately seeing my name at the very bottom and a zero next to it, I let out a sigh of defeat.

At first I thought that I was being left alone because of good fortune. It turned out that Chabashira had simply left me for dessert while she savored everyone else as the main course.

When everyone scanned for their own names, they must have noticed my name and score at the very bottom because slowly, everyone's eyes turned in my direction. It was piercing and unsettling. Once everyone's eyes were on me, she smiled at me like she finally cornered a rat. She strode slowly and purposefully until she stopped in front of my desk again, continuing to smile with joy at me.

She really was enjoying this far more than I anticipated.

"Everyone," Chabashira started suddenly, bringing all attention to herself instantly. "Before we go over the results of your test, I would like to congratulate Ayanokouji Kiyotaka. The announcement will come later this week, but as his beloved classmates, I thought I would share the news with you.

"Ayanokouji here has joined the student council, not only as a member but as Vice President. Personally recruited by Horikita Manabu, the very first to ever be appointed from Class D. Please give him a round of applause." Chabashira finished while clapping her hands in mock applause. The rest of the room didn't clap along with her, they sat there stunned.

Eiichiro's eyes widened suddenly in utter disbelief. I could lie and say that I was so busy in my spare time working on OAA but the truth was that I was putting off telling him. Not because I didn't trust him, but because I didn't want to suffer the hell of being teased constantly about having to do work.

While I couldn't see her as I was in front of her, I was also positive that Horikita was staring at the back of my head as well. How troublesome.

"Congratulations, Ayanokouji." Chabashira offered politely.

"Thank you," I replied carefully.

"The very first Vice President from Class D, how ambitious of you,"

My eyes twitched at the word ambitious. What an insult.

"Tell me, Ayanokouji-kun. Can you see your name on that sheet in front of the class?"

I said nothing. This was my own doing, the least I could offer was for her to enjoy this moment as much as she wanted. If I knew that this was going to happen, I definitely would have answered at least a third of the questions.

"Let's see if we can find you... Ayanokouji... Ayanokouji... AH! There it is!" Chabashira called triumphantly as she pointed at the bottom of the page. "Zero."

"Thank you, at the very least for giving the effort of at least writing your name on the test."

"It was no trouble, sensei," I acknowledged politely.

"Ho?" Her eyes widened with mock surprise. "No trouble you say? Perhaps you are changing, no trouble for expending some effort?"

"Sensei, don't you think you're enjoying this a little too much?" I asked with indifference.

"On the contrary, Ayanokouji, I would argue that I have been incredibly patient with you. I'll ask again, how long do you intend to continue with this farce?"

"Sensei," Eiichiro suddenly interrupted. "I believe you've made your point. Really you have, so what do you suggest we do now?"

Chabashira didn't even acknowledge him, continuing to stare straight into my eyes. I knew that my laziness could only go so far and I did push the boundaries a bit too much here. I provoked her and painted a target on my back. I was grateful to Eiichiro for coming to my defense but at the same time I knew that my grilling was justified right now. I couldn't even be mad at her for revealing that I joined the council.

"You have an incredibly loyal friend here, Ayanokouji," Chabashira said simply, gesturing in Eiichiro's direction with a tilt of her head. "Don't you think it's wrong that as a friend, you continue to take advantage of his kindness?"

I went back to being quiet and Chabashira suddenly clicked her tongue at my lack of fight. Turning around sharply she went back to the podium and picked up her things. She suddenly started pointing at the people she grilled one by one, punctuating us with a description individually.

"Uninspiring," Pointing at Eiichiro.

"Arrogant," Horikita.

"Spineless," Matsushita.

"Selfish," Yamauchi.

"Wasted potential," Me.

"Are traits that represent most of you as a whole, it doesn't only apply to the people who were called out specifically. All of you deserve the same attention but unfortunately, we are out of time."

She took out a marker before drawing a red line separating eight names from the rest

"If this were a real test, everyone under the red line would have been expelled. This school is run by the Japanese Government, they fund everything within this campus. They do not fund this school out of charity, this school is to mold the future elites of the country. Anyone below Class A is promised nothing. Not careers, not college admission, not allowances. Nothing."

With that she left the room without giving anyone a second glance.

SS Public Humiliation

Oh father, thank you so much. From the bottom of my heart, thank you. Words can not do any justice to how much gratitude I feel for my dear father on this day, at this moment.

This is what he meant that I would thank him later. This school is incredible. The competition, the cut throat nature, the sheer ruthlessness. It was as though my grandfather who served as the previous chairman of the school, saw my birth coming and molded this school to directly cater for me once I became of age.

At the time, I cursed my fathers name. I was lonely, I missed Kiyotaka and I saw him less and less as the month rolled by. I wanted to be in his class, his presence is soothing to me. He was my one constant in life. While father was away on business all the time, I could always count on Kiyotaka to be there by my side. Then just like that, he was taken away from me. I was forced to live alone despite the fact that my classmates helped me. Now I couldn't be more elated.

I'm very rarely surprised, while I get happy and sad just like any other person, very little tends to excite me. It's the curse of being a genius, when you rarely lose to competition there's nothing to fear. After all, it's like gambling when you know the chips are worthless. When you have no proverbial skin in the game, it all seems meaningless. It's why life is such a beautiful thing, eventually it has to end.

So when Mashima-sensei told us about the existence of the S-System and the details of what it meant I was absolutely elated. In a body cursed with a lack of physical ability, the only thing that I could compete with was my mind. In this school, I could lead this class to victory. Whether they liked it or not, I would drag them to the summit. I would ruthlessly cut down anyone who stood in my way friend or foe, any who opposed me would be thoroughly destroyed.

I wouldn't do it for any of my classmates. If anything it would be great if they put up a fight against my rule. It would be biblical. It would be absolutely wonderful to see the fight drain from their souls when they realized the helplessness of opposing me. It would be even better if they hated me. Watching them begrudgingly follow my orders, cursing me as they did my bidding would be so invigorating. Making them fight against their nature simply for their own self-interest, is there anything better?

But most importantly, it would be another way to compete against him. Six years. Five long years of battling him in the arena of chess and not a single victory. It was the only thing I had in life where I was the underdog, it was why I craved the competition so much. As mentioned previously, a game is tedious when there isn't a risk of losing and I loved the thrill of chasing my first victory. But my brother had been masterfully dodging any form of competition with me ever since that ignoramus let me win that one time.

Now he had no choice. He would be forced to do battle with me, the arena being completely different. Perhaps this time, I could taste that sweet nectar of victory just once. To experience the high of finally being triumphant over him would be the validation to my existence. It would substantiate that I was worthy of the title of genius. I would be able to stand proudly next to him.

I have never minced words when bragging about his greatness. Whenever I was asked to expound on how great he was I would simply smirk.

"You'll see eventually," I would always say whenever the topic came up.

As time passed, I didn't need to elaborate anymore. They saw what I saw in him. He was popular. I wasn't angry when I saw the videos and photos that were taken of him while he worked out in the gym. On the contrary, I was proud.

It was probably pretentious of me that I felt validated whenever I would hear girls whispering amongst themselves about how handsome he was, about how strong he was. It made me feel incredibly satisfied when they would come to me and ask what he was like, if he had a girlfriend or what he was like as a person. I would willingly sing his praises while completely avoiding his one biggest flaw. It would soon come to be my biggest regret for the first month of my high school career.

It was a little known fact that our class was currently split into two factions. From day one, I wanted to lead the class and voiced my willing candidacy, the other was Katsuragi Kohei. He was a boring dolt who did everything safely, the epitome of being risk averse. It made me sick thinking that I would have to follow that idiot's orders if he was selected as the class leader. How was I supposed to concentrate with the sun shining off his bald head?

So, with our intentions clear to the class, discussions were had in private between the group and there were three different sides. My side which currently consisted of myself, Masayoshi Hashimoto and Masumi Kamuro, Katsuragi's side which had Katsuragi, Totsuka Yahiko and Machida Koji and finally the rest of the class who were undecided on who would win. The rest played the middle like peons. How gutless.

"It would appear you were correct about the S-System, Sakayanagi," Katsuragi said suddenly when Mashima-sensei left the room. While he was a knowledgeable teacher, he was clumsily forgetful. In his excitement to inform us of our success, he had forgotten paperwork on his desk that he needed to show us.

"Did you expect anything less, Katsuragi?" I gloated with a smile. "Now that I have asserted my observation skills, shall we discuss your position as my second while I lead the class?"

"You're being incredibly arrogant, Sakayanagi. Just because you were able to notice the inner workings of the school before anyone else doesn't mean that you are fit to lead this group. It's just as probable that you received information from your father before coming here. You are the chairman's daughter after all."

"I resent the fact that you think that my father would give me an unfair advantage. I abhor nepotism. Every achievement I have ever made in my life was mine and mine alone."

"Of course you would say that. Anyone who cheats is going to deny it when they're called out," Totsuka spat.

"The dog speaks," Hashimoto laughed with mirth. "Katsuragi, your pet's muzzle must have fallen out. Best to put him back on his leash before he starts chasing his tail."

"No one asked what you think, brown nosing bastard!" Totsuka shot back.

"That's enough, Yahiko!" Katsuragi scolded him. He turned back to me looking serious.

"Sakayanagi, please, I implore you. Now that the details of the S-system have been confirmed, we have to be united more than ever. We have to work together to ensure our position at the top."

"It's for that exact reason that I have just decided that you have no place by my side, Katsuragi. You want to defensively fend off the wolves while I want to hunt the pack and slit their throats. You don't have the gumption to lead Class A, your methods are cowardly."

He was just about to rebuff me when the door opened and Mashima returned.

"My apologies for my forgetfulness everyone. This is the current rankings of the classes along with their current class points."

He pulled out a large piece of paper and stuck it to the board with a magnet. What on earth was going on?

Class A - 940

Class B - 770

Class C - 490

Class D - 0

As the results were read by the class, I heard uproaring laughter from Totsuka. The worst part about it was the fact that it wasn't put on for show, it was genuine and every moment of hearing it heightened my shame and humiliation. I couldn't help it, my blood started to boil and I could feel my pulse vibrating through my bones as pure rage filled my body. Not at Totsuka, but at that lazy idiot and the one who made him that way.

"Zero? Hahahaha, zero," Totsuka mocked with glee. My eyes met with the moron, mine with nothing but fury and his with nothing but condescension. "The amazing Ayanokouji Kiyotaka, the big brother who you constantly praised as incredible, the boy that every girl in here fawns over. Zero. How pathetic, this is incredible."

"Mashima-sensei, I'd like to purchase the test results for Class D. How many points will it cost me?" Totsuka asked, practically bouncing in his chair with excitement.

Mashima hesitated for a moment looking at me before scanning the rest of the class. I was positive that all of the faculty knew the truth about my brother, none would dare to reveal the past of a student but they were fully aware. It was most likely that now that the competition of the classes was revealed, all of them were incredibly wary of provoking him.

"I can not refuse that request, almost anything on this campus can be purchased with private points. It will cost you 1000 points, the results of their class will be emailed to you immediately. However, before you make that purchase I would like to offer all of you some advice..."

As furious as I was with Kiyotaka, he was still my brother. I better than anyone save for my father knew the hell that he grew up in before becoming a member of my family. As much as I detested his desire for a normal life and regardless of how deeply I longed to compete with him, he was still my brother. He still deserved his privacy.

"Mashima-sensei, I would advise caution with whatever you were thinking you were about to say," I threatened with heat. Whatever he was about to offer died in his throat instantly and I could see the struggle within him. He wanted to protect the class from an enormous mistake but at the same time he still had a responsibility not just to this class but to the student body. Defeated, he sent Totsuka the invoice which was paid instantly and a moment later...

The notification of the email received was deafening, the room completely silent and analyzing every event that unfolded.

"HAHAHAHA, he scored zero. That meat-head didn't even get a single answer right? Hey, hey Sakayanagi, have a look. I think that maybe I misread the result here. You're a genius right? Perhaps you can see better than me, can you please tell me what this score here at the bottom of the list says?" From the moment he started he briskly made his way to me and before he finished, he shoved his disgusting phone in my face and I saw the score of zero.

That...bastard. In all my life I have never suffered so much humiliation in one moment. The chess game that he threw and allowed me to win was horrific enough, but at least it was private. Only he and I were there to experience that moment, both of us would be embarrassed if others were to witness. This was public humiliation, this damaged my image as I've been braggadocious of him and now he looked like he had the brain capacity of a chimp.

"Mashima-sensei, may I be excused?" I seethed quietly. He nodded once and I got to my feet, rushing at the door. At the speed I was going I stumbled a few times and Hashimoto got to his feet ready to help me.

"Princess.."

"Don't Hashimoto, you stay here and leave me be," I commanded angrily. He instantly stepped back and sat obediently, remaining completely silent with a contemplative look on his face. Totsuka's taunting was only just beginning.

"Mashima-sensei, I'd like to go see the idiot as well, may I be excused too?"

"Totsuka, I will warn you now. You leave this room with me and my cane will find itself somewhere you will not enjoy and I promise you, you will be the first in this school to experience what it's like to be able to sit and stand at the same time!" I spat.

"That's enough, Totsuka. Sit down." Katsuragi said quietly. There was a part of me that was grateful that he wasn't joining in on the taunting, but we both knew he didn't have to. If anything it looked better for his leadership candidacy, a benevolent leader who didn't kick his opponent while they were down. How pathetic.

I left the room with renewed vigor, picking up speed as I reached the hall. In my rage and impatience, I misplaced my cane and suddenly found myself stumbling. Moments later, my feet fell out from under me and I sprawled out onto the floor outside of Class B. Is there no end to this disgrace?

I was struggling to get back on my feet when the door to Class B flew open and its leader suddenly rushed out of the room toward me.

"Sakayanagi-san! Oh dear, are you alright?" Ichinose said frantically. She beelined straight to me, gently lifting me back to my feet and putting my cane back into my hand. My eyes never left the floor as she checked over me for injuries.

"Sakayanagi-san, are you okay? You seem upset, what happened?" She asked with worry. I could see the pity in her eyes and felt disgusted with myself. Ichinose was a genuinely, honest to goodness kind hearted person. I didn't want this naive individual's pity, I don't want anyone's pity. Cursing the frailty of my weak body, I snatched my arm out of her grip making my way to Class D again.

Before I could get too far, I felt an arm loop itself with mine and Ichinose matched my pace. I picked up speed continuing to stumble but Ichinose firmly held me up, stopping me from falling every time.

"Go away Ichinose. Get away from me, this doesn't concern you," I said with heat. She didn't let me go, simply gripping me tighter.

"I will go with you to wherever you're heading just to make sure you get there ok. Don't worry, I won't pry."

My legs were aching and my hands hurt from my previous fall, but I didn't lose speed. If anything we went faster. While it was a slower pace than a normal healthy person, for me it was practically running. My breathing sped up as I moved at a speed that I've never had the fortune to move at, fueled with nothing but rolling adrenaline. We reached the door to Class D and I opened it with so much force that it slammed as the door flew into the wall. A blonde boy was standing at the podium addressing the class while the rest of the room was chattering in discussion over whatever he was talking about but I ignored them. They went silent at the intrusion and scanning the room, my gaze fell onto the familiar face of my selfish brother along with his idiot friend at the table next to him.

"YOU!" I roared.

Almost everyone in the room flinched at my voice, the only one being Koenji who sat there with his hands crossed behind his head and leaning back on two legs in his chair. Kiyotaka was sitting in the second row closest to me with the imbecile next to him at the window. Eiichiro looked like he was going to urinate in his seat.

"You lazy, arrogant, selfish, conceited bastard. I have never been more humiliated in my life. You didn't even have the decency to think of how your indolent behavior would reflect on me when y-"

"Ah-chan, maybe w-" Eiichiro tried.

"SHUT UP!" I screamed, cutting him off. I forgot to use my cane in my rage and Ichinose had already let go of my arm, stunned the moment I started screaming and completely confused as to what was going on. I stumbled forward when I moved to Eiichiro's desk, catching myself as I got there. Kiyotaka was at his feet the moment I fell forward but I slapped his hand away. He stood back with a hurt look on his face but remained standing with his head down.

Whirling around at Eiichiro, he stayed seated when I jabbed my finger directly into his face.

"This is all your fault! You swine! You poisoned him! I curse you everytime I see you, I wish you never came into our lives! He was fine without your influence and now you've turned him into this lazy imbecile! All of this is your fault! Don't you dare try to say anything to the contrary!"

Eiichiro took the vicious verbal beat down like a man sitting there and conceding everything that I said. He didn't refute anything and nodded as I spoke, accepting everything I said. I would normally be impressed at the growth in the ever smiling baboon but I was far too angry to acknowledge him.

"How could you do this to me?" I asked weakly.

Kiyotaka looked up at me but said nothing.

"You knew that everything could be bought with points. I bragged about you. The moment the class results came out, they bought Class D's test results. I was laughed at. How could you be so self-serving?"

"When you sat there and handed that blank test in, did you think about how your actions reflect on our father? Did you think about how the staff would think that his son was a disappointment? Imagine that, the chairman's son with a zero. So lazy that he couldn't even bother to pick up his pen, did you even write your name on the test?"

As the words left my lips, I realized he hadn't told any of them as there were collective whispers of 'chairman's son' being repeated across the room. It didn't matter to me though because for the first time since my mother died, I started to cry. Not watery eyes, not a sob, actual tears that flowed down my face and dropped to the floor.

"All I've ever wanted since we became a family was to be able to compete with you, but how can I have that when you never take me seriously? Am I so pathetic that you can't even muster the effort to take me as a challenge?"

"Arisu..." Kiyotaka started but I cut him off.

"Sakayanagi," I said firmly with my hand raised. I steeled my resolve, I would not humor him anymore. If he wouldn't respond to reason then he would have to respond to strength. It wasn't time for compassion anymore, it was time for tough love. Even if it broke my heart to do it.

"That's Sakayanagi to you from now on, Ayanokouji. I have no brother. Congratulations, Ayanokouji-kun. You've finally pushed me too far. I hope you enjoy your lackadaisical lifestyle, I won't be a part of it."

"Don't call me, don't speak to me, don't even message me. I've never been more hurt by a single person in my life. I can't even look at you."

A/N: It's crazy to see that this story is just over a week old and has already done so well in the rankings. Just wanted to take a second to thank all of you for taking time to read this, I honestly started this story on a complete whim. I didn't think anything would come of it so it's really nice to see people enjoy it.

Once again thank you to Inferno3054 who has been reading as a beta. He's been helping with correcting spelling mistakes and also been making suggestions on the story that wouldn't be what it is without him.

Chapter 7

Arisu was still in tears when she left the room with the blonde girl. The rest of the class was quiet for a while but then Hirata, who was still at the podium addressing the class, suddenly cleared his throat to break through the tension.

"It would seem you have a few people upset with you, Ayanokouji-kun," Hirata said with an awkward smile.

I nodded once in acknowledgement.

"At least now everyone knows what my defect is," I tried to joke to cut the tension.

"Shouldn't you go after her? Your sister seems really upset," Karuizawa said with concern.

"She'll get over it, she'll be fine,"

"I don't think so this time, Kiyotaka. I've never seen Ah-chan like that..." Eiichiro trailed off.

"You better hope she isn't outside the door, you're lucky you got off with that once. She'll hit you with her cane again if she hears you this time,"

"This really isn't the time for you to joke, Kiyotaka. She's really upset. We should go after her."

"No we should leave her be, if we go after her now we'll just make her angrier."

There was an awkward lull in the conversation for a while before Hirata cleared his throat again.

"As I was saying before the... interruption? I don't know exactly what to call that, sorry Ayanokouji-kun. But regardless, I'm sure all of us are shocked and unhappy with the results but we should really discuss what we're going to do moving forward." Hirata proposed.

"I'm not sure there's much to discuss really," Horikita said suddenly. "I plan on speaking with the higher ups to review my placement in this cesspool as soon as I can leave."

"You heard what Sae-chan-sensei said, you're arrogant. Maybe you should stop acting like you're better than everyone all the time and you would have been moved to a higher class!" Yamauchi yelled out at her.

"Look who finally found their courage, I'm surprised you could say a straight sentence with all that shaking you were doing before. After that performance, why should I take anything you say seriously, Selfish-kun? At least I had the stomach to stand up for myself. If you like, we can switch uniforms, the skirt would probably suit your personality better." Horikita taunted.

"I don't think that's really helping at the moment," Eiichiro cut her off.

"And I think that it's a little late for you to be playing at being some sort of a leader. If Chabashira-sensei was right about one thing, you're uninspiring. How pathetic, you couldn't even get your best friend to pick up a pen during a test and you let that-" She pointed at Yamauchi with disdain. "stop you from doing what you knew was best for the class."

"I didn't see you putting your foot down either. You agreed and then let it happen. By your logic, you're just as much to blame as him." I chimed in. Poor Eiichiro has been taking it in the teeth all day.

"Please, your opinion doesn't matter in this situation, you're part of the problem. I'm surprised you have the energy to speak, you've done nothing this entire month."

"I did enough for your brother to recruit me into the student council," I said childishly. She bristled, ready to sound off when Kushida cut in.

"Did you really get recruited to the student council, Ayanokouji-kun? As the Vice President too, that's amazing! Congratulations!" Kushida gushed. I couldn't help it, I turned around and flashed a smug grin at Horikita before nodding at Kushida.

"It's a pain but he asked and I agreed," I shrugged.

"Congratulations, Ayanokouji-kun," Hirata agreed.

"Great job!"

"Do your best!"

As more and more of my classmates continued to congratulate me, my smug smile grew wider and wider as I saw Horikita getting madder by the second. I knew it was childish, but with the beating I took this morning I wanted a little bit of brevity.

"I think it's great that you got onto the student council as well Ayanokouji-kun, but I have to say this. Even if Chabashira-sensei said that the test didn't do anything for our reports, to not even answer a single question..." Matsushita trailed off.

"On the contrary, Ayanokouji-boy did absolutely nothing wrong. If the school wanted us to give our best effort, why would they impose no punishments upon us? He rightly pointed out a flaw in their testing pool and effortlessly revealed a valid strategy." Koenji chimed in. He said all of this while combing back his hair with one hand and a mirror in the other.

"What strategy? How the hell could there be a strategy for scoring zero?" Ike asked in confusion.

Koenji laughed condescendingly, looking up from his reflection with scorn.

"Don't think too hard, you may hurt yourself. Only perfect beings such as us can even fathom such a tactic,"

"There was no strategy involved in this, you idiot, he was just too lazy to pick up his pen," Horikita spat.

"And what exactly is wrong with that? All of you are over-reacting, perhaps you are jealous that he was able to spot the flaw in the exam while the rest of you did your best in a meaningless test. Ayanokouji-boy and I are like kindred spirits, we do as we like, when we like, to the extent that we like."

I made a mental note to send 50,000 points to Koenji the moment that I was in the hall, away from everyone else. What a misunderstood soul.

"Guys, please. Let's get back on track here, regardless of what Ayanokouji-kun did or didn't do, all of us are to blame to an extent." Hirata tried to mediate.

"Well I for one am going to take responsibility here," Eiichiro said as he stood up.

"Chabashira-sensei and Horikita are right about me, I couldn't convince you all to go along with me. I won't make the same mistake again, if I figure something out, I'll do my best to convince you of my point of view. I won't simply allow things to pass if I believe that it's the right thing to do.

"Also, we can't blame each other for anything anymore. It isn't Yamauchi's fault that we all collectively decided not to buy the S-System. He was more convincing than I was and so we went with that course of action. We can't change what happened, all we can do is move forward from here." Eiichiro finished. Yamauchi looked relieved at finally having what looked like an ally when everyone was against him. He nodded frantically at Eiichiro, clapping enthusiastically as he finished.

"Still, like, what do we do? We have no points to buy any information now, so we're still kinda screwed," Karuizawa chimed in.

"Well, I'm pretty sure this information is limited at the beginning but now that we know about the S-System, maybe the upperclassmen can tell us stuff? I can ask people from the soccer club, would you be willing to ask in your clubs? Onodera-san? Sudou-kun? Miyake-kun?" Hirata looked at each of them questioningly. Onodera and the one called Miyake both willingly nodded while Sudou just clicked his tongue and looked away.

I tuned them all out as they continued to argue and discuss things between each other. I currently had 6,410,025 points on me that I really didn't expect to have. When BUDDY went live I was sure to have plenty of points and at the moment I had the issue where even though I had the points it didn't mean I could spend them. With the fact that we had no points coming in on a monthly basis, if I was spending like a Class A student it'd draw attention to me.

Aside from Horikita, everyone in the class could be bought off with points. Koenji, in my opinion, was right to an extent that everyone's anger at me for scoring zero was kind of misplaced. I could understand Arisu and Eiichiro being mad, even Matsushita to some degree since they knew what I was capable of but the rest being annoyed was misguided.

The only reason why they would be annoyed would be for trust reasons, they would be asking themselves if I was willing to hand in a test with zero on a meaningless test, would I do it on a test that mattered to the class? None of them would care if I got expelled for such an act if it was just me being affected save for possibly Hirata, but it did affect them.

Maybe I could find a way to pay them off so they would get off my case about contributing.

"...just want to ball, I don't care about any of this other crap. I'm not going to ask my teammates about any of this." Sudou said.

Hirata looked defeated, he really was doing his best but it was obvious that he was struggling when someone put up any kind of fight. He seemed to be a pacifist, wanting to please people even at the expense of his own happiness. It was easier for me to work in my own self-interest because inherently my own self-interest was selfish.

His was for everyone around him to be happy and get along. He would be great as a mediator, but his lack of conviction meant that he was struggling to be the sole leader of the class.

"There's no reason why we should be putting pressure on him when others are left to their own devices. I think it's only fair that Sudou should be allowed reprieve when we offer it to other people in our class as well." Horikita chimed in, looking pointedly at me.

"Yeah, I agree with Horikita?" Sudou assumed that she was siding with him not having to do anything but clearly he didn't understand what she was saying.

"Don't misunderstand me, I'm not protecting you. I'm attacking him." She said pointing at me. "We still haven't addressed the elephant in the room, if we're going to ask Onodera, Miyake, Hirata and Sudou to ask their clubmates about the S-System, it's only right that the Vice President of the Student Council do the same."

"Sure, I'll ask." I said simply. "How about I ask the council members during the next meeting but I'll leave your brother to you? If we're being fair here, you should do something and ask your family, no?"

"Maybe you should ask your sister then? Class A has 940 points and unlike you she seems competent!" Horikita countered.

"Sure, I'll send her a text but you heard her, she doesn't want to hear from me so I don't think I'll get a reply. Will Manabu answer you?" I shot back. Apparently the fact that I brushed off her attempt at baiting me and the fact that I used Manabu's first name was the final straw for her because she immediately got to her feet intent on attacking me with what looked like a compass of all things. Kushida immediately leapt to her feet trying to placate her.

"Both of you stop it right now!" Eiichiro cut us off. "Enough with the childish attacks on each other. Horikita, I understand you are angry with your placement in this class and you may have an issue with Kiyotaka getting into the student council, the truancy and the test but you're singling him out.

"We all have to take accountability for our actions. Including you Kiyotaka, no more. We need to be able to rely on you, that means you have to promise that you will not drag down the class when it really counts. Yes this exam was meaningless for our reports, but you've broken the class's trust. From now on, you have to participate."

"Unbelievable," Horikita sat back in her chair in exasperation. "Don't think I didn't notice what you did. You only asked him to participate. Tell him to give us his best effort!"

"I think I know how to deal with my best friend, Horikita," Eiichiro was finally fed up with her attitude.

"I can't force him to do anything, he's his own person. If we do things your way, no one is doing anything! This class isn't going to go from defective to Class A in a day, we have to make small improvements, little by little. Small sacrifices in small doses will amount to a big change. If you can do it better, then you take over the class. See how many of them follow you with your heavy handed approach!"

With Eiichiro yelling at her, she finally stopped. This seemed to get the rest of the class's respect and now all attention was on him. It seemed he was really taking this leadership role seriously. Maybe he felt bad about how Arisu chewed him out, but it was good for me. The more attention on him, the less I had to do.

"We've all had a long day, this was probably the reason why we were exempt from classes. Everyone go home, sleep on it. If you have any suggestions on how we can help the class as a collective, we'll bring it up tomorrow. Think of candidates who you think should lead the class, think of solutions to what we can do better as a class. And for fuck sake, stop pointing fingers at each other like children." Eiichiro finished angrily.

Not long after, we all went our separate ways. The first phase was complete and in some ways everything went better than expected. Even though I could and did frequently, I didn't enjoy manipulating people. It was necessary at the moment but at the same time it didn't mean it was a good thing. My life with my family and friends restarted my heart and I did have a conscience.

The moment that I had my suspicions about the S-System, I knew that I had to act to ensure the rest of my school life wouldn't forever be a competition. Rule 22: Use the Surrender Tactic: Transform weakness into power.

So, I let Eiichiro know about my theories on the school system. I know my best friend better than he knows himself and I knew his propensity to panic. It happened with everything. It could be tardiness, forgetting deadlines or even something as mundane as accidentally wearing two different socks. I knew that he was going to be frantic the moment that he knew that his future would be on the line.

So I made sure to establish very early on that his success would be his own doing. I tempered his expectations, that he could only expect the bare minimum from me. Sure everything that I did outside of that was to make sure that if he fell into the abyss that I would have contingencies to bring him back from the brink. But it may as well be a magical rope tied around his waist to pull him up. In the grand scheme of things, while it was effort, the reality is that it was far less effort than trying to compete for three years.

The next was the class. Most of them were good people with deep flaws, but the second day of school I was quickly being idolized. The photos and videos of my training made its rounds and I started to hear so many grandiose rumors about me that it was starting to get more and more far-fetched. It wouldn't be long before there would be rumors that I would be able to walk on water as far as I could see.

Also, it was incredibly obvious that Arisu was building expectations of me in Class A. On my walks to class, I would notice the whispers, stares, blushes and looks of jealousy. On the surface, it would look like I would pay it no mind but I was paying close attention. The big consistent factor with those students was that they were almost exclusively all from Class A and D.

So when Chabashira-sensei said that the test would have no bearing on our report cards, I already knew what I was going to do. Chabashira was thoroughly predictable, it's obvious that reaching Class A is her goal. I had no idea what her fixation on it is but frankly I don't care either. If she thinks that she's going to get a free ride on my back just because she knows that I'm a genius then she has another thing coming. If she wants to get there she can start teaching and guiding the class like a homeroom teacher is supposed to.

So in one move, I destroyed them all. Showing a willingness to score zero meant that the class knew that I was willing to do nothing unless I needed to. It would temper their expectations, as far as they were concerned now, my participation was a blessing. They would be satisfied with the bare minimum effort and that would be that. Chabashira wasn't going to give up but there was still time to kill off that weed before it started to take a stranglehold. If anything could be bought with points, I wonder how many it would cost me to switch homeroom teachers? It was a price I was whole-heartedly willing to pay if she became too much of a problem.

Finally, Arisu, my beloved sister. The one person in this world that I loved more than anything. I truly am a terrible person, that I would be so selfish to choose my desire of being normal over her ambitions to prove herself to me. For all the years that we have been siblings, she had me on a pedestal. I was the standard for her accomplishments and if she could compete with me, she would have her validation.

I didn't want that. She should be her own person with her own accomplishments. She should be proud of herself for what she achieves, but she isn't. It's obvious in the way she plays chess, she's stubborn and rigid. It was obvious that she continued to lose because she refuses to play in her own fashion, she plays exactly like me, too proud to focus on the win but wanting to beat me at my own game. It took time but slowly I started to make subtle feigned mistakes.

I was careful to build on it slowly, until eventually I threw the game. I condescendingly praised her for her win, knowing she saw through it. And when she blew and lost her temper, I knew I had my out. I had an excuse not to play with her anymore and I used her own nature against her. The fact that she feels sorry for me for the experiences in my life means that she's easy to manipulate. I tug on her heartstrings to get my desired outcome.

This was exactly the same thing except I made it so much worse. I allowed her to build expectations in me. I allowed her to continue to brag about me, to build my image up for everyone else as she saw me. And then I publicly and ruthlessly destroyed that image. I knew she would be hurt and betrayed, but I also knew that she would never reveal my past to justify her arguments about me. It was exactly the same as throwing the match, except now I threw the entire competition before it even began.

Allow me to make one thing very very clear, despite the fact that I played everyone for puppets I don't enjoy it. I hate manipulating people. The old me wouldn't have cared, everyone is only to be used as pawns in the philosophy of the White Room. It's obvious by how I was treated in that place. Who cares that you would torture a child? Who cares that you deprived them of the very thing that makes them human, of relationships, of love or even of the very basic feelings of their senses?

But I wasn't that person anymore, I love my family and I love my friends. I even love people around me. I enjoy Karuizawa's ditzy nature, I like Matsushita's compassion, envy Hirata's selflessness and I even admire Koenji's unwavering confidence in himself. I was able to learn the greatest and most obvious flaw in the White Room's mission: How can I be the one to lead Japan to greatness in the future if I didn't even love the people that I was supposed to lead?

But just as I learned this lesson I also learned of my own deepest desire, I'm selfish. As much as I love Arisu, as long as I don't completely break her and there is a way to reconcile with her while still achieving my desired outcome, there was no price I wasn't willing to pay. She would forgive me eventually, of that I was supremely confident. She just needed time to accept the fact that this is who I am.

I continued to walk down the hall to my destination. Manabu wanted to meet at a tea house not far from Keyaki Mall. He had a meeting today with the student council where he told them of my appointment and revealed the apps. We had a backstory planned and he was confident that he could sell my appointment to them without my presence. It suited me perfectly and it seemed that Manabu had a fundamental understanding of me as a person.

While I walked I heard a voice call out to me from behind and I turned to find Kushida jogging to me, trying to catch up while waving. I slowed to a stop and Kushida grinned up at me while wrapping her arms around one of mine.

"Thanks for waiting for me Ayanokouji-kun,"

"That's alright, Kushida. Is everything okay?" I asked.

"Yeah, everything is fine, I was just hoping we could catch up. Today was intense wasn't it?"

"I suppose it was," I said with a shrug. I continued on in the direction I was heading, I still had a little bit of time before I had to meet with Manabu. Kushida fell into step with me, bouncing with every stride.

"I don't really like it, I want all of us to get along. We should all be friends with each other, it'd be easier for us to reach Class A now that we know that's the goal." Kushida pointed out with a determined nod.

"It may be the goal for everyone else but I don't really mind. If we get there we get there, if we don't we don't,"

"Of course you would say that wouldn't you, Lazy-kun," She teased, prodding my abdomen. "I don't think anyone expected that you wouldn't even put an answer down."

"No expectations, no disappointment," I said nonchalantly. She laughed at my philosophy before falling serious soon afterward.

"But still, it really was intense in there. I'm a little worried, Horikita-san was really letting everyone have it. I was surprised she was even mad enough to try and attack you with a compass! If she succeeded, who knows what would have happened to you?"

"I guess I dodged a bullet when I switched seats with you, my arms would be covered in pinholes. How are your arms? Got any punctures?" Kushida giggled a bit before untangling herself from me. She showed them off to me with a teasing smirk.

"Want to check?" Kushida said with a flirting tone.

"I don't want your fanboys stabbing me with a knife, I'll take a compass instead any time," I said quickly, holding my hands up in surrender.

"Out here, in such a public place. I think I should be more worried about your fangirls, you're number one on the Ikemen rankings for first years. Many of them would be pretty jealous of me being with you at the moment."

"I doubt that anyone is going to have a crush on me when they find out that I'm a lazy idiot,"

"I think you're selling yourself short. The director's son, handsome, Vice President of the Student Council. Girls are willing to overlook flaws if they could get their hands on that kind of package," Kushida brushed off my self deprecation.

"Are we still talking about everyone else or are we talking about you?" I joked.

"I am still a girl you know, Ayanokouji-kun," She said with a smirk.

We both knew this was just meaningless flirting. Regardless of anything, Kushida wanted to be friends with everyone, boys and girls alike. It would significantly hamper that if she had a boyfriend, the thought of potentially being the one to conquer Kushida Kikyo made boys gravitate to her. Once she had a boyfriend, many of them if not all of them would back off knowing that they didn't have a chance.

"Still, I'm worried about Horikita-san. She's really isolating herself, she won't even be friends with me no matter how hard I try. I really try but even though we sit together, she's just so standoffish. I really don't know how to get through to her." Kushida trailed off sadly.

"I wouldn't worry about it too much, sometimes you just have to let a lost cause be a lost cause. I know you want to be friends with everyone, but it just isn't possible. There's always going to be someone who doesn't like you," I said with a shrug.

"But still, to physically try to attack you. She could have been expelled. Do you think anyone would be angry if she suddenly got expelled?" Kushida asked with concern.

"No," I said quickly with a snort. "I doubt anyone except her brother would. I think he'd find a way to overturn her expulsion, anything can be bought with points after all."

We continued to walk arm in arm to the tea house and on the way I told her that I was meeting with Manabu. She graciously offered to continue to walk with me so we could continue to talk. After a while, I realized that there was an opportunity here.

"What do you think about Eiichiro?"

"He seems like he's really stepping into the role of a leader. He seems to really care about the class, Chabashira-sensei was right. You really are lucky to have such a loyal friend, I hope I can get closer with him too." Kushida stated.

"I agree with you. He really is a selfless person, he wants the best for everyone else. That's why I think he's our best choice to lead the class. I'd really like it if tomorrow, you could support him. I have an offer for you if you're willing to go along with it."

Kushida stopped suddenly with her eyes shining at the opportunity to help me. She really was a beautiful girl, it's a shame that she couldn't get a boyfriend. I think I'd be really lucky to have a partner like her.

"I have some points, but I don't want to be the one to share them with the class. I really don't like drawing too much attention and I don't really want to do anything other than what is required of me. You'll be able to garner support if you're the one to share them out, I'd appreciate it if you split it out evenly before class starts tomorrow and when Eiichiro is put forward as a candidate to lead the class, if you could vocally support him and vote for him.

"It'd be good for everyone. We all get a leader that's willing and capable and you would be looked at as the guardian angel that generously helped everyone out. It's pretty in character with everyone's friend, right?" I offered.

"Ayanokouji Kiyotaka, I think I'm falling in love with you," Kushida giggled. "Where do I tell everyone I got the points from if you don't want me to tell them I got it from you?"

"You have friends in the second and third years right? Just say you got it from them. I doubt anyone is going to question it once you tell them you're giving them points. As long as I don't get linked to it, you can tell them you got it from the tooth fairy for all I care," She nodded enthusiastically and I quickly transferred over two million points. Her eyes widened in shock and her jaw dropped as she looked at me in awe at the amount of points.

"How on earth did you get so many points?"

"What are your three sizes?" I asked, making a point. Ask a prying question, be prepared to offer an embarrassing answer. I was dumbfounded when she suddenly leaned into my ear, whispering the exact answer I asked for. When my mouth opened and closed like a fish, she giggled at my reaction then prompted me to answer.

"Who knows," I said with a shrug.

"You really are a mysterious person aren't you, Ayanokouji-kun." Kushida said in awe.

"I'm not saying anything, if you want to give the points out and support Eiichiro I'd appreciate it. If you don't, transfer the points back over to me, I won't be offended. What do you think?"

"...I think I'm lucky to have you as my friend," She said with a hungry smile.

Kushida Kikyo really is an angel.

A/N: I wrote this chapter last night and then reread it in the morning and didn't like it. So I rewrote most of it. Hope you guys like it

Chapter 8

I met with Manabu after leaving Kushida. It seemed that Nagumo had no issues whatsoever with my appointment as soon as he found out that I 'used my position as Director Sakayanagi's son to expedite the roll out of OAA'. The rest of the council, while begrudging my appointment purely on supposed partisanship, seemed to be on board soon after.

In fact, according to Manabu, they all seemed far more excited about BUDDY than they were about OAA. Nagumo was jealous, looking at Manabu's supposed vision of BUDDY as a direct challenge to his own OAA. None of them knew that they were my creations or that BUDDY was my idea, in fact, Manabu passing it off as his own idea worked heavily in my favor. Nagumo's sole attention was on Manabu and his supposed challenge of commissioning an app and releasing it at the exact same time that OAA was to go live.

It never ceased to amaze me that Manabu was going to such great lengths for me. Willing to appear as a scapegoat, openly laughing in good nature when I informed him that I scored zero on the quiz or even when I told him Class D started with zero class points. He had such unwavering faith in me that I couldn't understand. I hadn't shown him enough for him to have this much belief in me.

"So you're planning to distribute two million points between your classmates? That's incredibly generous of you, that would mean each student will have more private points this month than Class C." Manabu observed, taking a sip of his tea.

"It would take far more effort to watch them panic about not having any points this month and trying desperately to get more points for next. Could you imagine? They'd be holding everyone accountable to give their best efforts,"

"Perish the thought, heaven forbid you'd have to do anything," Manabu chuckled in amusement.

"I'm glad you see things my way," I said back with a grin.

"Well before we talk about council matters, in regards to my sister, it's troubling that she would be willing to resort to physical violence against you. No matter the verbal altercation, it is rather unsettling. I know you have quite the silver tongue but I would have thought she'd have more control of her emotions." He said with annoyed disappointment.

"Especially when I'm so polite and helpful to everyone,"

"Ignoring your sarcasm, I will ask you to do me a favor. In the event that she is going to be expelled, I do not want you to intervene. If she gets expelled, she gets expelled."

This was interesting. Manabu has always told me that he cared about Horikita so why was he willing to let her get expelled? I would have thought that he would be asking me to do the opposite.

"Isn't that a little extreme?" I asked.

"Not at all, she hasn't learned anything. She still confuses isolation for independence. If she keeps this attitude and continues to antagonize her classmates, it won't be long until she is targeted. It's better if she gets expelled earlier rather than later, she'll be able to recover easier. Some lessons require extreme measures." He paused for a moment.

"Like public humiliation, for example, isn't that right Ayanokouji-kun?" Manabu said pointedly.

How did he know?

"I have absolutely no idea what you're talking about," I lied.

"Do not take me for a fool Ayanokouji, as I said, you and I are far more alike than you would like to admit. There's a reason why I recruited you specifically."

"While both situations are not of the same scale, you should know that in your shoes I would have done exactly the same. In fact, it actually helped during the council meeting as it reinforced what I was saying about you being aloof. A new potential recruit, Katsuragi, happened to hear of the situation and brought it up when I informed the others of your appointment. I suppose I'm bringing it up to thank you, your laziness helped immensely in this situation." Manabu finished with a smirk.

"Why are you even going so far to do all of this anyway? You know that even once Student Council duties start up, I'm just going to palm it all off anyway. You're also getting none of the private points that I'll be getting from the skim. So what's your end? Why are you even trying to mentor me and treat me like some sort of protege?" I asked curiously.

I had my suspicions but I still wanted to hear it straight from his mouth. He said before that he thought that father had placed me in Class D for one of two reasons, either to humor my laziness or because he wanted to see me do something great.

He continued to smirk before putting his tea cup down. I hated that smirk. It mocked me all the time, as though he thought that he had something over me. That he was leading and manipulating me into asking the questions he wanted to hear with pre-presented answers that he thought of in advance. It disgusted me.

To think that someone had the thought that I could be manipulated, what a joke. Especially not a regular high school student, not even if he was older than me.

As highly as I thought of Horikita Manabu, I could see that there were some similarities but I was skeptical that we're as closely homogenous as he believes we are.

"Because, like I expect your father feels, I believe that eventually you will get bored. There is only so much you can buy, only so much you can do in leisure and only so many ways you can waste your time. Your best friend is even trying to better himself in a leadership role, he will have less time for you.

"As thoroughly as you have embarrassed your sister, eventually you will miss her. Judging by her reaction, this was a long time coming and it won't be as simple as you believe as you saying sorry and playing on her feelings to get her to forgive you. She'll want a tangible effort.

"So, in the very near future when that happens. I want you to be in a position where you can actually make a difference. It will be interesting to see, I'm expecting something on a grand scale. Very few things in this school excite me, and I'm most definitely excited to see what I think will come to pass.

"And so, I will humor you. Do as much or as little as you please, I'll even facilitate it. The more you continue to be aloof, the faster you will feel the urge to participate. I'm sure of it." Manabu finished with that stupid smirk.

"I can see where your sister gets her arrogance from, I hate that damn smirk," I huffed in annoyance, sculling what was left of the tea in my cup.

Manabu just chuckled at my childishness before picking up the tea pot that was sitting in the center. Generously refilling my cup and his, I couldn't help but wonder why there was a third setting on the table. Did the help forget to take it away? Was he expecting another guest?

"I don't have a compass on hand but I can arrange to have one brought if you prefer?"

"Please do, and make sure you stab me with it as hard as you can. If I can get you expelled too then it'd be a huge help. I already have what I need from you," I joked haphazardly. He continued to chuckle before taking two sheets of paper from the familiar leather binder.

"There were two applicants from your year to the student council, only one of them will be accepted. I'll leave the choice to you, they'll be serving as your secretary and reporting directly to you." Manabu said casually, passing both papers to me.

I barely took a second to look at them before I balled up the paper in my left hand, throwing it over my shoulder onto the floor. I was very happy to see that it annoyed him a little bit, it was far better than that smirk.

"This one," I said quickly, passing the paper that I still had in my hand.

"You barely looked at the paper, why did you pick Ichinose Honami?" He asked, taking a sip from his cup.

"Just at a glance, I can see two giant reasons to pick her over anyone else."

Manabu spat his tea into his cup with a cough. He quickly put the cup down and wiped at his mouth with a napkin.

"I didn't pick you for the perverted type, I said I'd facilitate your laziness but even I can't cover up sexual harassment!" He said quickly, clearly flustered.

"Sexual harassment? What on earth are you talking about?" I asked confusedly. I picked the paper back up and held it so we could both look at the page before pointing out a line. "It says here that she was the former Student Council President in middle school, she already knows all the work I need to do, I won't have to lift a finger."

"And the second reason?" He asked absentmindedly while he continued to clean up the spilt tea.

"It says here that the reason she joined the council is that she wants to help everyone in the school. I know that anyone would say that when they're filling in an application but she has an A on her social score. She also has a B in academics and I've seen her with Arisu before."

He continued to nod while folding up the napkin he used to clean up the tea before placing it on the table. Relieved, he took the paper back and put it back into his leather binder. After a few moments, he picked up his tea to take another sip. Too easy.

"It also helps that she has giant tits," I said just as he put the cup to his lips.

This time the tea flew out of his nose, dirtying the table again as well as his glasses. I laughed as I roughly patted him on the back. He coughed and quickly picked up the same napkin he just used to clean up after himself again. He glared at me the entire time and I suddenly felt vindicated, he should have been expecting it from me by now.

"Who did you think I would pick?" I asked curiously.

As if on queue, the door opened and I saw the flawless form of the girl I now knew as Ichinose Honami. She looked around the room for a moment before she spotted us and her bright blue eyes crinkled as she smiled and started in our direction.

"I told you, I know you better than you think I do," He said quietly.

As she strode toward our table, I felt my mouth go a little dry. She really was incredibly beautiful. Not wanting to have to cough or struggle to speak because of a dry throat, I quickly picked up my tea cup before she got there to take a sip of my own.

Just as I went to take a drink, I heard it.

"It's also obvious that you prefer legs,"

I definitely wasn't expecting that and now it was my tea on the table. And not just from my nose and mouth, but also from the cup as I suddenly coughed, spraying the tea in the cup all over the table.

The waiter clicked his tongue in annoyance but said nothing and quickly came over to us to clean the mess. Manabu was doing everything in his power to maintain his serious image, hiding his own laughter.

"I thought you weren't one to make jokes," I hissed at him in embarrassment.

"Ayanokouji-kun, are you okay?" Ichinose asked worriedly as she arrived at our table.

"Yeah I'm fine. Ah, sorry about that. Got a little clumsy," I brushed off as Manabu continued to stifle his quiet laughter.

He picked up the leather binder and turned to us as he got to his feet. The waiter finished cleaning the mess and left quickly, picking up the paper I threw on the floor as he left. Manabu turned and headed toward the exit.

"I'll leave you two to get to know each other, I expect great things from the two of you."

"Temper those expectations!" I yelled out at his retreating back as he left.

When he was gone I took a moment to appraise Ichinose. She really was flawlessly beautiful. Apricot blonde hair that fell all the way down her back, she had an incredibly well endowed figure that any woman in her twenties would kill for, let alone at fifteen. Her skin was clear and unblemished without a hint of make-up. It was fairly obvious that she didn't come from money, she looked as though she used very simple and basic necessities.

But her most incredible feature was her eyes. Electric blue that really shone. Always wide with wonder and excitement and when she asked if I was okay, they really did sparkle with a genuine concern. I couldn't help but wonder what her flaw was, everyone had a flaw so there had to be something. When I read on her application that she wanted to help everyone in the school, it seemed like such a milquetoast thing to say. Now, seeing her before my eyes, it was very obvious that she genuinely meant it.

"I'm glad we could finally meet under better circumstances," Ichinose joked, holding out her hand for me to shake.

I took it firmly, noticing that her hand was tiny and incredibly soft. This girl would be the death of me. I could feel it already.

"Whatever you've heard about me, I promise they're all lies," I said quickly.

"I heard that you're unmotivated and unimpressive,"

"I take back what I said, everything you heard of me is the truth," I deadpanned.

She laughed good naturedly before taking a seat. I sat down not long after and she poured herself some tea before doing the same for me.

First I was served by Manabu, now Ichinose. It was a strange thought that suddenly came to me but I wondered if it was some sort of psychological move. That they would make a small gesture of effort for me only to expect me to reciprocate when they asked for something later in return. It may have been possible from Manabu, but I turned him down a lot even though I did concede a fair bit to him. I'd have to observe Ichinose more, but as of right now I didn't think she had any ulterior motives.

"Aren't you friends with Arisu? I doubt she would have said that I was unimpressive." I asked curiously.

"While I like to think of everyone I meet as friends to some degree, I'd say we're more acquaintances. Actually that day, I saw her fall over rushing to Class D, I didn't really know what was happening. I just came with her to stop her from falling over again."

She hesitated for a moment before continuing on.

"I feel like I intruded on a private matter. I'm sorry for making things awkward with my presence."

"I think that encounter was going to be awkward regardless of your presence so I don't think you really need to apologize for anything," I offered with a sad smile.

"Well, I'm going to be working for you a lot so we're going to be spending heaps of time together. If you ever want to talk about it, you can feel free. I'm a pretty good listener so don't think of it as a burden." Ichinose said happily, trying to raise the mood.

"Interesting choice of words, you said working for me, not with me."

"I'm very aware of how you operate, President Horikita let me know about my position and your nature. I'm honestly just grateful to be a part of the council. You're more than welcome to give me all of your work and I'll do it without complaint." Ichinose said with a determined nod.

"I find that incredibly hard to believe," I said with a frown. "You're willing to do all the work required of the Vice President position and the Secretary position knowing that you won't be getting all the credit."

"Yes," She answered simply with another nod.

"What if I told you the only reason I wanted you as my secretary was because you have great legs?"

"That's really flattering, I don't think they're that great. They're no different from anyone else's but I appreciate the compliment,"

"Or if I said it's because you have huge boobs?"

"It's about time these big useless things did something for me," She joked.

"Or if it's all because you're really pretty with beautiful eyes?"

"Then I'll work really hard to show you that that isn't all there is to me,"

"You really are an interesting person," I said in awe.

I've never met anyone like her before in my life. Everyone had an agenda for something, EVERYONE. Why was this girl different from the rest? What's the secret she's hiding? I'm very aware of people, I understand when people are hiding things or keeping secrets or wearing a mask. But with every question I asked she replied with such conviction with no hesitation, I had no reason not to believe her.

"I don't really think so," She said with a shrug. "I'm just like any other student here. I want to work together with my classmates, study hard and make the school a better place. When I leave, I want to get a good job to earn a good enough living to take care of my family. There's really nothing interesting about that."

"Now," Ichinose started, taking a sip from her tea. "I have a question of my own. If President Horikita didn't pick me for you, would you have picked me over Katsuragi?"

"Actually, I did pick you," I told her truthfully. The tea was getting cold and we were just about finished anyway. Getting up from the table, I paid for everything even though Ichinose insisted that she pay for her own. After finishing up we walked outside heading toward the dorms.

"You don't have to lie to me, Ayanokouji-kun," Ichinose said sadly. "I saw how surprised you were when I walked in, you had no idea that I was coming."

"That's true, I didn't know you were coming. The truth is that Manabu asked me to pick between you and Katsuragi. But it was only about thirty seconds before you walked in. I was surprised because he guessed my pick before I even had the choice. It wasn't because I didn't want you."

"So the things you said before, about choosing me because of my body, was that the reason?"

"No. But I don't think the real reason is much better," I said with an awkward chuckle. "Judging by your answers on the application, you seemed like the more obvious choice. It didn't seem like you'd give me a lot of push back for getting you to take on my duties. Also you have experience by being the President at your middle school. This is the first time that I've been to any school, I haven't got a clue what I even have to do on the council."

"Also, when Manabu told me about the meeting, he mentioned that he explained what I'm like. He said that Katsuragi backed him up and told the council about my scores. You were there in the class when Arisu confronted me, but you didn't say anything. I appreciated that you kept quiet about it."

"Like I said, it really wasn't any of my business. I was only there because I wanted to he-" She stopped suddenly in realization at what I said previously.

"Wait, you're on the Student Council as the Vice President, you don't even know what you're supposed to do and you don't even want to have the role?" Ichinose said in utter shock.

"Pretty much," I said with a shrug.

"Why would he recruit you? Why would you even accept?"

"Who knows," I said again with another shrug.

"If it was just because of your father, he could have recruited Sakayangi-san. Instead, he recruited you. Maybe you're some secret genius or something," She said in a joking tone. Oh Ichinose...

"But those reasons I listed before certainly do help," I joked trying to redirect the conversation.

Ichinose laughed and then pumped her fists in front of her in excitement.

"Then I'll just have to show you that I'm more than just boobs and butt!"

We continued to walk back, making idle chatter and when we got back to the dorms we exchanged contact information. She had no guard up, answered every question honestly and conversation seemed to flow easily with her.

It was nice. She really didn't seem to have any form of an agenda, she was just an honest to goodness, kindhearted person. She was incredibly naive and put her guard down far too easily. She really had no idea of her physical attractiveness or seemed to see any negative in anyone's intentions. It was strange.

Having said that though, talk is cheap. Perhaps she underestimated just how lazy and unwilling I really am. If that was the case, she was most definitely in for a rude awakening.

The next morning when I strode into class there was a very noticeable somber mood in the class. Many people had bags under their eyes, most of them probably not being able to sleep well from the lack of points for the month. Many of them would have been accustomed to a lifestyle where they would be able to spend easily without restraint.

Under normal circumstances, that wouldn't seem like such a bad thing. Perhaps you just wouldn't be able to buy some clothes you had your eye on, or a game system you wanted or a book. But the big problem came with food.

If you were used to eating meat and expensive dishes, suddenly going to the free vegetable set overnight had to be a shock to the system. People really do underestimate that powerful influence a craving has and being forced into a sudden diet change had a profound psychological effect.

Chabashira-sensei was as insufferable as ever, coming into morning roll call with a big smile and a happy demeanor, commenting with an acid dripping tone about how proud of us she was for being so well behaved. She really was enjoying this far too much on the surface but underneath the mocking there seemed to be a change in her attitude.

She really did seem like she was happy about the change rather than the suffering. On a couple of occasions, she looked at Eiichiro like she was seeing him for the first time. Like a new man was sitting in that seat with the old one's skin.

There truly was a noticeable difference with him too, he was determined. He still kept the same smile he always had on his face but this time it was confident. As though he really thought that this class had the potential to turn things around, I had to say I was thoroughly impressed.

I'm not one to want to force my life choices on other people. If Eiichiro wanted to strive for greatness he had my blessing and my support. I just wanted people to let me live the existence that I wanted to. Nonetheless, I had made a commitment to do a little more to help him. He was my friend so I needed to support him. But when I say a little, I really do mean a little.

When our morning lessons were over Eiichiro made to stand up but before he could say or do anything Kushida suddenly spoke up loudly.

"Everyone! Before you all go there's something I wanted to talk to you all about," Kushida said loudly. All eyes turned to her and everyone packing their things stopped and sat back down.

"I know everyone is probably upset right now. We haven't had a chance to talk as a group and a lot of you were probably going to go to the cafeteria for lunch. But if I can just get a minute from you all I'd really appreciate it.

"When Matsuo-kun asked if there was any way we could help the class, I thought about it seriously. So I asked around and managed to get points for everyone. I know a lot of people probably spent a lot, so I wanted to make sure everyone could lift their spirits so we can come back from this together. I managed to get points together that I wanted to share with you all." Kushida finished happily.

"How many points did you get?" Yamauchi asked, looking at Kushida like she was levitating.

"I managed to get two million points to share. So that's fifty thousand to each of us. It's not a hundred thousand like some were expecting, but at least it'll be enough so a lot of us will be able to eat and live comfortably until we can come back from this." Kushida finished with a small bow.

Everyone was stunned. Even Horikita couldn't find anything to bite at her. The collective silence was a little unbearable but eventually Karuizawa broke from her stupor.

"T-t-two million!? How the hell did you manage to get two million points!?" Karuizawa yelled in shock.

"Actually, I have to thank Ayanokouji-kun," Kushida said, smiling happily at me. All eyes suddenly turned to me and I felt my heart leap into my throat.

"He gave me the idea, he's been making friends with Asahina-senpai and he even got onto the Student Council. So I asked some of my upperclassman friends and they agreed to help." Kushida explained.

That sly, crafty woman. I'd have to be careful around her. It was backhanded teasing that was incredibly risky. Just what was she playing at? What a troublesome woman.

"Thank you Kushida-chan!" Yamauchi cried loudly, comical tears falling from his face. Not long after, the rest of the class loudly sing her praises, drowning each other's gratitude. While everyone was distracted, Eiichiro wrapped an arm around my shoulders pulling me towards him and speaking into my ear.

"I know it was you, thank you so much," Eiichiro said with relief.

"I don't know what you're talking about," I refuted.

"Shut up Kiyo, it was you. Really, thank you." Eiichiro insisted.

"Just don't expect too much of me," I joked, not used to the gratitude.

Not a moment later, I had a text on my phone

Koenji - The donation is much appreciated

Me - What are you talking about?

Koenji - It's easy to spot a liar, even without her implication. There was no possibility it wasn't you from the beginning.

Me - Can I trust you to keep it quiet?

Koenji - Have I revealed anything to make you believe that I can not?

I quickly opened my wallet app and sent him another fifty thousand before pocketing my phone and looking up in Kushida's direction. From my peripheral vision, I could see Koenji doing the same but gave a discreet nod of his head and a smile.

"Now I have almost everyone's contact information but some I still don't. I'd like to take the opportunity to finish off my list so I'll just move around to everyone one by one. While I go around, maybe Matsuo-kun could say what he had planned before I interrupted?" Kushida finished with a tilt of her head to Eiichiro.

He nodded gratefully before standing up.

"Everyone, Chabashira-sensei sent out a group text to us letting us know that we're taking another quiz where this one will actually count. The test is in a week and expulsion is on the line for this one. For that reason, I want to propose the top 10 scorers on the test to tutor a group if they're willing. Is there anyone who has a problem with the plan?"

"I can't join a study group, I have basketball club activities all this week," Sudo complained. As circumstances would have it, Kushida just happened to be in front of him to give him his points when she suddenly took his hand in both of hers.

"Sudo-kun, everyone is doing their best to help each other. You were in the eight that would have been expelled in the class. Please come to the study group, I don't want to see you get in trouble," She finished with small tears in her eyes. God this girl was good, I was right to get her to support Eiichiro.

"A-ah well, if Kushida thinks I should..." Sudo trailed off bashfully.

"Thank you Sudo-kun, I know it's a big sacrifice," Hirata said encouragingly. Soon others in the class thanked him as well and he suddenly blushed and scratched the back of his head at the praise.

"Thanks Sudo, I know that you don't want to give up on basketball practice so if you want, I'm willing to tutor you before classes start or even after practice. It'll be hard for you to do it after, so it's probably best if we get up early." Eiichiro offered.

"You'd really do that for me?" Sudo asked, stunned at someone going out of their way for him.

"Of course, if it's important to you I don't mind. It'll only be for a little while and we have to give it our best effort, so I'm willing if you are."

"That'd be great, thank you." Sudo said in appreciation.

"The same goes for the rest of you with club activities. From what I can see it'll be Onodera, Sudo, Miyake and Hirata who have club activities. Hirata I'm sorry, but you scored in the top 10 results so would you be willing to give up on the soccer club for the week?"

"Sure thing no problem, I want to help out so it won't be an issue," Hirata nodded.

"Then I'll take that group, is there anyone else who's willing to study outside normal hours so we can fill it in?"

Hasabe was the first to raise her hand along with another who I didn't know.

"Okay, I'll text everyone a list of those ranked in the top 10, everyone who needs help can find a study group that you're willing to work with. If everyone agrees then I'm sure we can avoid expulsion. The bottom eight will all have to work hard."

"I will be the one to tutor Ayanokouji or I'll tutor no one," Horikita said suddenly.

I never wanted to strangle someone so badly in my life.

"I guess we only have nine tutors then," I said simply.

"Kiyotaka..." Eiichiro started.

"Sorry, but I don't think that's a very good idea," Kushida said suddenly from near the back of the room. She was making her way down and was two people away from making the transfer to me.

"And why is that?" Horikita asked in annoyance.

"Because you two really don't get along, Ayanokouji-kun was in the bottom eight, he really needs to study hard so that he can avoid expulsion. It'll be hard for him if the both of you are arguing the whole time. I'll take him into my group, and I can tutor him."

"This is beginning to bore me, the two of you should be more subtle with your true intentions. You fool no one with your lack of finesse," Koenji said as he got up from his seat. Having already received his points from Kushida and myself he made for the door ready to leave before turning and pointing the two out individually as he addressed them.

"You want to see what your brother's infatuation is with Ayanokouji-boy and you are trying to seduce him. He needs no tutor, if he did he could always request the assistance of that Asahina of his. Older women tend to know what a man needs."

Should have given him a hundred thousand instead.

Chapter 9

A/N: Something that happens in this chapter that was inspired by an event in another fic called True Elites. Anyone who has read it before will notice it right away and I'm not one to not give credit where it's due. I'm honestly also really glad that everyone seems to be enjoying the story and the characters that I've been building. Before I used to reply to every comment that I could as they came up but right now there are so many notifications that it's difficult to keep up. Please know I do read all of them and your feedback is really appreciated, even if it's negative.

As always, thanks to my beta reader Inferno3054

"Hello stranger,"

Pausing for a moment as I was just about to put the chopsticks to my lips, I could already feel that this was going to be yet another troublesome moment with another troublesome woman.

"Asahina-senpai, please feel free to join us,"

Asahina sat down with a huff crossing her arms and glaring at me with her legs crossed. I continued to eat without acknowledging her.

"That's all you have to say to me?"

"What else would you like me to say, senpai? Since coming to this school, I've got used to having women angry with me, I'm a little desensitized to it now," I offered calmly.

"You ask me for a favor, I delivered. You don't even thank me afterward, you joined the student council as Vice President and didn't even tell me about it. Chose Honami as Secretary and didn't even ask if I wanted the position or tell me you chose her. Do I need to continue? Or are you getting the pattern here, I'm surprised you even remembered my name."

In my defense, I really had a lot on my plate. I'm not even talking about being lazy, or that my meal had only just started. I really meant that there was a lot going on at the moment.

Arisu really was dead set on not speaking to me. Everytime we crossed paths, she didn't even look at me. Sure, I could have just picked her up and threw her over my shoulder, what was she going to do, run away? But I knew that in that frail legged body, there was a secret.

Demonic hand and arm strength. She was far too proud to use a wheelchair, even crutches would have been a better option. Instead she forced herself to use a cane, almost exclusively with her right hand. All of that pent up strength meant a right hook that came straight from hell. I wasn't about to experience that on a normal day, let alone with a thoroughly pissed off little sister. That wasn't even her worst weapon, if those slender fingers got a hold of your ear you may as well kiss it goodbye.

There was also Horikita, who seemed to be even more hellbent on trying to find out why Manabu and I had become acquainted. There was never a moment in class where those red eyes were not boring a hole straight into the back of my skull. One day, annoyed with the constant stare, I turned around and blew her a kiss. She glared at me while stroking that compass like it was a loving partner. It was creepy beyond belief.

I listened to the same material that I'd already learnt as a child, day in and day out. It was a real test of mental strength and concentration. In support of Eiichiro, I paid attention to the best of my ability in class but it was really difficult. It was a blessing that I had an eidetic memory as I reread previous volumes of JoJo's Bizarre Adventures in my mind most of the time.

Finally there was Eiichiro. That bastard Manabu, he was right about him having less time for me. We're behind four episodes on Jujutsu Kaisen, FOUR. I needed better friends who had their priorities in order.

"Senpai," I said apologetically. I put my chopsticks down and took her hand leaning forward. "I'm really sorry. I really am a horrible Kohai, what can I do to make you forgive me?"

Asahina's eyes narrowed and she snatched her hand out of mine glaring at me.

"Flattery will get you nowhere in this situation, Ayanokouji Kiyotaka, I know what you're capable of. Smooth talk will not be getting you out of this."

"Well, it was worth a try," I shrugged as though flipping a switch. I picked my chopsticks back up again and started to eat when the other member of our table suddenly chimed in.

"How do you do that?" Ichinose asked in awe with a light blush on her cheeks. "Y-you just did that, without even batting an eye. You're not even embarrassed. You're not even upset over getting rejected."

"Be careful with this one, Honami." Asahina pointed at me with her eyes narrowed. "He's a devious one. One minute you're having a conversation, the next you'll end up doing something for him while he's napping on a bench somewhere."

"I'll keep that in mind," Ichinose said with a nervous laugh, scratching her cheek.

"By the way, that was rude of me. I don't have a problem that you got the Secretary position and I'm really happy you got it. My new favorite kohai and my ungrateful one working together, I couldn't be more excited. I was just using it to get at him,"

"I know, I know, it's fine," Ichinose assured her, waving her hands in surrender.

I wasn't too sure about how it all worked but apparently the secretaries of the student council tended to spend time frequently with their assignments. Since the day she was introduced to me, we have had lunch together every day. In the times I spotted Manabu out on campus, I rarely ever saw him without a familiar short purple haired girl following in behind him.

I really didn't mind, there were worse people to have following me about. Ichinose's presence was pleasant, like a mood battery constantly recharging people around her. It was bothersome that people always seemed to interrupt us, wanting to have a conversation with her. She was far too kind and endearing too, never rejecting any interactions and always with that huge smile and crinkled blue eyes.

The only thing that was bothersome was the constant glares and blushes that the pair of us would get when walking to the cafeteria and while we were seated. People really needed to mind their business.

"Anyway, I came to give the two of you a gift. Not that you deserve it," Asahina paused, glaring at me for a moment. "You guys should be grateful, normally you'd have to figure it out and it'd probably cost you a fair amount of points. But I can't help but want to look out for my new favorite kohai and it'd be rude of me to not give it to you too, even if I'd hate to encourage your lack of work ethic."

She took out her phone, tapping on the screen a few times before sending both of us an email. Glancing over the attachments, they were copies of her pop quiz and midterms that she took the previous year.

"Wait, senpai... This... It's exactly the same as the pop quiz we took. Identical..." Ichinose stammered.

"Shh," Asahina said with a wink and a finger to her lips.

"Thank you senpai, this is actually really helpful," I said gratefully. I had my suspicions and was going to get this later after the rest had an opportunity to study a bit more. I didn't know how many points it was going to cost me.

"Really? How grateful are you?" Asahina said with wide eyes grinning at me and leaning forward excitedly.

"Extremely, I'll buy you dinner? Or do you want me to take you to Pallet instead?" I asked seriously. The test was more likely far more expensive than any meal or coffee that I was offering and Asahina and I were close. I wouldn't have been able to do anything like what I'd accomplished without her without having to expend far more effort.

"Aren't you broke?" She said with a snort. "Class D has no class points so you didn't get any allowance this month."

"Ichinose will pay," I said with confidence. Ichinose suddenly looked up, surprised at the sheer gall of me.

"Ah, sure I don't mind." Ichinose said slowly when the shock wore off. "Like you said, we would have had to pay for this and I wouldn't have even had the idea to ask for it. The gang have just been studying like crazy."

"You really need to stop that or people are going to take advantage of you," I chastised her lightheartedly. In the short amount of time that I'd known her, I noticed that it was blatantly obvious that she was a complete push over. People she obviously didn't like would come and ask things of her and she would agree with a forced smile. I needed to break her out of this habit or it was going to eat into the time she had to do my work for me.

"Oh.. oh my," Asahina stammered with red cheeks.

"What?"

"You sounded like a boyfriend just now..."

Ichinose was silent, staring at her bowl with the same red face. I didn't see the connection and simply ignored it.

"I don't even know why you're studying, even if it was a nice gesture you don't even need Asahina-senpai's exam as a reference. This test is the easiest for Class B, you have a tactical advantage to ace that none of the classes have, not even Class A." I said with a shrug.

"Is that right?" Asahina started, clearly insulted. "And what is this genius full proof strategy that you've masterfully come up with?"

"Ichinose told me that Class B are unified, they all trust each other 100% as she's told me. Have all of them score zero on the test, the passing grade is if you fall below the average of the class. You can't score lower than zero..."

There was a loud clatter as Ichinose suddenly dropped her chopsticks in shock. She tried to catch them before they hit the floor and knocked over her drink which she rushed to pick back up before it made too much of a mess. Asahina sat there stunned with her mouth open.

"... would that even work?" Ichinose asked in a daze when she finally found her voice again.

"It's the ultimate trust test. If even one person puts a single answer on their test, you'll have thirty nine people expelled instantly. It's why none of the classes would ever think to do it, but if you really believe in the rest of your class you guys will probably be the only group to ever even pass that way in the history of the school. No one would have the courage to even attempt it." Asahina said in awe, not even looking at either of us as she said it as though she were talking to herself. Suddenly, she snapped out of her stupor before grabbing at Ichinose's hands.

"You have to quit being Secretary, ask President Horikita to give you a normal position. Now. As quickly as possible," Asahina said seriously.

"What? Why?" Ichinose asked, baffled. Asahina pointed at me with a shaky finger.

"This one is dangerous, I warned you. If you spend too much time with him, you'll be as lazy as him, maybe even worse. Leave. Now. Save yourself while you still can,"

"That hurts you know, I can still hear you." I deadpanned.

She didn't apologize or anything. She just got up with shaky legs and left the table, brain completely fried as she took wobbly steps back to the table with her friends.

"Could that really work?" Ichinose repeated. She stared straight at the table, deep in thought trying to analyze for flaws.

"Ask your homeroom teacher, there's time so if she says it wouldn't work you can just keep going with your original strategy."

Ichinose suddenly stood up with all the energy in the world. With a determined look on her face, she quickly collected her things before flashing me the widest of smiles.

"Thank you Ayanokouji-kun. You really are a genius," She said with admiration.

"Don't spread that garbage around, you hear me? That was my advice quota for the next three years. Don't expect it ever again," I said with a dismissive wave of my hand. She left quickly, practically vibrating with excitement.

Finishing off my food, I threw everything away before making my way back to the class. Upon entering, I saw Eiichiro sitting with Sudo. Sudo seemed to be concentrating but frustrated and after a couple of moments they closed up their books. They had a small chat before they both separated and got rid of the rubbish from their meals that they ate while studying.

I sat at my desk, pulling out my phone to check over the exam Asahina sent me earlier. When Eiichiro came over and sat next to me, I sent him the document and waited for him to look.

"What's this?" He asked.

"Asahina-senpai just gave it to me. It's her pop quiz and midterms from last year. You'll find it interesting, it'll help."

His face dropped and he suddenly looked upset as he opened the attachment. I looked at him confused. Why was he suddenly sullen when I gave him the exam?

"I bought a previous test paper from a third year this morning. It cost me an arm, a leg and a testicle." He cried in frustration.

"Well at least you still have one of each left," I joked.

"I used previous exam questions in middle school to study, it was surprising that the pop quiz was identical. Everyone should still study, we don't know if it'll be the same this year, it could be a rotating cycle to stop people from cheating."

"It probably won't be necessary, the second year exams are identical too."

"Then I guess it wasn't a burn of fifty thousand points for nothing," He muttered.

Fifty thousand... for one test. He got swindled, how could he be so stupid? He should have offered ten, twenty at most. I spoiled this idiot. I have to make sure not to just hand him private points otherwise he'd just continue to overpay for everything.

"Got any points left? I can send you another hundred thousand if you need." And I wonder why he's spoiled.

"How many points do you even have?" Eiichiro suddenly turned to me completely baffled. I pulled up the app and showed him the balance of 4,397,925. He stared at the screen for a few moments, not even surprised.

"I don't even want to know how," He muttered. After a bit he shook his head. "I'm fine. I didn't spend all my points last month and I just used the fifty you gave the class. Besides, with this at least it's an investment into the group. I'll make copies and hand it out to everyone."

"Don't give it to everyone, give it to the lowest ten only. Also you should ask the top scorers if they're willing to drop their scores by ten points or something. The passing grade is based on the average like Chabashira-sensei said. If you raise the average there's more of a chance people will fail."

He nodded at the plan as Sudo came back to speak to Eiichiro with Yamauchi and Ike in tow. They discussed their next time for a tutoring session before Eiichiro suddenly turned at me with a conspiratory smirk on his face.

"So Kiyotaka, how was lunch today with the famous Ichinose Honami? That's three days in a row now..." He teased.

"Are we going to do this every time I have lunch with Ichinose?" I said tiredly.

"Bastard, you don't know what I'd give to have lunch with her." Yamauchi cut in with jealousy. "I'd give an arm. A leg even. Screw it, I'd give an inch off my dick!"

"You'd only have one left," Ike said with a laugh. Yamauchi grabbed him in a headlock yelling at him angrily that it wasn't that small. Eiichiro looked at me with a mad gleam in his eyes but thankfully said nothing. He was my best friend after all. He's seen it.

"Come on guys, we all know that in this group I'm winning that tournament by a long mile," Sudo said with confidence.

"Still, why does this guy get all the girls? He's boring, he does nothing. Besides, I'm far more athletic and better looking than he is anyway," Yamauchi explained with a pompous tone.

Eiichiro snorted, looking at me as if to ask if he was serious. I gave him a bored shrug and just let him continue to sound off.

"You have no idea what you're talking about, he knows exactly what he's doing," Eiichiro bragged, putting his arm over my shoulder. "You should see him with Asahina-senpai, it's crazy. Not only that, I could never say what you said to Ichinose-san behind her back, let alone to her face. Only the number one ranked Ikemen of the first years could get away with that and not get slapped."

"What did he say?" Sudo asked, laughing.

"He told her that he only accepted her as his secretary because she was hot," Eiichiro laughed. "Something about the only reason he chose her was because she had big boobs and great legs."

"How are you still alive?" Ike asked in awe.

"Please, that's not that impressive. I could do that," Yamauchi brushed off and puffed his chest out.

"Oh yeah?" Eiichiro suddenly cut in. "Go say that to Karuizawa, right now. In front of all of us."

"Why would I do it with Karuizawa? She's flat."

"She's not flat," Eiichiro snorted.

"Fine, I'll go do it to Kushida-chan right now," Yamauchi said confidently.

"No, no, no. Kushida's everyone's friend, that's easy. Kiyotaka didn't even know Ichinose when he did it, it's only fair that you do it with Karuizawa. What's wrong, Yamauchi? You scared?" Eiichiro taunted.

In my mind, I calculated the odds of the different spots where Yamauchi was about to get hit. Low probability, chest. High probability, balls and head. Mid probability stomach.

When challenged, Yamauchi turned on his heel and confidently strode toward Karuizawa who was sitting with Satou and Matsushita. We couldn't hear what was said, but Karuizawa was suddenly furious, hitting him straight in the face with a closed fist. He instantly dropped to the floor as Karuizawa rose to her feet and Matsushita and Satou both grabbed her under each of her arms while Karuizawa tried to stomp at his fallen form screaming profanities.

The four of us laughed quietly as Yamauchi gingerly picked himself up before limping his way back at us. Apparently Karuizawa really did manage to get a few hits in, he looked pretty battered.

"I'm reporting that bitch, I'll get her expelled." Yamauchi seethed angrily.

"Will you though?" Eiichiro teased him. "What did you say? You're going to have to repeat it to Chabashira-sensei when Karuizawa defends herself."

Yamauchi suddenly stiffened at the thought. He looked to play different scenarios in his mind at how it would all play out before suddenly looking haughty.

"She's lucky I'll drop this. We can't have anyone getting expelled after all."

SS The day my life flashed before my eyes

Never in my life have I despised someone more than I loathe Ayanokouji Kiyotaka. That bastard. If there was ever someone I ever had the misfortune of being associated with it would be him.

From the first day, when he strode into class late I hated him. This was the beginning of my journey to proving myself to my brother and yet this obstacle came in the first few minutes. Offering some half baked excuse of escorting his sister to her class. I now know that she's impaired but she was capable. It wasn't as though she wasn't able to take care of herself, why did he feel the need to escort her? Knowing him now it's obvious, that sloth used his sister as an excuse to be able to come late from the onset.

Some manner of asserting low expectations from the beginning. How poignant.

Just thinking back on what happened when Arisu Sakayanagi entered our class that day fills me with utter elation. Watching that girl stride in, cane in hand and tearing him and his best friend anew for his lack of effort was breathtaking. I could almost envision my own bodice in her place, chastising him for his loafing. It was breathtaking. Watching his face despair into sadness at Sakayanagi's tears of disappointment was invigorating.

It almost made up for the fact that just a short while before, I found out that not only was this buffoon appointed to the Student Council, but that he was personally recruited by the same brother who I fought so desperately to recognize me.

Why him? Why this walking piece of mediocrity? Because of his family? Because of his father? Why not his sister?

If there was another who had earned my ire, it was that bastard Koenji. To insinuate that my brother was in some form of homosexual relationship with this cretin...

I've digressed. I must calm myself. I can already feel my pulse rising in anger. This is why I prefer to avoid people as much as possible. People are stupid. They can not see the forest from the trees, if they could they would recognize their own futility. They would recognize the value in isolation. The only person you can trust is yourself.

It fills me with rage that everyone can not see him for what he is. Sakayanagi is clearly gifted, yet she has some misguided belief that he is more than what he is displaying. Chabashira-sensei has shown blatant favoritism toward him, insinuating that there is some kind of latent talent with him. Just because that gorilla can lift some weight despite his slender athletic physique does not mean that he has any more brain capacity than that of an amoeba.

Then there's that best friend of his. In an unconventional way he is rather handsome. His smile and demeanor are friendly enough but he's unrefined. I've seen that bonobo do all manner of distasteful things in the time that he has been my classmate. He laughs with food in his mouth, makes crass jokes and even resorts to profanity like a simpleton. And yet, he has surprised me.

Within the first week, he noticed things about the school that I had my suspicions about. How he was able to notice anything with that imbecile next to him was beyond me, but I suppose when one is hyper lazy and oblivious, the other would be more attune. However, unfortunately for him, his best friend has rubbed off some of his nature onto him.

He brought up the observations he made only to fold like a tent when there was any form of pushback, lacking any form of courage of his convictions. Between Sakayanagi and Chabashira-sensei rebuking him, it seemed to instill a catalyst for some form of transformation. He seemed to have recognized his shortcomings and made a conscientious effort to work on himself. If only he could do the same for that destitute who sits beside him.

If all of that weren't enough, the other thing that scoundrel had the audacity to pull off was to ask for a seat change on the first day. He should be so lucky that he was fortunate enough to sit beside me, instead he asked to swap with Kushida Kikyo.

I was aware of Kushida. We went to the same middle school but in truth I know very little if nothing about her. Sure, there were rumors and I was vaguely aware of an incident that she was tangentially involved with but I had no idea of the specifics. Still, now I am forced to sit next to her as she plastically tries to befriend me.

I didn't understand the nature of the interactions. It was blatantly obvious that she hated me and the feeling was mutual. I have no time for anyone else, let alone someone with the utter fallacious mission of something so mundane of befriending everyone. It seemed as though I were the only one with enough intelligence to see through the act.

Despite the fact that she was gifted academically to some degree, she had the same issue as every other half brained female. A slave to her biology, she constantly attempted to seduce Ayanokouji blatantly in front of everyone else. Like a dog pissing on a tree endeavoring to mark its territory. It was sickening to watch, I shouldn't have to suffer such primal displays. This was a school, not a brothel.

In spite of all of this, nobody seemed to notice that she was faker than a cubic zirconia. Everyone loved her, everyone flocked to be by her side and ate the honeyed feces that she fed them as she poisoned their minds into believing that she only wanted to be kind to everyone. It baffled me, how could people be so naive? And regardless, what was the benefit to being friends with everyone? Why would she even care to be loved by hangeroners such as Yamauchi?

If there was anything remarkable about any of them, I could at the very least make a convincing argument as to the benefits but there simply wasn't that I could see. In order to see something so mundane, I would have to put myself in the mind of a simpleton and there was nothing that I would abhor more than that.

With that in mind, I sat calmly in my seat waiting for the rest of the herd to complete their tests. As my eyes rested on Ayanokouji, I noted him with his hands folded underneath his head as he laid there, napping with the test laid forgotten on the corner of his table.

Hopefully, that anemic excuse for a human being would have left his test blank again and I wouldn't have to suffer breathing the same air as him any longer.

"Pens down, everyone," Chabashira said gravely as the test concluded.

Everyone followed as instructed and sat anxiously waiting to be excused. In a short amount of time, the class seemed to come together in the face of dire straits. That idiot Matsuo seemed to be growing into an effective leader for the group. Hopefully once that idiot is expelled after today, he can start to flourish from the cocoon that binds him known as Ayanokouji Kiyotaka.

"No one is to leave, do not touch your belongings. Stay seated. We have a serious allegation to address." Chabashira said coldly.

"Before the exam started, I was informed of an anonymous tip that was given to the school that someone in this room had planned to cheat on this examination. As per the school rules, male and female security will be searching through your person and belongings respectively.

"Any attempt to leave or destroy any evidence will be treated as an admission of guilt. Please wait patiently and do not talk amongst yourselves."

I snorted in contempt as I sat waiting. Of course one of these idiots would try to cheat. Always taking the easy way out. I prided myself on my diligence in my studies, on my unwavering focus in bettering myself. The others however were all unremarkable.

Very few of them had any ambitions of grandeur, only applying themselves so that they would be able to earn points to continue to spend on meaningless luxuries. I was curious to see who the fool was when they were apprehended.

One by one they were brought to the front of the room and searched. Not a single person was caught with any paraphernalia. It wouldn't surprise me if there was no one caught, the school had already shown its penchant for not understanding a lie from the truth, talent from the unworthy.

Finally, it was my turn. Kushida and I were the last two to be searched so I carefully approached the front with my bag in hand, handing over all of my belongings. At first the female security guard searched my body, patting my pockets and checking for anything hidden in my jacket. As she searched me, the male security guard pulled something from my bag that I had never seen before that made my heart fall in my chest.

A stack of papers. A stack that I have never seen before, that I hadn't put into my bag. As Chabashira-sensei flipped through them, I could see that they were identical to the tests I had just completed with typed answers on each of the lines.

It wasn't mine, I didn't do this. I had never even known that there was even a possibility to obtain them beforehand. Before I knew what was happening I began to hyperventilate.

"Chabashira-sensei, they're not mine. I've never seen them before." I desperately argued.

"And yet they were in your bag," She said sadly.

"Sensei, I'm an honor student! You said it yourself I was ranked in the top percentile of the school. Why would I even need them!?"

"Unfortunately, the evidence speaks against you Horikita-san. There is no way to corroborate your story."

"Check them for fingerprints, I've never touched them, you won't find any!"

"This is a school, Horikita, not a forensic lab. We don't have the facilities to carry that out."

"The cameras!" I screamed in desperation. "Check them, you'll see that I didn't look in my bag the entire time I was here. I didn't look at them at all during the test, I couldn't possibly have cheated!"

"Horikita," Chabashira started with sympathy in her tone. "It doesn't matter. They were found in your possession. I'm very sorry, I really did have high hopes for you. Unfortunately, you are hereby expelled. You will be escorted to collect your things."

I felt nauseated. I could hear my heartbeat pounding in my ears as I began to heave. A cold sweat started to form all over and my knees went weak on the verge of collapse. It was purely based on pride to not allow the rest of the people in the room to not see me break that I stayed on my feet.

I shakily turned to the room, scanning the people there. Ayanokouji, the one person who I loathed so much, didn't even have the decency to watch the events unfold. He was already cleared and completed his test and was currently texting away on his phone to someone nonchalantly.

I looked around the room and only saw indifference. I had no friends or allies. No one would come to my defense, even if they knew that I hadn't done this. Even if they believed that I had been framed, as far as they were concerned I was a nuisance who did nothing but berate them and ridicule them. I looked at their faces while they looked at me with indifference. When I reached the last face in the room, I could see the culprit clear as day.

Kushida looked at me with the same smile she normally had before the change. Suddenly her eyes turned sinister, and her smile changed from kind to triumphant. Her eyes were vicious, they held none of the warmth that she faked to the rest of them. She had an impeccable mask, there was no way that it would drop no matter how she felt.

She wanted me to know it was her.

"Horikita, your dorm will be packed and your belongings will be brought to the staff room. Please wait there for further instructions." Chabashira instructed calmly.

My knees finally gave and I collapsed, sobbing in front of my classmates without inhibition. The female security guard caught me and held me up as I wracked with heaving cries of anguish. My chance was gone, I would forever be a stain on my family. The useless child that dragged the name of Horikita through the dirt; now tarnished.

I didn't care about my own humiliation, only that of my brothers. He would have to live on in this school for his final year and his little sister would be the reason for his downfall. He would have to suffer whispers and judging eyes as he walked the halls. Three years of his life building his reputation and in a little over a month I had destroyed it.

I was led on shaky legs to the staff room by security with Chabashira following silently behind. They led me to a seat on the couch in the guidance room and offered a cup of tea to calm down. Worried for my mental stability, I was left with Chabashira sitting across from me with her careful gaze never leaving me.

Suddenly, there was a knock at the door and Ayanokouji entered.

"Sensei," He said carefully. "I'd like to pay to overturn Horikita's expulsion."

I was stunned beyond belief. For one thing I was floored that such a thing was even possible, in my mental state I didn't even think to ask if I could do such a thing. It was even more confounding as to who was offering to assist me.

"Are you aware of how much it's going to cost you?"

"I am,"

"And you have twenty million points to pay?"

I heard the number and the hope that I felt was instantly dashed. Even if he had a good idea, there was no way that he or I could muster that many points. Even if the whole class were willing, which they wouldn't be, we wouldn't even be able to come close to sniffing that amount.

"I do,"

Those words. Those two little words and color returned to my world. I didn't even want to ask how or why, as though if I opened my mouth and spoke, the sweet salvation would disappear and it would all just be an illusion.

Before he moved to complete the transaction, he paused before asking another question.

"How many points would it cost me to ask you to tell the class that it was all a misunderstanding and clear Horikita's name?" He questioned.

"Officially to remove it from the school record, one million points. Unofficially to the class I will do it as a favor." Chabashira said simply.

"Okay," Ayanokouji said with a nod. "Please take twenty one million points."

With that the transaction was complete and Chabashira asked Ayanokouji to take me back to my dorm. He helped me while holding my arm but the moment we were outside of the room the emotion was too much and I collapsed. Without missing a beat, he bent down and picked me up and carried me down the hall.

"How?" I asked.

"I asked your brother if he wanted you saved and he sent me the twenty million to overturn your expulsion." Ayanokouji said simply.

"The other million?"

"My idea, I paid for it with my own points," He answered again immediately.

I wouldn't pry as to how he had so many points. He was my savior at the moment and it wouldn't do well for me to poke into his private affairs.

"Do you know who did it?" He asked gently.

I nodded solemnly without opening my mouth.

"Do you know why she did it?"

I was stunned but didn't have the energy to say or do anything. He knew too and I had no idea how but he did. Instead, I simply nodded again and didn't offer any form of elaboration.

"Why?" I asked weakly.

He hesitated with his answer, continuing to walk with my limp body to exit the building before answering.

"Because I realized that if Manabu were in my shoes and Arisu was in your position, then I would want him to save her."

Once we were out the door, I saw the form of my brother standing outside. Without a word, he passed my lifeless body to my brother's arms before leaving to reenter the school without another word. They said nothing to each other, just a nod. One of appreciation, the other of understanding.

It was the first time in years that I had been in my brother's arms. It was comforting but I felt ashamed and embarrassed. He didn't even try to put me back on my feet, just continued to carry me to the dorms.

"I'm sorry, Nii-san," I said quietly.

"Are you okay?" He asked. I couldn't answer, I just nodded into his chest.

"Have you learned your lesson?" Another nod.

"Then that's all that matters," He said gently.

No other words were said as we entered the dorms and he put me to bed. He stayed with me quietly, making me tea and dinner before falling asleep later beside me.

I learned a valuable lesson and vowed that from the next morning on I would change. I owe Ayanokouji Kiyotaka my life and it isn't an exaggeration or hyperbole.

If he hadn't contacted my brother and saved his reputation, then my life would be over. Because the moment that I was outside the gates of the school, I would have taken it.

SS A lesson from a perfect being

The day has concluded and I am feeling generous. For that reason, I have decided, in my benevolence, that I will allow you the fortune of an explanation. One that mere peasants would not normally be fortunate enough to receive.

There is a fundamental reason why the students and alumni strive to graduate from Class A. Many miss the mark in understanding why it is a prestigious title to behold.

Many of the vermin that scurry about this illustrious campus have the misconception that the one hundred percent employment rate that the college so graciously boasts, is due to some form of guarantee given by the school and the government. It is pure stupidity and shows the small mindedness of society as a whole.

You see, my feeble minded friend, the true reason why Class A boasts such a boon to those who are able to attain it is because of the prestigiousness of the Class itself.

For example, if you had the prosperity to be afforded an interview with a company of worth, there is an extremely high probability that the executive at that company will be an alumni of Advanced Nurturing High School. Upon speaking to that executive, should you tell them of your shared history, they will ask you what class you graduated from.

If you were to tell them you graduated from Class B through to D you would be cast out like the unworthy, rabies infected dog that you are. You are not worthy of their time or appraisal.

However, if you were to tell them that you graduated from Class A, you would be able to have a conversation of your shared trials and tribulations. Offer platitudes of strategies and experiences that you can both relate to.

In another instance, if you wanted to graduate with a university degree, a finish in class B-D would be enough to grant you entry to a low level community college that would allow any night time walker admission into its raggedy campus.

Having said that, let's say it was your desire to attend the prestigious Tokyo University. It would be far more impressive to the Dean, who is also a graduate from Class A, if you were to finish at the top as he did.

This is something that a low born plebeian such as yourself may not be able to comprehend.

It is to be expected. After all, those of the lower end of the socio economic spectrum would not be able to realize what it is like to rub shoulders with the upper class.

You can be forgiven for your ignorance.

It is for that reason that my original plan was to strive for Class A. Make no mistake however, it would not be from meaningless effort. To spill my own blood, sweat and tears competing with the rags and dregs that happened to win the lottery of acceptance into this institution is insulting. For a perfect existence such as myself, only the finest competition would suffice.

Purchasing such a title would have been plenty.

For that reason, it is quite possible that you would ask yourself, why is that no longer part of my strategy? You would be forgiven for asking such a feeble minded question.

That is because before if I were to attend a high society event, if one were to ask me who I was out of social etiquette, for we must be honest, they already know who I am. I would have introduced myself in this fashion.

My name is Koenji Rokusuke. Sole Heir and Leader of the Koenji Conglomerate Group. I graduated from Class A of ANHS.

However, should I introduce myself now. My introduction would be as follows.

My name is Koenji Rokusuke. Sole heir and Leader of the Koenji Conglomerate Group. I was in the graduating class of Ayanokouji Kiyotaka.

See the difference? No? Such ignorance. There are not many of my fellow compatriots who even know the significance of the man known as Ayanokouji Kiyotaka.

You see, my uncultured friend, Ayanokouji Kiyotaka is a man of significance. Greatness recognizes Greatness and make no mistake, Ayanokouji Kiyotaka is Great.

For what you may ask? For one, he is the son to the Chairman of the most prestigious institution in all of Japan, brother to a certifiable genius.

While his sister is by no means an intellectual on the scale of her adopted brother, make no mistake; she is a genius.

With the two of them working together, they have the cerebral capacity to make any organization that they bless with their assistance into the most powerful in the country, if not the world.

Which is why it is somewhat disappointing that she is so blinded by her own insecurities to not understand what is in Ayanokouji-boy's nature.

My grandfather, the man who started the Koenji Conglomerate Group, had always told me in his teachings to hire the lazy man. They will always find the most efficient solutions to attain maximum results.

Secondly, he is already thoroughly well connected. These dullards have no clue whatsoever how well connected he is.

To edify you, Ayanokouji-boy's education has been funded by the government ever since he was freed from that incipit prison. Government officials have been bending over backwards to ingratiate themselves with that man from the moment they've had access to him.

It is for that reason that I have decided to alter my original trajectory. Whilst before my plans were to enjoy the different facilities and bounties that are made available to us during our tenure, now my goal is to be as well acquainted with Ayanokouji as possible. He is one to be respected.

Any man who can come out from that repulsive place with their mind still intact is one to be admired. It would also seem that he has an eye for finding talent in places where you would not normally look. He has the mental fortitude to give those around him harsh lessons in order to foster growth. He also has the stomach to keep his friends close and his enemies closer.

That harlot Kushida seems to take Ayanokouji for a simpleton. She has no idea that she is poking a sleeping dragon that only pretends to not know that she is slithering about. The moment that she becomes a nuisance, he will tear her limb from limb before she even knows that it is happening.

If anyone were foolish enough to attack the one that he deems his closest friend or heaven forbid his beloved sister, they will feel the wrath of a thousand suns.

It is also why that foolish Horikita-girl is also incredibly prosperous. Fortunate by association. If by pure happenstance her brother was not held in such high regard by that man, she would be walking the streets alone and uncared for.

Many mistake that I am isolated, but the truth is I only associate with those that I deem worthy. Horikita-girl associates with no one which was essentially the lead up to her downfall.

Irrespective, the game is still unfolding. Trust by that man is not given wantonly, it is earned. If someone were to approach him in haste with a false smile and an ulterior motive, I have no doubts that he would welcome them with open arms only to rip out their heart. It is for that reason that I have assisted him with genuine respect.

I am not one to place my faith in a lemon. I have carefully judged the character of Ayanokouji Kiyotaka and found him to be a respectable and loyal person. Should I be fortunate enough, I can only hope that my time as a comrade of Ayanokouji Kiyotaka bears fruit.

My ultimate goal is not to reach Class A, but to recruit the brilliant duo that is Ayanokouji Kiyotaka and Sakayanagi Arisu. They would be valuable assets for the future of the Koenji Conglomerate Group. If that means that I must pick up any other stragglers that he deems necessary, then the proverbial juice would be worth the squeeze.

Chapter 10

Things for me could not be going better in life. After the debacle that was our mid term exams and what had happened with Horikita, it was nice to get a break.

While everyone was in shock over what happened with her being expelled, everyone was hyper aware of the people in the room. It wasn't going to be easy to leave unnoticed as everyone seemed to want to stay to see what would happen next, waiting for Chabashira to return. So in order to leave, I had to take extremely desperate measures.

I feigned that I was dying to take a dump. It was actually a bit of a tension breaker, pardon the pun, and I managed to slip out without any questioning of my leave. After passing Horikita to Manabu outside the building, upon my return Chabashira was already explaining to them all that it was a misunderstanding and that Horikita had been cleared of cheating.

I couldn't have timed my arrival any better, there was no suspicion of me being involved since I had arrived after Chabashira. Eiichiro remarked that it must have been a big one and joked that he wondered if I fell in. That was all that was needed to curb anyone if they had any doubts.

While I haven't heard much from the other classes, I had never been more proud of any individual than I was of Ichinose Honami. It brought a tear to my eye when she told me that Class B had successfully passed the examination with all forty members scoring a collective average of zero.

From what I was told everyone was extremely impressed. Her homeroom teacher had gushed about the sheer courage that such a route would take, her classmates were impressed with the ingenuity. If only my dear sister could see the value of my laziness.

I haven't been able to make any progress on that front and I'll admit I'm incredibly sad about it. I really miss Arisu a lot. Every attempt that I have made to speak to her has been met with a stonewall of rejection. I have been constantly rebuffed and continually have to be referred to her by Ayanokouji-kun. It jars my ears to hear that but I understand that she's upset and needs time.

I'm beginning to take exception with Horikita Manabu. It seems as if he was right. Eiichiro has less time for me, spending quite a lot of it studying and helping other students of our class and Arisu seems hell bent on making me bend the knee. I thought she would break by now and forgive me but it seems this time she is particularly stubborn.

It's not as though she's enjoying this though. I've noted a few times when I've passed her about campus that she would look at me with sad eyes when she thought I wasn't looking. Then when I would notice her ready to approach, that same cold and determined look would return and she would leave as quickly as that cane would take her.

My one saving grace was my beautiful and understanding Secretary, Ichinose Honami. Oh, there is no one on this planet who is more perfect than Ichinose Honami. Not for reasons so superficial as her body or attractiveness, but for the way that she indulges me.

When Student Council duties started, we were given a location to meet for the new Student Council Office. Manabu had informed the rest of the council that due to my appointment, father saw fit to move us to an old faculty building and renovations were completed quickly. There wasn't much to do save for repainting and furnishing but it meant a much higher standard of comfort.

That was all that it took for Nagumo to see the benefits of having someone so well connected. From what I understand, he had a lot of resentment over the fact that I was appointed purely on being the son of the Chairman. He believed in meritocracy, the value of accomplishment. To him, regardless of if I had managed to make his dream a reality, it was a bitter pill to swallow.

However, the moment that we walked into the new student council and we were shown that we all had our own offices, he was sold. All three were the same size but I indulged myself with a few upgrades from my own pocket, pretending that I had my father get it for me.

A wall mounted TV, a large couch and a gaming system that was discreetly hidden. In an inconspicuous part of the office I had a drawer that had my manga and light novel collection hidden to not make it seem unprofessional.

It was the perfect scheme. As far as the council was aware, it was nepotism. As far as the class knew, I was doing my duties and slumming it like they were. The perfect rouse.

So how did Ichinose Honami indulge me? By sticking exactly to her word. Sure, it had only been a week so far but every day without fail, the both of us would go to the office and she would sit at the desk that was supposed to be mine and diligently complete all of our work.

I would lie on the couch like the sloth that I am and do as I pleased. Sleep, watch TV or even read. It didn't matter, she never voiced a single complaint and when it was meal time she would ask what I wanted and we'd go from there. Most of the time I'd pay, I'm not a complete degenerate. But I would always be uninterrupted, never asked to lift even a finger.

If she would make coffee or tea for herself, she would make one for me as well without asking if I wanted it. If I hadn't finished it or tasted it when she was done, she would just pick it up and pour it out without even complaining that I hadn't touched it. How can a more perfect woman exist?

Which is why this time, I was annoyed with her. I was enjoying quite possibly the best nap that one could experience when I suddenly heard a soft tone that was slowly bringing me from the oasis.

"Ayanokouji-kun," She whispered while nudging me.

"Ayanokouji-kun, you really need to wake up," She hissed more forcefully. She started pushing my shoulder trying to force me from my nap before suddenly, I felt a leather folder slap me on the top of my head.

I peeked with one eye lazily to notice Manabu standing over me with that trademark smirk on his face with the offending leather binder in his hand, Ichinose standing behind him looking apologetic. Why did he always have that thing with him?

"Five more minutes, go away." I murmured before closing my eyes again and turning my back on them. I suddenly heard a throat clear but continued to burrow myself into the couch.

"Ayanokouji-kun, please get up. We have guests," I heard Ichinose say frantically.

Deciding to see what all the fuss was about, I turned again only to suddenly go red with embarrassment and get to my feet as quickly as I could. I wiped at the dry saliva that was at the corner of my mouth and desperately hoped that my hair was not completely disheveled.

"Father!" I greeted with a frantic bow.

The office was crowded with far more people than it usually had. Nagumo was next to him looking at me with annoyance while my father had an amused look on his face. Behind him was my Arisu who was looking at me with a triumphant smile at me being caught in the act red handed.

"Father.. Um.. Hello. This is my Honami- My Secretary Ichinose. Working." I bumbled in sleep ridden confusion.

Whilst I've been living my best life, when I was at home I was the picture perfect son. I owed everything to the man that was standing in the room right now. If it wasn't for his kindhearted nature, I would still be in that place with nothing to see but White.

He really did make a great deal of sacrifice for me. It wouldn't have been easy for him to turn on his mentor and work with the government to get me out. He saw what my life was like and did everything he could to get me out of my situation as quickly as possible.

Once I was out and in for processing, he fought tooth and nail to make sure that I didn't end up in the system. There were far too many families all fighting each other trying to get their hands on me. All to use me for political and financial gain but my father stayed firm and never gave up.

He exerted every form of financial and political leverage he had to bring me in as a member of his family. He did everything he could to shield me from as many pressures that the Japanese Government tried to put on him. He conceded on some things, reluctantly agreeing to all of the tutors and visitors that they insisted on putting me through but never allowed it to get out of hand.

He gave me a sister that I adore and tried to make what was left of my childhood as normal as possible. Granted it wasn't normal, but it was as close as possible. He spent ungodly amounts of money trying to get me the best psychologists and therapists he could find to undo the psychological damage I suffered. If I was anything close to a regular boy, it was because of this man in the room.

"It's nice to meet you, 'My Honami My Secretary Ichinose'," He joked.

I have never wished for a hole to appear and swallow me whole in my life until right now.

"Oh, hello Director Sakayanagi. It's an honor to meet you." Ichinose said, clearly flustered with a deep bow.

"I wanted to do this in the conference room and asked for you to come join us, I decided to see what the hold up was. Should we give you a moment to fix yourself, Kiyotaka?" Father asked with an amused smile.

I nodded quickly and pushed my way past everyone with my head down. I went to the bathroom and quickly fixed my uniform and hair as best as I could. I really was a mess, what time was it even?

I went into the conference room as quickly as I could while still being dignified and looked at the table. Arisu must have got there last and positioned herself so that she was sitting with Ichinose and father on either side to stop me sitting beside her. For someone who likes to pretend to be so dignified she was surprisingly childish.

I sat down next to Manabu quickly and waited for someone to speak.

"Congratulations are in order Vice President Nagumo, OAA is something the school has needed for quite some time. I imagine you're very happy that it's finally ready for release,"

There was a lot of chatter around the table. I sat there doing my very best to not draw any attention to myself. I knew what this was really about, all of this was just pandering.

That little snitch, she told on me. Wasn't there some sort of rule that siblings were supposed to keep their issues between them? We're not children anymore, we should sort out our issues ourselves. But of course she had to run to daddy, after all, she was his little princess.

Also I thought that this school was supposed to keep outsiders from intervening. This was outrageous. Now that I think about it, I'm the victim here. I shouldn't have to suffer this injustice, I have nothing to be ashamed of if anyth-...

"-ka?" I only barely caught the tail end of my name.

"Yes, I agree," I nodded.

"I didn't ask you a question," Father laughed.

Please let me die.

"If it's alright, President Horikita, I would like to speak to my children alone for a moment. Is there anything else that we need to discuss?" He asked.

"No, everything is in order. Thank you again for the new offices and for your help in our rollouts." Manabu was thoroughly enjoying my fluster. How does someone who's twenty million in the hole manage to smirk at anything...

"Well as we mentioned, push them forward and have an email out for the staff to start tomorrow. There's no use waiting for June 1 when everything is in order, Vice President Nagumo must be incredibly excited to see his hard work come to fruition."

Nagumo had his chest puffed out so far that I was worried his back was going to give out. Ichinose, Manabu and Nagumo all got up ready to leave the room before my father stopped them.

"Oh and 'My Honami My Secretary Ichinose' thank you for looking after my son. I'm sure your workload is quite... extensive and congratulations on such a creative solution on your midterms. I normally don't hear about them but your results caused quite a buzz. It's not often that a class makes history, well done."

"What did you do?" Nagumo asked curiously.

"Well, we all agreed to score zero. It was risky but it made sure no one got expelled, our class is very..." Ichinose continued to explain as they left the room. The door closed and I wondered what deity was screwing with me today. Why the hell couldn't she explain when she left the room?

Arisu, who heard the explanation, was making a good impression of a demon with how twisted in fury her face was. I had a sneaking suspicion that that compliment was fully intended to cause this. It would seem that he was very playful today.

"Awake now, Kiyotaka?" He asked with amusement.

"Yes, I apologize,"

"You've been enjoying yourself here?"

"Yes, it's a new experience for me. I-"

Apparently that was all that Arisu could handle before she exploded.

"Enough with this!" Arisu yelled out angrily seething. "Chastise him! This is beyond ridiculous, he's infecting other classes now with this rubbish!"

"Arisu..." He warned.

"Not even the decency to stay awake even with Student Council duties..."

"Arisu..."

"Grandfather is rolling in his grave at the mockery of his legacy with all of his buffoonery! Him and that imbecile friend of his..."

"Arisu! Enough!"

She fell silent and glared at me with so much anger that I was impressed. Who knew that she could be a little spitfire when she was always so dignified.

"I don't understand why you're so upset," He started.

Arisu's mouth was agape. She wasn't expecting this. She thought that the moment she tattled on me that he was going to be angry and start to tell me off for not taking this seriously. The fact that he was calm and even amused at my lack of interest baffled her. Now I was happy, because now I wasn't the only one that she was thoroughly angry with.

"I can't believe that you're not upset," Arisu said back, completely stunned.

"Why would I be? You're upset that he isn't taking this seriously because you've heard from your upperclassmen that there are going to be special exams where you get to compete with him?"

"...yes. But I don't want to speak about this in front of him." She pointed angrily at me. "I'll be losing a tactical advantage. He's been doing nothing, I doubt he even knew that was the case. It'd be far too much effort for him to even try to get any information."

I wasn't about to admit that she was completely on the nose with that one. What was this about special exams?

"I don't think you have anything to worry about, Arisu," Father said nonchalantly. "By the time the special exams roll around, he will be ready and I'm sure that he will give his best effort. You'll get your opportunity to compete with him."

"Father, you don't understand. He has been completely inept. I would have been fine with him scoring nothing on that meaningless exam if it was some form of strategy but it wasn't! He's completely shut down!" Arisu complained.

"You can't see it can you?" He laughed.

"See what?" She asked in confusion.

"He's bored."

God how I hated to admit it but he was right. He and Manabu had predicted this and I couldn't believe it but they were right.

That adrenaline spike when Horikita was getting expelled, trying to get out of the room without anyone knowing that I was intervening, texting Manabu that if he didn't do something she would be gone and getting the points. Going into the staff room and negotiating the terms, going back into the room and pretending like nothing happened. It was the most exhilarating experience that I'd had in my life.

But I was far too proud and stubborn to admit it. Perhaps this was the chemical change of puberty happening at the moment but I felt rebellious. I've been desperately trying to deny it, doing everything in my power to continue my life as it had been for the last month. Trying so hard to just continue to do nothing but I wanted that rush again.

After being so vehemently against doing anything in this school, I felt like a fraud to suddenly want to participate. I had looked forward to the next three years of being completely pedestrian. No tutoring, no expectations, absolutely no obligations. If I suddenly wanted to be involved it would all be for nothing, especially when I'd only got to experience this lifestyle for only a month and then give up so easily.

I was fighting with everything that I had to stay lazy but... slowly I was starting to get intrigued.

"No I'm not," I denied.

"Liar..." He smirked at my denial.

"He really isn't," Arisu muttered under her breath.

"No really, he is, I'm sure of it. A holiday is only enjoyable for a while and then you start to begin wishing you had something to do. All great men go through it, they wish for retirement only wanting to go back into the boardroom."

"He is not! He only scored fifty on his midterms. This idiot only answered every second question on his exam. Again! Stop indulging this behavior, reprimand him already! This is an embarrassment!"

Arisu got to her feet and left the room as quickly as that cane could take her. It was relatively slow compared to a normal well abled person but she did manage to slam the door with enough force to nearly take it off its hinges.

"You should go after her this time," He suggested, getting to his feet.

"I'm not so sure that's a good idea," I said a little uneasy.

"When a woman leaves the room like that, she's expecting you to go after her. Stop being stubborn, if you're bored, participate."

I didn't refute anything he said but quietly got to my feet and went to the door. She wasn't going to get far but I should at least do what I was told after being so thoroughly dismantled in front of my peers. It would seem I lost this one, what a refreshing experience.

"Oh and Kiyotaka," Father called at me. I turned before I left, waiting for him to continue. "I'm not supposed to be mediating your squabbles, this school is not to have outside interference. Don't make this a habit."

"Yes sir,"

"Off with you," He waved his hand dismissively and I quickly left to go after Arisu.

It didn't take long, she only went outside the building and sat down. She was still angry but didn't do anything as I sat down next to her. Apparently it had taken a toll on her and she just looked defeated. I was just happy that she wasn't attacking me again.

"You win," Arisu sighed. "Again. Do whatever you want. No one is on my side, I can't do anything about it."

"I missed you," I said hopefully. I really did miss her a lot, Manabu was right about that one too. Bastard. I hate that smug smirk, I can see it in my mind even though he's nowhere to be found.

"Liar, you spend almost all your time with Ichinose,"

"You'll always be my best girl," A little flattery had to help, right?

"I missed you too, idiot." She sighed. "I suppose that I should apologize to Eiichiro. Unlike you, the rumor is that he has turned into a rather effective leader. At least I was able to effect change on that front."

"A resounding victory, as expected of the great Sakayanagi Arisu," I nodded. She laughed hollowly before going back to being silent again.

"Let's eat, I'm hungry. My treat." I offered standing up and holding out my hand. She took it and we slowly started to walk back toward Pallet. After a few moments, she stopped and I stopped along side her.

"One," She said simply.

"No way.. Tha-"

"You deserve two, but I'll settle for one,"

As we grew up together, she used to get a little jealous over the fact that I got so many private tutors in things that she couldn't do. I was a little worried she couldn't defend herself so I taught her a few things. She really did have a vicious right hand.

Since she's impaired there were only certain things she could do but I taught her at least enough to be able to defend herself. Eye gouges, hits to the groin with her cane, even vulnerable spots on the abdomen.

I sighed and accepted my fate.

"Okay fine, go a little easy though..."

Bam. Her right hand buried itself in my solar plexus and I instantly bent over. That knocked the wind out of me a bit. I let out a slight groan, despite having a high pain tolerance. Even if I was stabbed I wouldn't scream or cry. Still, even I couldn't hold back the natural reaction of having the wind knocked out of me completely.

Satisfied, she nodded before taking her cane and my arm again.

"Feel better now?"

"Much better, thank you."

Chapter 11

3,066,111

It's a big number but nothing in comparison to what I had weeks ago. Save for a small amount, I hadn't really spent much on myself. Aside from various meals outside, my gym membership and the entertainment in my office, most of my points were spent on people I could care less about.

Still, I had spent almost more points in the month than an entire class combined. It's something to think about. I wonder just how many points an average student had saved over the course of their tenure. Did I set a record with how many points a first year spent in a month?

Well, it's something to think about because today we received a grand total of zero points for the month. Yet again. This time however, it wasn't our doing.

Supposedly there's some sort of delay, I'm not aware of the specifics and if I were in dire straits I probably would have paid more attention but I was more in tune with something else that was on my mind. BUDDY had been live and so far the number of points that I received was greater than I originally anticipated.

An approximate seventy thousand points per day on average since the system went live. It would be interesting to see whether or not the earnings would rise as the new month started and people received their allowance but that would have to wait. It was only a few days in and I earned about two hundred thousand odd points with some change but it was something to wonder about.

I wondered absentmindedly if Nagumo was annoyed at the moment because to be fair, almost no one really cared about OAA. They were too blinded by the possibilities of BUDDY, it was something that affected them more on the day to day. OAA was really just a referencing system, it almost felt like robbery to get paid such an exorbitant amount for what was basically an index but I wasn't about to look a gift horse in the mouth.

The reason why I'm bringing this up is because this morning I was sent some points by my loving sister who was concerned about her brother being forced into poverty. What followed was one of the most awkward conversations that I've ever had with my sister as I showed her my balance.

"...Have you been extorting people?"

"Of course not,"

"You're not selling drugs, are you?"

"Is that even possible?"

"You better not be prostituting yourself..."

"What!? No!"

It was a short conversation but it was still awkward. Arisu wasn't moved by something so mundane as money or private points. It was rather small minded, if you had enough there was nothing you couldn't accomplish in this school. But for someone like Arisu, it would be a meaningless achievement if it wasn't done by your own hands or influence.

Kushida was jealous though and it was blatantly obvious. I don't even know why but she seems to be trying to drive a wedge between Ichinose and I. It doesn't make any sense, there's nothing between Ichinose and I except for a professional relationship. Hell, there isn't anything between Kushida and I aside from... well anything.

Which is why it was beyond awkward at the moment, just like it was awkward when I was being asked if I was exchanging sexual favors for points like a complete degenerate.

Ichinose and I were eating our lunch in Class D. Sat at my table, Ichinose had someone else's chair while sitting across from me with her own lunch from the cafeteria. After class I was held up when we were all discussing the latest turn of events and I was running late. Just as I was about to leave, a beautiful apricot haired soul opened the door to our classroom with our lunches in hand. Not seeing me in the cafeteria, she bought our food and came to find me.

We were running behind because of the latest announcement by Chabashira-sensei. The revelation that there was a complaint against Sudo for beating up Class C students was sadly unsurprising. What was surprising was his insistence that it was in self defense. He swore vehemently that they had started it, provoking him after leading him to an obscure locale and then starting a fight with him.

He was able to soundly beat them up, three versus one, only to be reported for bullying them later to the school. He was quite incensed, apparently he had been accepted on the main roster for the basketball team and this situation jeopardized that appointment. It made me wonder if I was to beat up a few Class C students, could I potentially lose my position on the Student Council and have less work to do...?

Well, let's be honest. I didn't really have any work to do because of the beautiful creature that was Ichinose Honami anyway, so Class C was safe from me. Still, not long after Chabashira told us about the incident and left, Eiichiro spoke up loudly to the class and offered to help protect Sudo in the trial.

They all looked at Sudo angrily, their points were going to be affected by his short fuse. But Eiichiro spoke up for him with passion and everyone fell in line. He had become everyone's best friend and they all put their faith in him. I couldn't be prouder, the more faith they placed in him, the lower the expectations anyone placed on me.

Which is how we found ourselves in the current situation. Eiichiro sat beside us at his table and talked to Ichinose and I, trying to come up with a solution to his current problem.

"This is going to suck," Eiichiro complained. "I've never had to do anything like this before, I don't even know what I'm supposed to do in a hearing."

"You have far bigger problems than that," I said, continuing to eat my lunch. "You don't have any evidence and they reported him first. The burden of proof is on you, if it was a setup you're not going to find much."

"What do you think I should do?" Eiichiro asked curiously.

"Give up, let Sudo take his punishment. The sooner you let it happen, the faster his term ends and the lower the consequences. Better suspension than expulsion."

Sudo who was listening next to him winced slightly but said nothing.

"But if Sudo-kun said he didn't do anything, then it would be wrong for him to get punished for nothing. We can't just leave him..." Kushida trailed off.

This was actually pretty bad, I've been so off guard lately that I didn't even realize what was happening around me.

Ever since my appointment to the Student Council, more people have been paying attention to me. They must have realized that Eiichiro, while he was the leader and the one that made the decisions for the class, came to me frequently to ask my opinion.

Slowly but surely, that meant that the rest of the class had grown their expectations of me and now they were starting to pay attention to what I was doing.

It's not like the attention bothers me, I just don't want the expectations. If they begin to have expectations, it'll mean I'll have to do things. All my hard work of making sure that I had nothing to do would be swirling down the toilet if I didn't do something soon and the embarrassment I put Arisu through would have been for nothing.

Sitting there and eating I was only focused on the fact that I was with Ichinose and Eiichiro, I didn't realize that the entire room had stayed behind and focused on our conversation. I've become complacent, isn't that interesting...

"We'll just have to do our best to figure something out as we go along. After classes, we'll go to where it all happened and see if we can find anything that will help us," Eiichiro suggested.

"Okay, what time and where should we meet you?" Ichinose asked.

"We?" I repeated in confusion.

"Yes, we." Ichinose parroted as though she didn't understand my confusion.

"'We' are not getting involved. 'We' are not doing anything," I explained dismissively.

"You can't be serious," Ichinose said, clearly baffled.

"Dead serious. You're in Class B anyway, this is a Class D problem. You're not getting involved regardless,"

"I didn't join the Student Council to just sit back and watch injustices around the school. I joined to help people," Ichinose said with a frown crossing her arms.

"Okay then, putting that aside, you can't get involved no matter what. Neither can I for that matter. There's a thing called conflict of interest, maybe you've heard of it? We're on the Student Council so we have to be impartial. You can't get involved, even if you wanted to."

What a stubborn woman. So this was what was going to be the problem for me. All this time Ichinose had never voiced a complaint, never back talked about having to do all the work for the both of us. It would seem that the problem wouldn't be making her do things, it'd be making her do less.

A moral compass, it was useful in some ways and a liability in others. Sometimes doing what was right and what was necessary were two different things and I realized right now that Ichinose was the type to sacrifice herself to help others even if it was to her detriment.

I could feel the beginning of a headache coming. This was not going to be a simple matter of me telling her what to do and letting it be. I was in for a fight now.

"As I said, I didn't join the Student Council to sit on my hands when something isn't right. I wasn't asking for permission, if you want to sleep on the couch in the office then do it. I'm going to help."

"You're being stubborn,"

"And you're being unreasonable."

"Hey, Hey!" I suddenly raised my voice hitting the table with my open hand. I pointed my chopsticks at her when she looked at me with fire. "Listen here woman, you are not getting involved. I'm not risking you, understand? You're far too important to me to put on the line for this.

"I don't care if Sudo is the second coming of Michael Jordan, you are not risking your position as my Secretary so that we can get a few points this month or so that he can play for ten minutes in a meaningless game. Am I understood?"

Silence. Dead silence.

I wondered for a moment what I said. Eiichiro was next to me with his mouth agape, it was probably the first time that he saw me raising my voice or losing my temper but that didn't seem to be what the issue was.

Looking at Ichinose, her face was completely red and her gaze was averted, suddenly finding her food incredibly interesting. Apparently the rest of the boys in the class were just as shocked, all looking at me with awe. Karuizawa, who was sitting next to Hirata and apparently eavesdropping, was making a very good impression of a fish. Next to her, Satou and Matsushita were both red faced as well.

"What?" I asked, completely perplexed.

"T-t-that sounded. Like a confession," Karuizawa stammered.

"You sounded like her boyfriend," Satou chimed in completely red.

"Eh!? Kiyo...?" Eiichiro still couldn't form a proper sentence.

Ichinose still looked like she was in a trance.

"What are you all talking about?" I continued to be completely confused at their reactions. What did I even say to get this reaction? I gestured at Ichinose before I explained myself.

"This woman is a machine. I haven't had to look at a single paper the entire time that I've been on the council. I'm not losing that for anything, you don't know what life is like. She's a God,"

Realization seemed to dawn on Eiichiro and suddenly he looked completely deadpan instead of shocked.

"All of that was so that you wouldn't have to do anything?"

"Of course, what did you think I was talking about?"

"I-Idiot," Karuizawa stammered. "Think about how you word things, you'll give people the wrong idea!"

Ichinose still continued to stare at her plate with her face completely red.

"He's right though, there is a conflict of interest, they really can't be involved." Horikita offered hesitantly. "Matsuo-kun, if you are willing I'd like to offer my assistance. It's the least I can do..."

Since the incident, Horikita had been incredibly meek and quiet in the class. In fact, this is probably the first time I've heard her voice since everything took place.

She continued coming to class immediately after and didn't address how or why everything happened. Chabashira had talked to everyone again the very next morning, refuting her cheating and asking everyone to give her some space in order for her to come to terms with everything. It was a kind gesture, she went above and beyond what was required of our deal.

Chabashira really had changed. She was still stern but she wasn't baiting me or making any veiled hints about my past. She wasn't berating people anymore and even seemed to be gently guiding Eiichiro in his leadership position. Even Yamauchi wasn't getting cold glares when he would call her Sae-chan-sensei, instead she looked to find the name rather endearing.

I didn't know what caused this change, but I had been thinking that it'd be a good idea for me to talk to her and find out what all of this was about.

"Ah... Sure, Horikita-san. Any help that we can get would be appreciated," Eiichiro said awkwardly. Apparently he wasn't expecting any help, let alone from her.

"I'll help too!" Kushida said with determination. She pumped her fists in front of her with enthusiasm.

Ichinose still hadn't said a word and almost looked a little comatose. Worried, I got her attention by clicking my fingers in her face and broke her from her stupor.

"Are you okay?"

"Y-yes sorry, I just got a little distracted," Ichinose laughed nervously, scratching her cheek.

"Okay, good," I nodded. She got up from her chair and went to throw her things away before offering her farewells and leaving. Needing to go to the bathroom before class, I followed her out before stopping her outside the door.

"You're still going to get involved aren't you," I sighed. I knew that all of that didn't do anything to stop her determination. Upon being found out, she said nothing and looked down at the ground.

"Don't get caught," I said with resignation. She looked up again, bright blue eyes wide with surprise before she nodded with a beaming smile. Not a moment later, she bounced toward her class with happiness. What a troublesome woman.

"She's interesting, isn't she? Such a kind-hearted and naive person..." I heard a voice say from behind me. I turned around to see Horikita standing there awkwardly.

"Are you okay?" I asked with a bit of genuine concern.

I hadn't had a chance to talk to her at all the entire aftermath. She seemed so reserved that I wanted to let her gather her thoughts. I hadn't even talked about it with Manabu, he seemed to just move on from it as though it never happened.

He spent twenty million points like it was nothing, it must have bankrupted him but it didn't seem to bother him in the slightest. If anything he seemed happier, as though the twenty million was a worthy investment in a valuable lesson taught to Horikita Suzune.

I can't say that I don't disagree. While it's difficult to see Arisu ever being in the same situation, if I was in Manabu's shoes and I was looking at Horikita as she was, I'd be grateful for the lesson learnt as well regardless of the cost.

That smirking bastard, I swear we are not alike...

"Yes, I am. Thank you." Horikita said awkwardly, not even looking at me. Finally, with determination she looked up.

"You were right in saying you can't be involved. I will give my best effort to ensure that we put our best foot forward but I have my doubts. We are at a disadvantages position,"

"Why are you getting involved? I don't mean to be rude but I wouldn't have expected it from you,"

She hesitated for a moment before explaining.

"I think you are correct in allowing Sudo to suffer the consequences of this incident. It would be a valuable lesson for him in controlling his temper. Some lessons are hard learnt, after all.

"However, it would be tactless of me if I were to not offer a helping hand to a fellow classmate when you threw me a liferaft at my lowest point. Therefore, despite my misgivings, I will give my best effort to overturn this accusation."

"Well, I appreciate it. Eiichiro could use all the help he could get," I nodded and tried to play it off but this was awkward beyond belief. I spent so much time butting heads with this girl that now that she was being co-operative it was really baffling.

"My brother holds you in high regard," Horikita said suddenly. "I heard what you said in there of what Ichinose does for you. I would ask that you make sure not to embarrass him with your lethargy."

And she's back.

"Don't expect too much," I said with a shrug.

"I do not have any friends and have not made any in my life. It is a difficult thing for me. Therefore, I would like to ask if you would be my first friend,"

It sounded like a total business transaction and was awkward like you would not believe. I was even more embarrassed than the day when my father busted me sleeping in my office. Not sure what to do, I just awkwardly nodded before holding out my closed fist for a fist bump.

"Sure, let's give it a shot."

She awkwardly looked at my closed fist before wrapping her hand around it, shaking it up and down like it was open. I wanted to laugh at the ridiculousness of the situation but refrained as she gave a firm nod and turned on her heel to go back to class.

Suddenly, I remembered why I left the room in the first place. I bolted to the bathroom hoping to get there before there was an accident. After relieving myself and washing my hands, I tried to leave as fast as possible so I wasn't late and suddenly ran straight into Kushida who was waiting for me, knocking her to the floor.

"Sorry," I offered her my hand to help her up. She took it and lifted herself off the floor but didn't let go of my hand.

"Always sweeping me off my feet, aren't you Ayanokouji-kun?" Kushida said with a smile. She pulled me in before wrapping me in a hug, her arms around my neck.

"We're going to be late, class starts in five minutes," I reminded her.

"This won't take long, Ayanokouji-kun," Kushida deflected, the smile not leaving her face. "You were talking with Horikita-san in the hall for a while, is there anything you want to tell me?"

"No? She was just telling me about how she was going to help Sudo with the case. Eiichiro really can use all the help he can get, thanks for offering to help too." I said gratefully.

"If it's for Ayanokouji-kun, I really don't mind. We can't have you working too hard now can we," Kushida said with a grin. This woman really did understand me, I truly was blessed.

"How many points would you like?"

She laughed with mirth before removing her arms from my neck. We walked at a leisurely pace back to the room, already running a little bit late. I would normally be a little bit more cautious about causing any issues for Eiichiro, but we were already on the verge of losing all our points yet again. One act of tardiness wasn't going to break the class.

"I still have a bit left after you helped us out, I've been careful about spending too much,"

"About that, you nearly got me busted with your backhanded explanation. You're a dangerous girl, so sly. Trying to hint at me giving you the points..."

"You have no idea," Kushida giggled. "But I had a reason for doing that, don't worry too much. I wouldn't let you get caught, you're a far too valuable friend to me."

"What reason was that?" I asked curiously. She stopped in the hall, we weren't too far away from the classroom.

"You being you caused a few of our classmates to resent you, thinking that you were the cause of our problems. I couldn't turn it around by telling them you gave me the points, so I had to do the next best thing. It wasn't a grand gesture, but it was enough to shed you in a bit of a positive light."

Kushida had a bit of a point there. There were a few people who were still resentful over the zero but didn't seem to have any of the courage to say anything about it. Between the appointment and now the release of the app, most of them were too busy doing things to get points to pay me too much mind.

"Well, even if you were being shrewd and trying to get me caught without saying anything, I appreciate you thinking of me," I said with a small bow of my head. Before I could open the door, Kushida stopped me.

"One last thing, please don't talk to Horikita alone from now on if you wouldn't mind. You wouldn't want me to be jealous, would you?"

"Just Horikita? You're not jealous of Ichinose?" I prodded jokingly.

"I am, but she's your Secretary. For now, atleast. I have my eye on you, Ayanokouji Kiyotaka. You'll learn that I'm a rather possessive person," Kushida grinned.

With that she opened the door and entered the classroom, apologizing to our teacher and taking her seat. What a troublesome woman...

A/N: Due to the comments I had to google what wincest means. You people are sick. But I still love you all ;)

Chapter 12

I am about to make a grave mistake. I'm about to do something that I swore that I would never do.

It's been two days since the luncheon with Ichinose where she adamantly stood up to me and insisted that she would help with Sudo's case regardless of what I thought. I reluctantly gave my blessing telling her not to get caught, but not for the reasons you would think.

I was concerned. Not for anyone else but for my own well being. You see, I was worried that if I put my foot down and told her she couldn't do it, she would do so anyway and perhaps stop working in protest. Forced between a rock and a hard place, I gave my blessing, telling her to not get caught for my own selfish reasons. So that she would be grateful and continue to do our work.

Which is why I have a problem. I am about to do something that I swore with every fiber of my being that I would not do simply out of concern for my beloved Secretary.

For lack of a better way of putting it, she was thoroughly exhausted. She was the leader of Class B, helping Eiichiro, Horikita and Kushida with Sudo's case and doing all of our office work. She had the slightest beginnings of bags under her eyes and she was dragging her feet when she walked in and took her seat at the desk today.

Observing her, I fought myself. This was a monumental task for me, it was incredibly difficult for me to make this decision. Would this set a precedent? Would there be expectations? How should I go about this if the proverbial ball started rolling?

I laid on my spot on the couch contemplating my life choices, wondering if this would be a terrible mistake. It would be the beginning of a sad existence if I made a poor choice without thinking it through carefully. I wasn't sure if this went badly, if I would be able to recover from such a monumental blunder.

I took a glance at Ichinose as she stifled yet another yawn. Not a single complaint. She was fighting to keep her eyes open. Should I do this? Could I do this? What would be the worst possible scenario?

Steeling my resolve, I made my decision. I could accept this. If this was the start of an expectation, at the very least it would be something I accept. She had started to become more than my Secretary, she was my friend. And in moments when they are in need, friends help each other.

It was impossible not to see her as such, I spent more time with her than anyone else at this point. Even more than Eiichiro. I stared at the Light Novel in my hands, wondering if I was really going to go through with this.

I started to make my move only to relax again. This was difficult. Incredibly difficult. Why was I being like this? I should just do it. Like one conquering their fear of heights at the edge, with a bungee cord attached, just go and accept the life experience and allow gravity to do the rest of the work.

It was as though I was a recovering alcoholic. My hands were shaking and my eyes were quivering wondering if this was really what I wanted to do. As mentioned before, it was an incredibly dangerous precedent to set.

The first step really is the hardest to take. Perhaps if I just force myself, then momentum would take over and it would be easy to just continue on to the next step and onward.

Realizing I was just being a coward, I made my decision.

I got up from the couch and moved to the kitchen area to make her coffee.

Chapter 13

Currently, I'm seething with my phone in hand. Sending an angry message to Eiichiro, I got up from my table at the cafeteria and headed towards my destination. When you start a routine you start to expect things to happen in that fashion. So when things break that routine and you know the culprit and the reason why that routine is broken, it's normal to be annoyed or mad.

Right now I knew who was breaking my routine and I was pissed.

As time passed, things were getting out of hand. I was legitimately annoyed and I felt justified. Why you may ask? Because I'm currently missing two things; My lunch and my Ichinose Honami.

Things were getting worse, if Ichinose was coming in previously to our office stifling yawns and dragging her feet, I now had a zombie for a secretary. Incredibly determined, she hadn't missed a beat, still coming into the office and continuing to work. But it didn't change the fact that this couldn't continue, she was on the verge of collapse.

It was painfully obvious that she hadn't been sleeping much, if at all. Between all of her responsibilities and the stress of the current situation meant that she probably wasn't even sleeping at night when she got back to her dorm. If this continued, more than likely she was going to be making an impromptu visit to the infirmary and I was angry.

I was angry because there was one person who seemed to be not as earnest despite being the one affected; Sudo Ken. While Ichinose was breaking her back and her mind trying to get him out, Sudo seemed to be oblivious. Continuing to laugh and muck about with his friends, the school functioned with the principle of innocent until proven guilty. Until the trial came to pass he was still allowed to attend club duties and the like.

Eiichiro was out looking for witnesses and working hard to gather all the information he could. He was giving his best effort but wasn't skipping out on his obligations to the class. He really wasn't to blame for any of this but at the same time he had far less responsibilities than Ichinose. So despite the fact that he had a heavy workload, he was still fine.

Horikita, true to her word, was doing everything she could to assist him. Aside from this case however, she really didn't have any other commitments or even a social life outside of this. For that reason, even though she was giving her best effort, there was really no way she would be impacted. The same went for Kushida, who was diligently assisting when required but wasn't making any sacrifices to her social life.

The only one who was really being heavily burdened was Ichinose Honami. Currently struggling with all of her commitments to her class, the council and the case. Not only was there all of this, but she also had to work within the shadows to make sure no one knew what she was doing.

It was taking its toll.

Could I have intervened? Of course. I could have become a part of this and it would have been far easier. Unlike Ichinose, I can function well in obscurity. I even had plans in mind and contingencies in place should they fail but what would be the point?

This was supposed to be a lesson for all of them. If I held their hands like a parent and coddled them what would it achieve? I could have had Sudo out of his situation today. But for what? So that he could go out tomorrow and be provoked into another fight? Should I continually have to fix his problems just so he could play basketball? Do work? I scoffed at the notion, I would have spit on the floor at the thought if it would achieve anything.

If Eiichiro was to be an effective leader, this was a golden opportunity for him. Subterfuge was a valid tactic and one that was going to be used frequently from this point onward. This was even a relatively simple and basic example of it as well. If this were Arisu who were attacking him, this plan would have been a nuisance for her to even think of, a waste of precious brain power. She wouldn't even bother with such a basic strategic move.

So if he couldn't get through this then there was nothing to discuss; he was doomed. He didn't need to come out on top, he just needed to get through it. Go through the motions, have an outcome and learn from it. It's why I had to allow things to pass even though I was getting angrier by the day and was on the verge of intervening but I had to refrain from doing so.

Loath to admit it, I was also annoyed with Ichinose. This was a simple choice to make. Between Sudo and myself there was an obvious choice. Why help that hot head over me? He did nothing for her, the choice was obvious. Sure I'm lazy, but I have merit.

With helping me, she had what she wanted. A high position on the Student Council, the recognition and title that she desired and the work that she craved to help the people she wanted. I wasn't forcing this upon her, she asked for this. The fact that she was destroying her health to help a peon was vexing me to no end. Forget morals, this was an easy choice to make. Assess the costs and liabilities and make a decision.

Right now at the current moment, at best Sudo was going to get a week of suspension. He may lose his position as the newly appointed main roster member of the basketball team but that wasn't my problem. If things continued to trial, he would be risking suspension into summer.

But he could care less because he was doing nothing. I could begrudgingly admit that I was being slightly hypocritical. I'm lazy, not oblivious. I am capable of being self aware but that wasn't the point. Ichinose Honami is mine. I found this diamond in the rough. I would not let that idiot put her at risk. Especially when the outcome would lead to the possibility that it would happen again.

So like a petulant child, I stomped toward the classroom entrance of Class B. Upon nearing the entrance, I spotted the four people that I was expecting making their way to meet me in front of the destination.

Eiichiro had what I requested, a blanket folded in his hand and upon seeing the thoroughly pissed off look on my face he tensed. Horikita noticed it as well and made no noise or change in her face to acknowledge it but she noticed. Kushida raised an eyebrow at it but had no other visible change. The one that made me angrier was Sudo, who saw me approaching and completely oblivious to anything, he grinned and waved his hand at my approach.

"Yo, Ayanokouji!" Sudo greeted me enthusiastically. I ignored the idiot, walking straight up to Eiichiro and snatching the blanket from his hand.

"Fix it. Immediately. Before I fix it for you," I said coldly to Eiichiro. He flinched and nodded quickly. I have never been angry with Eiichiro and the truth is even now I wasn't angry at him and he knew it. I was angry at the situation. That was one of the benefits of having such an intimate friendship with him. Very rarely, if ever, did we need to voice what the other was thinking or feeling so he knew what I was mad about.

"Sudo, please. Try to read the mood." Eiichiro hissed at him desperately. Sudo looked completely confused to the fact that I was reaching boiling point.

"What mood?" Sudo asked, completely oblivious.

"Our apologies, Ayanokouji-kun. We will make more of an effort to lessen the burden on Ichinose." Horikita nodded with a small bow of acknowledgement. It seemed she was able to read my demeanor and thoughts.

Kushida stayed completely silent just quietly observing what was going on with calculating eyes. She could tell that I was furious but remained unmoved, most likely trying to gauge my limits and wondering how far I was willing to go with this.

Sudo was completely ignorant as to how bad things were right now. Like a deer ambling about not realizing that a bear was waiting downwind. Unknowingly, he was about to poke said bear.

"What's everyone so serious about? It's fine, we got this," Sudo said cheerfully and put his arm around my shoulder, slapping my back.

That was all it took.

Sudo was reasonably taller than me with a strong athletic build. He was also very capable of fighting, as was obvious by our current situation. But a fighter knew how to gauge their opponents based on basic things. Things like movements, grip strength and the like. So even he knew that this was not the time to start a fight when I suddenly whirled around grabbing him by the front of his shirt and shoved him into the wall in the hall.

"Listen to me," I said coldly. He didn't try to fight back, eyes widened slightly and he gave me his undivided attention.

"These three are doing everything that they can to get you off. Ichinose is barely walking, she's that tired. She's risking her position on the student council, a position she held in middle school and that means a lot to her. Eiichiro is preparing your defense, Horikita and Kushida are doing what they can for you.

"The least you can do is be a little anxious. At least have the decency to be embarrassed. Be a little humble, be a little concerned. If you have any brains, maybe you should take this a little more seriously.

"Lunch is about to end and I haven't eaten. I had to make coffee! I'm hungry. I'm angry. I'm hungry and I'm angry." I knew I was just incoherently rambling now, but I really was hungry if it wasn't clear.

No one seemed to say anything about what was happening with me at the moment. Even Sudo just looked at me, not getting mad and simply taking what I was saying.

"I won't be in class for the rest of the day. Do you need points to pay for my absence?" I asked Eiichiro.

"No, I got it. I'm sorry Kiyotaka," Eiichiro apologized quickly.

"You shouldn't be the one apologizing." I answered, staring at Sudo. Even now he was still too proud to acknowledge anything and just stood there silently.

Finished with them, I opened the door to Class B and instantly spotted the one I was looking for. When I was in the cafeteria, I checked her GPS location and found where she was. As soon as I saw it I knew what was going on. Ichinose had religiously been having lunch with me daily, no matter the circumstances. So when I saw her in Class B I knew what she was doing.

Ichinose was on the floor in the back of the classroom. Laying down on her side, her blazer was folded under her head like a makeshift pillow. One person's blazer was under her to stop her from getting dirty, someone else's was over her body like a blanket and another over her legs covering her from revealing under her skirt. There were a number of people in the room, all doing their best to remain silent so that she could sleep.

A girl came up to me quietly before she stopped when she got close. I didn't know her name but apparently she knew who I was and instantly made to greet me when I opened the door.

"Are you looking for Honami-chan, Ayanokouji-kun?" She loudly whispered, carefully trying not to wake Ichinose. I just nodded, also trying not to make any noise.

"She's really tired, I don't know if she can have lunch today,"

"I'm here to collect her to take her to get some sleep, do you need points so she can skip classes today?"

The girl looked at me with surprise before looking at me with a conspiratory grin. I had no idea what she was grinning about but she cut me off before I could ask anything.

"That's okay, we can cover it." She whispered to me. Another girl took the blanket from my hand, knowing what it was for. She silently went to Ichinose and made to cover it around her legs and skirt as the others came and took their jackets from her. Ichinose just groaned at being moved about but didn't wake up, clearly exhausted.

"You can call me Mako-chan, try not to ravage her in her sleep," Mako hissed teasingly with a wink. I rolled my eyes but went to pick up Ichinose, carrying her out of the room to our office while ignoring the giggles. I could hear some pointed whispers about something about a princess or whatever.

I did my best to avoid people as much as possible, not wanting rumors to spread about that I was some sort of deviant. I had to take the longer route and struggled to open the doors before gently laying Ichinose down on our couch.

My haven was tainted now. I was no longer the only one who used that couch. I cursed my lack of backbone to just leave her where she was. This was not part of the job description, I was supposed to be the one doing nothing and this was her own fault. Why was I even doing this? I'd have to buy a new couch now.

I had a sudden realization as I looked about the room. With Ichinose passed out on the couch, there was only one place where I could sit. A feeling of dread crept up in my heart as I stared at the offending piece of furniture. This was really bad. The only place I could sit; the office chair behind the desk.

I looked at the beautifully sleeping face of Ichinose Honami who was smiling a bit in her sleep. It was as though her dream took a turn and she knew what was going on. This devil, I knew that she would be the death of me the moment I met her. Coffee was bad enough, but this was against my morals. I could just leave her, I've done enough and I'm hungry. Nothing was going to happen to her here anyway.

With heavy steps, I begrudgingly sat on the office chair and winced at how uncomfortable it was. I've never seen my office from this position and I instantly hated it. Taking note of my surroundings, I couldn't help my peripheral vision and saw it out of the corner of my eye.

The stack of paperwork that Ichinose had worked on for the past five days. I would have ignored it normally but my hypersensitive brain spotted it immediately the moment I saw it. Spelling mistakes. In her exhausted state, she was making even the most basic spelling mistakes. It stood to reason that everything there was filled with errors, not just spelling.

I glared at the comatose form of Ichinose Honami from my position. I can't believe that this thought was even coming to mind. She was supposed to make my life easier and now I'm here in this predicament. It's as though the one person you looked up to as a God failed and you realized that they were just human after all. The betrayal.

The first thing that I did was pull out my phone and open my BUDDY app. Class started but more than likely there were some Class D or C students from the second or third years not there. Delinquents. Since the release of the app a lot of them simply did whatever they could to make as many points as possible, giving up on their education.

Searching through I made my post and not long after, someone took the job. I ordered the most expensive leather office chair I could find along with lunch. Leaving instructions to leave the items on the steps of the Student Council, I rested my elbows on the table with my head in my hands.

Making coffee was one thing, this was far beyond what I was willing to do. I won't. I refuse. Absolutely not. This went against all of my philosophies of life. There were five days of paperwork here, probably three days of it were all wrong. I didn't know what any of it was but I am a genius. It's not much to figure out what's what.

I sat there for more than an hour glaring at the paperwork. Everything had been long delivered and my food was probably cold. But I sat there. After a while I got up, collected the things as quietly as I could, and sat on my new chair before eating my food. With one final glare at Ichinose I made my decision. Apparently making coffee once really did make a huge difference in how easily I folded.

Our office had a theme. Stained Mahogany furniture and a deep burgundy couch. Almost everything was a deep rich brown and the walls were cream. The lights up top were the regular type and glowed with a faint yellow hue.

This is ridiculous, I can't believe that I'm actually going to do this. All for Ichinose Honami, the bane of my existence.

Resigned, I closed my eyes and took one deep breath. That was all it took, such was my resolve on what I was about to do. When my eyes opened again, everything was white.

I picked up the pen and looked at the first page. This was horrible. Far worse than I imagined. There were so many mistakes that it was barely legible. It couldn't even be fixed, it needed to be completely rewritten.

Face completely apathetic, no emotions and cold eyed I continued to diligently finish page after page. I hate this state. It reminds me of everything that I hated in life now that I had experienced what it was like to be normal. Despite all of this, I was putting myself through it all for one Ichinose Honami.

I sat there in that spot, unmoving from my seat for hours. Not once did Ichinose even stir in her sleep or move about. I was correct in my assumption, by the third day she was making errors. Not many, but they all got progressively worse as time went on. By the time I finished it was already nightfall and dinner time.

Because it was such a short amount of time, it only took a moment before the world bled color again. The headache was almost nonexistent and I didn't break out into a cold sweat this time.

Normal again, I glared one more time at Ichinose before I decided to order dinner for us.

Listen to what I'm about to say right now very carefully. THIS. DID. NOT. HAPPEN. I didn't expend effort, I didn't do any work and if you tell anyone I did this I will deny it. I will hunt you down and I will not be responsible for what happens next. No one can ever know about what I DIDN'T do. This is our little secret, okay?

It was probably another thirty minutes before our dinner came. The idiot who was delivering didn't read the instructions to leave it outside the door without making any noise and knocked loudly before leaving.

Ichinose woke with a jolt. It was barely a moment before she shot to a sitting position and stared around the room in a daze trying to figure out how she got there. When she saw me sitting behind the desk she couldn't help but look in utter confusion.

"Huh?" Ichinose grunted in sleepy confusion. I ignored her and got the food from outside before sitting on the coffee table in front of her and taking things out of the bag.

"You passed out during lunch break," I explained. "I got you from the class and brought you here, you've been asleep since lunch.

"Brought me..here?" She repeated, still half asleep. "What time is it?"

"Who knows," I shrugged.

We ate in relative silence after I filled her in on what happened. She got embarrassed when I told her about what happened with her class, blushing furiously at what Mako had said. After I finished explaining, she noticed her new chair at the desk.

"When did that get here?" She asked curiously.

"That chair that you were using was uncomfortable, I got you a different one. Why didn't you tell me?"

"Hehe, it wasn't really important, I didn't mind," Ichinose said, scratching her cheek.

"Anyway," She said, slapping her knees and putting her empty container on the table. "Time to get to work, rest time's over! You can have your couch back, I'll make you coffee."

Curiously she went to check out her new chair before she went to the kitchen. Ichinose studied it carefully, realizing how expensive it was. After a moment, she noticed the papers in the bin and then looked at the stack on the table. Recognizing it wasn't her handwriting, her eyes went wide and she flicked through the pages frantically.

"You.." Ichinose breathed in awe.

"Absolutely not! You did all of that, every page. I did nothing, understand?" I said quickly before she could say anything else.

Those bright blue eyes started to go moist before she started to blush a bit. She put the paperwork down and fidgeted for a moment.

"Thank you, Ayanokouji-kun," She said quietly.

Troublesome woman, I told you she'd be the death of me.

A/N: Comments have been asking about the chapters so I thought I'd give a bit of an explanation. They're not prewritten, I don't really have a plan, just a generic idea. When it hits me I just sit down and write, the chapter pretty much unfolds as I write it. I'll read the previous chapter to kind of get into the zone but then I just go for it. For example, the Horikita SS and the Koenji SS were written on a whim. I finished the previous chapter and was about to go to bed but then had the idea for doing the expulsion from Horikita's POV so I just wrote it as soon as it came to mind. After I was going to go to bed again, the idea for the Koenji POV came. Yesterday I wrote the chapter and thought of the coffee idea and thought a little chapter would be nice to bridge into this one.

The characters are coming alive literally as I think of it at that moment tbh. There is no plan or anything, it just happens as it happens.

SS Puzzles

Yesterday, something changed. I don't know at what moment this started but I've noticed something different with me lately.

I think it had something to do with the fact that I woke up on the couch in our office, too dazed to realize what was going on. I'm still confused as to why but I realize that there was something different. Something strange.

Ayanokouji Kiyotaka is different from any person I've met in my life. When we first met, he jokingly asked what I would think if I found out that he only gave me my position because of my body. These questions would normally make me uncomfortable. I'm keenly aware that puberty has made changes to me that makes me attractive to men. As a young woman, I can't see why and I don't see the attractiveness myself but I understand the criteria.

But when Ayanokouji Kiyotaka pointed this criteria out, I didn't get offended or upset. It wasn't for any other reason other than his eyes. They weren't lustful or hungry. In fact, they were bored. Just like every other feature about him. He always looks bored.

The only time he doesn't look bored is when he's with Sakayanagi-san. His eyes and features come alive every time he sees her. The doting big brother, whenever I see him look at her, I see a man who would move mountains for her. It doesn't even look like a sibling relationship. It may be because Sakayanagi-san is disabled, but he almost looks like a concerned parent.

Maybe I feel different now for that reason. Maybe it looked as though he was being a father figure to me by looking out for me. Simple things, like noticing that my chair was uncomfortable or if I was hungry or tired. By allowing me to make choices knowing that it would be a mistake but mitigating the consequences so I'm not too affected. I don't think that is the case though, my father abandoned my family when I was young. I don't even know what a good father figure is supposed to be like.

Still, I'm touched that he is so attentive. He seems very aloof but he's perceptive. I don't know the circumstances that he was adopted, but I have noticed things. He's very protective of the people he's close to, borderline on possessive. It's almost as if he's afraid. Afraid that if he doesn't grasp those connections as tightly within his grasp that they may slip away.

It's a constant push and pull with him and I enjoy the playfulness of it. He says he doesn't want expectations but doesn't want people to think badly of him. He gets afronted at the idea of having to have responsibilities yet takes it on himself. His nature of being so against having to do things is endearing, because when he makes an effort it makes those moments far more precious.

That's why things are difficult at the moment for me because I can't understand why this is happening to me. Lately, I've found it difficult to look him in the eyes. I've felt anxiety when I'm away from him. I get annoyed when I see him talk to other girls. I'm not that kind of person to get annoyed so I can't understand where this feeling is coming from.

I didn't want to help with Sudo-kun's case anymore. Seeing him continue to be oblivious to the effort being expended to help him with his case bothered me. I would see him laughing with his friends and at one point yelling at someone for bumping into him by accident. I felt sorry for Matsuo-kun who seemed to be trying so hard to find someone to speak up for him and so I joined him at every opportunity trying to do the same.

I wanted to stop helping him because I knew that it would be a meaningless effort. Even if I was to be able to help him he would still be the same. It hurt me that I was jeopardizing myself and the risk wasn't noticed or appreciated. If it was, he would be kinder to people and show some humility.

I feel guilty for feeling this way. I want to be a good person. If there was someone who needed help, I wanted to be the kind of person who desired to assist them. So I kept these thoughts inside of me and continued to push forward.

I stood up to Ayanokouji-kun so strongly, I didn't want to look like I gave up because it was difficult. I was being stubborn, exactly how he said I was. I didn't want to give him the satisfaction that he was right, so I stayed headstrong. I didn't want him to be right.

I know that Ayanokouji-kun isn't the type to say I told you so. If I gave up he would probably just shrug or be grateful that I was doing less. He's the type to enjoy when people around him are lazy just like him. But I wanted to prove to myself and to him that I was the type to see things through.

That's why at this moment even though I'm surrounded by my classmates, my mind is filled only with thoughts of Ayanokouji Kiyotaka. Trying to compartmentalize what exactly is happening with me and why I have changed in such a short amount of time. It feels as though all the pieces of the puzzle are in front of me but I have no idea where to begin in solving it. I still have no idea what I'm looking at.

"Honami-chan? Honami-chan?" Mako called repeatedly, tearing me from my thoughts.

"Yes?" I suddenly answered. I wondered how long she had been calling me.

"Was I interrupting any lewd thoughts of what you were doing while you were 'sleeping'? Mako grinned.

"Mako-chan! I told you, nothing like that happened," I refuted, completely flustered.

Since the day that Ayanokouji-kun came to take me to the office to sleep, I have been teased incessantly by Mako. I didn't have any control over what happened, I was unconscious. I didn't even realize that I was being moved, didn't even remember going to sleep on the floor of our classroom in the first place.

Why was I being teased like this?

"It's still concerning that we had to pay for you missing half a day of classes," Kanzaki suddenly chimed in from behind me.

"Ayanokouji-kun offered to pay when he got Honami-chan, I told him we'd cover it," Mako defended.

"You should have let him, we are not a charity. Honami wouldn't be so tired if it wasn't for him, we have responsibilities to our class," Kanzaki said back.

This was something that I kept quiet about, I had to make sure that Ayanokouji-kun could never find out about this. It was the one thing that I was so proud of when I spoke about my class to him. To tell him that slowly things were starting to fall apart would be shameful.

Especially because regardless of whether it was his fault or not, he was the reason.

"Class D has no points, they were at zero and even now they're pretty impoverished. Even with the fact that we can have part time work now, I'm pretty sure most of the Class D students are broke. Ayanokouji-kun probably only has whatever Sakayanagi-san shares with him." Mako speculated.

"Again, this is not our issue. Ayanokouji could be the poorest student in the school for all I care, it isn't our problem. He's causing issues for Honami, she can barely stay awake with what he's making her do."

"He's not making me do anything," I cut in defending him. "I chose to do it."

"Then he's manipulating you, Honami," Kanzaki frowned.

"He isn't!" I was getting frustrated. "Why do you hate him? You were fine with him and respected him when he came up with our strategy, you don't even know him!"

"Kanzaki-kun, you should stop it. You're upsetting Honami-chan," Mako tried to stop us.

"Fine," Kanzaki sighed, in defeat. "But when the special exams that people are talking about come around, I will be taking the lead of the class. Honami is too close to Ayanokouji, she won't be able to fight against him properly. I'll be the one to lead us to victory against him."

With that, he got up from his seat and left the room in annoyance.

I did everything not to let it show on my face, but inside I was upset. Upset with Kanzaki because he was tearing apart our class unity, frustrated because I wasn't strong enough to hold us together and guilty that I wanted nothing more than for Ayanokouji-kun to beat him soundly.

It's a terrible thing, I wanted to lose. I wanted for our class to be defeated so that they could see in him the things that I see. Again it was as though another piece was added to the puzzle and I couldn't see how it all fit. Why did I feel this way?

"Well, that was awkward," Mako said jokingly, trying to cut the tense mood.

"I don't understand why Kanzaki-kun is being like this all of a sudden," I said with a frown.

"You're joking right?" Mako asked, baffled. "There's no way... that you could be so dense."

"Dense?" I asked confusingly. Mako continued to stare at me in amazement before shaking her head in exasperation. What was she insinuating?

"Forget that," Mako shook her head, gathering herself before waving her hand dismissively. "Let's do something fun... shirtless photos of Ayanokouji-kun always cheers me up!"

Suddenly, the annoyance that seemed to grow whenever other girls noticed him was back. What was this? Mako-chan is my best friend, why was I getting annoyed at her? I was beginning to get frustrated with myself, I just wanted to understand already.

"Why do you have shirtless photos of Ayanokouji-kun?" I asked coldly. I didn't mean to ask in that manner, but I couldn't stop myself.

Mako grinned almost victoriously at my tone, she wasn't angry. It was becoming frustrating, it was as though everyone else could see what I was trying so desperately to figure out. I wanted to ask her but before I could she took out her phone.

"You don't go on the school boards? He trains in the gym every morning, people upload photos of him and that Koenji guy from Class D. They have a bit of a fan club."

She opened up the photos before passing her phone over to me.

Whatever I was expecting when she said she was going to show me shirtless photos of Ayanokouji-kun, this was not what I was expecting. Ayanokouji-kun wore clothes that were a little bit big on him, it would have been impossible to notice.

His body was not what I expected at all, it was incredible. Lines in places that I didn't even know were possible, like a sculpture made of clay in perfect detail. Before I knew what was happening, I felt my face heat up familiarly, it was as though it was more normal lately for me to be blushing than not.

Looking at the photo, I saw what others couldn't see. While others would see a vain boy who was training for aesthetics, I saw what was really going on here. Ayanokouji-kun was lazy, far lazier than anyone. So lazy that it brought up so many questions as to why. I never questioned it, I just thought it was in his nature. So why would someone who was so against doing anything be so diligent in training? Why wear baggy clothing to hide it if you cared about physical appearance?

It was for Sakayanagi-san. Everything for him was about Sakayanagi-san. I realized it when I saw the photo. He trained himself so rigorously for her, all for her disability. Like he was training his body so that no matter the circumstance, he could be strong enough for the both of them. So that he could carry her when she wouldn't be able to do it herself.

I felt the unfamiliar feeling of jealousy building inside of me. It would be utterly ridiculous to be jealous of someone's sister. Incest is frowned upon and pretty gross. But it wouldn't be incest with them, he's adopted. It wouldn't be grotesque if they ended up together. If I didn't know that he looked at her as his beloved sister, I would think that he was in love with her.

What is wrong with me?

Like I was in a trance my finger traced on the photo and I accidentally swiped to the next photo and I stared at it in shock.

It was a photo of Ayanokouji-kun carrying my unconscious body out of the threshold of the door to our classroom. My face was buried in his chest and he was holding me carefully so as not to wake me up. I don't know how Mako got this picture but it wasn't the only one and the others were from multiple angles.

I could only think that she wasn't the only one who took photos, maybe my other classmates noticed the situation and all took photos. I scrolled through them seeing different pictures and timings but then one in particular caught my eye.

It was one of the worst ones, blurry. Whoever took the photo didn't do a good job of it, it was out of focus like their hand was shaking when they hit the button. I found myself guiltily cursing that person because I wished it was clearer.

Like all the other photos, he was carrying me like I was a princess, like I was royalty. It was a little ironic because I looked like a limp sack of potatoes but he was careful. Out of all of the photos it was the one that caught my eye because of the way he was looking at me.

Ayanokouji-kun was looking at me the same way he looked at Sakayanagi-san, like I was precious to him. I hoped that one day, I could see him look at me that way while I was awake, with my own eyes instead of through a blurry photo.

What was happening to me...?

A/N: I'd like to try something fun if you wouldn't mind. I'm genuinely curious what you guys think if you'd do something for me.

I had a lot of fun writing the SS' and wanted to know which one was your favorite so far, for me personally it's a real toss up between Horikita and Koenji both of them were really fun to write from their perspectives.

Leadership

Public Humiliation

The day my life flashed before my eyes

A lesson from a perfect being

Puzzles

Please let me know if it isn't too much trouble Enjoy, this will be the only upload of the day, it's a little short but I do have a life outside of wattpad, even if it doesn't seem like it lol

Chapter 14

"This is wonderful, Kiyotaka. You truly know how to make me feel special,"

I was out eating dinner with Arisu at a nice restaurant. Her favorite to be exact, every dish on the table was her favorite. From the drinks, to the entree, appetizers and desserts. Everything here in front of us was Arisu's favorite food.

While I'm lazy, I do adore my sister. It was nice to treat her and spend time with her, I was spending most of my time with Ichinose and my class so it was rare that I got to see her. It was nice to be able to afford luxuries like this, but it was even nicer to share it with Arisu. I couldn't spend points like this often, I was supposed to be broke.

As far as everyone knew, I had pretty much nothing. It wasn't like I was doing any jobs or anything like that, so it wouldn't be plausible that I had points to spend. But I had so many right now and realistically I was probably one of if not the wealthiest individual students on campus right now.

BUDDY was booming. Quite literally, the moment the payments were unfrozen everyone was spending like absolute degenerates. I completely missed the mark exactly like that smirking bastard predicted. Forty eight thousand points didn't even sniff the territory of my predicted amount. I really did make an uncharacteristic blunder, I miscalculated how much the cut of purchases would net me.

One point seven million points in three days. Three days. Being truthful as the month continued to roll it was unrealistic to think that this pace could continue, most people were probably waiting for the new month to roll in. It was interesting, apparently most students in the school were incapable of saving.

But there was something else, something that made me a little prideful of the school that I had been admitted to. Something that made me feel kinship with those around me. Students at this school were lazy. Really lazy. Unbelievably lazy...

I originally thought that I could count on half of the student population using the app once per day. It wasn't the case, the low fee point meant that everyone was using it, more than once per day. For things that I didn't even foresee, it brought a genuine feeling of pride from my heart. I was like a proud father watching my newborn take its first steps.

Paying people to stand in the cafeteria, paying people to save them seats at Pallet and the like. Even something so mundane as paying someone to pick up their groceries for them. It was glorious. I felt a kinship to my fellow classmates that I'd never felt before. It was moving, like I was finally in a place where I really belonged.

There was also a sad side to all of this, I now knew that people in the school were lonely. It was a strange thing to be able to peek behind the curtain, no one knew that I was able to see the transaction history. All of that was private, but as administrator I was able to see it.

There was a scary amount of people, almost exclusively male, from class A and B in the upper classes who were anonymously posting looking for dates. It was a sad thing to think about, that you would be so lonely that you would request something as basic as human interaction. It was something I took for granted and it genuinely made me feel bad for people.

I'm not a cruel person, I was opportunistic, greedy and even I'll admit a little manipulative but not malicious. I didn't take joy in having my app reveal such realities, I didn't laugh at their misfortunes. But it helped people so I rationalized it. If it meant that someone had a friend to eat with even if they had to pay for it, then that was okay, wasn't it?

At this point the amount of points I was raking in it may as well be board game money.

But at the moment I couldn't spend any of it. Class D still had their allowance frozen until Sudo was cleared and at the moment people who saw me spending points assumed that it was because Arisu was paying for things for me. It was a good cover and I was a little grateful that she didn't refute the rumors.

She was still really skeptical about how I got the points, I'm fairly certain she drew the connection but she was proud. She wasn't going to outright ask me the question, she would try to figure it out and find the information tangentially. It was like our little game of hide and seek and I was enjoying it.

"However, I must tell you that I'm annoyed with you. To use food as a trap is not an endearing trait. If you want something from me, you should just ask. You shouldn't lure me with a meal of all my favorite food to butter me up. Using a food trap is a disgusting tactic."

Damn, I was caught. This was bad, it was a low level tactic and I had assumed that she wouldn't see through it. Knowing it was so low level, she would just overlook it as a coincidence but she saw through me immediately. It was hubris on my part, no one would be stupid enough to use this tactic and yet I did. A genius wouldn't fall for something as basic as a food trap...

"I don't know what you mean, I miss you. I just wanted to enjoy a meal with my beautiful, amazingly smart and talented sister. It hurts that you think so lowly of me," I said back with a strained smile.

"Don't be coy with me," Arisu said, narrowing her eyes. "You want something, just ask. Stop wasting my time with these games."

Knowing I was caught, I couldn't help but sigh. I really did want something, something that to proceed with plan A only Arisu could give me.

Things with the trial were not going well. There were only a few days left and so far they hadn't come up with anything. Eiichiro wasn't able to find any support, Horikita and Kushida pretty much had nothing either and Ichinose was back to being tired again. She wasn't falling over like she was before, taking time to look after herself better but she was tired.

But none of that really mattered, Sudo was going to lose no matter what and he was about to be suspended. It didn't matter what kind of brilliant defense they were able to spin, there was no way he was getting off at this point. So there was nothing that could be done, I could just let it happen.

Ichinose was really good at hiding it but she was getting annoyed at Sudo's lack of concern. It wasn't as obvious as bad mouthing him and not once as per usual did she ever complain about anything that she was doing. She managed it all with the same amount of determination as she always did. It was admirable and she had my respect for how much effort she was putting forth.

However, as everything was closing in there was a new set of circumstances that was coming. As it was getting closer to the crunch, now all four of them were trying to make a last ditch effort to find something tangible. It was then I heard the words that made my blood turn cold.

Ichinose asked for one day off council duties to help.

Just thinking about her request filled me with dread. One day? An entire day? It wouldn't be an issue if she was willing to just cover it the next day, but then she nonchalantly said the magic words that sprung me into action.

"You can cover the work for one day, can't you?"

It offended my ears. I couldn't believe what I was hearing. I take pity once, just once and this is the gratitude that I receive for my assistance? It was humiliating. I couldn't believe the sheer gall of the request, to ask me to do work. It was a complete violation of our agreement, I was outraged.

"Sure, I can handle it. You deserve a break anyway,"

The words came out of my lips before I could even stop it. This is what my life has come down to, this is the result of my choices.

I would be lying to myself if that meek show of gratitude when she saw the paperwork that I completed didn't have any form of effect. Curse that woman, this was ridiculous.

So now this is what it boils down to. With my tail between my legs with the choice between having to do work and having to degrade myself by asking my sister for help, I am in my current situation. It wasn't going to be easy and it would cost me, but this was a price that I was willing to pay. Sudo would be serving out his suspension as of tomorrow. It would be a noble sacrifice on his part.

"Sudo has a trial coming up, he got into a fight with some Class C students. Eiichiro and some of my classmates are trying to come up with a defense, but they've found nothing. It's been quite some time now but they're not giving up."

"So you're asking me to help them?"

"No, I want you to get him suspended. Immediately."

Arisu stared at me.

"You want me... to get him suspended?" Arisu confirmed carefully. I simply nodded without saying anything else.

"Why?"

"Eiichiro, Horikita and Kushida are trying to find someone to help speak up on Sudo's behalf. It isn't working, he was set up and there really isn't anything they can do about it. It's dragging on and they won't just give in.

"But Sudo is still behaving the same way and hasn't really been helping much if at all. If someone from Class A provokes him and he ends up having two different reports of fighting from two different classes then they'll push through his punishment."

"So what?" Arisu scoffed. "It's not like you care anyway, you're not involved. It's not like you're helping with his trial anyway. Whether this goes through either way, it means nothing to you. You don't need the points and you don't care about whether he gets off or not. It's meaningless to you, you could just wait."

She was just thinking out loud. Putting the pieces together as she analyzed what was going on.

As if she was done giving it anymore thought she just shrugged nonchalantly and gave a nod.

"Very well, I'll have it done by tomorrow morning. If that's all you're asking for, it's simple enough, I'll take care of it."

I nodded before standing and getting ready to leave before her voice cut me off.

"Hold on there, Kiyotaka. We're not finished here, we still haven't discussed the terms," Arisu said with a smirk.

Just when I thought I was out...

"Dinner was a gift to me wasn't it? You brought me here so I could hear you out, it has nothing to do with your request. I agreed to help, but I want something in return." Arisu smiled angelically.

I knew it wasn't going to be as simple as asking for something and receiving but looking at her face I now knew that this was going to be a price more than what I originally was willing to pay.

"Okay, what would you like?" I asked carefully, taking my seat again.

"A chess match. Tomorrow at lunch, in the cafeteria."

So this was the game that she was playing, trying to expose me through competition. On the surface it wasn't an unreasonable request to anyone who was listening in, but this was a price I wasn't willing to pay and she knew it.

"Be reasonable, you know I can't do that,"

"Very well, not in the cafeteria. The park near the dorms will do fine."

"Okay I can accept that," I held out my hand for her to shake which she greedily rushed to accept but before she could take my hand I spoke again stopping her in place.

"No spectators, no live recordings and no videos."

She instantly pulled her hand back and glared at me.

"You're asking me for a favor and you set boundaries like this?"

"Then ask me for something that I'm willing to give you,"

She continued to glare at me with her arms crossed. I was surprised that she was behaving like this, I thought she would greedily accept the match, we haven't played chess in such a long time and I've been successfully ducking her.

But as I sat across Arisu I knew what was going on. She had a suspicion and she was testing the waters, she wanted to know just how far I was willing to go for this request. But more importantly she was trying to figure out why.

"How many points do you have?"

I opened my phone before bringing up my balance and showing her.

2,964,451

"I want all of them," Arisu said simply, taking a sip from her drink.

I winced visibly, I was expecting her to ask for a hefty sum but this is beyond ridiculous. I could have asked anyone to do this but the truth was that if I was going to part with points, and I knew that it would come to this, then I would rather they go to her.

It was the one commodity that I was willing to part with. She knew that there was very little that I was willing to actually do, so this was what it was going to come down to if a deal was going to be made. I just didn't realize how spiteful she was willing to be.

Thinking it over, I nodded once before coming to a decision.

"Will you at least let me keep enough to pay for dinner?" I asked in a joking tone.

"Of course, I can't have you begging outside the restaurant for points. It would be a poor reflection on me," Arisu said with a smirk.

Before I could make any moves to start the transfer Arisu stopped me with her next words.

"Ichinose Honami bears a striking resemblance to Tsubasa does she not?"

I stopped cold, not being able to move.

"Where did that come from?"

"It would stand to reason that the girl you are currently enamored with would resemble your childhood crush would it not?" Arisu said innocently.

"Eiichiro and Tsubasa may be obviously dense, but you're my brother. I love you and know you better than anyone in the world.

"Your childhood crush on Tsubasa may have been hidden by those two, but you'll never fool me. I saw it right from the start."

I didn't say anything and just let her have her moment, continuing to stare at the screen on my phone.

"I know you never said anything because you always knew those two liked each other since before you even met her. You didn't want to be the reason your little circle broke.

"But now that's changed for you hasn't it, Kiyotaka. All because of Ichinose Honami, am I wrong?"

It's true. If it needs to be said, if it needs to be admitted it's true. Every outburst, every action, none of it was miscalculated.

The outburst with Asahina-senpai, the proclamation in the classroom, even the paperwork. All of it had a purpose, it wasn't an accident.

I'm not omnipotent, I'm not some sort of divine force like what Arisu may see me but I'm perceptive. I'm fully self aware of my own feelings and those of the people around me. I've been attracted to Ichinose since the moment she walked into that teahouse.

If I wasn't, I wouldn't have lunch with her everyday, I wouldn't have kept her as my secretary the whole time. She was incredibly efficient at her job and she could have kept her position as Secretary but let's be completely honest with each other, she could have done all of those things without me lying on that couch the entire time. If I didn't want to, I wouldn't have spent time with her. It really was as simple as that.

Every action around Ichinose Honami was calculated, it was premeditated. I pushed the envelope slightly little by little, testing boundaries and seeing if something was there. I'm just fortunate to find out that there was.

There really wasn't anything not to like about Ichinose Honami, it doesn't really need to be said. She's incredibly beautiful, kind to others and selfless. She was hard working and had courage to see things through when she made a commitment. There were very few people that would go out of their way for others and yet she's willing to sacrifice herself.

So in truth, yes. I've been conscious of Ichinose for a long time. I may not have been completely forthright and out with these things but that isn't how I am. Ichinose Honami was on my radar for all this time. I may have been attracted to her since I met her in the teahouse for the first time, but the truth is that I noticed her from the very first time I saw her.

When she walked in holding my angry sister's arm, furious and embarrassed with me for throwing away the pop quiz I saw her. I may have had my focus on Arisu, but I noticed. It was why it only took me a total of three seconds to discard Katsuragi's application and make my decision. The fact that she admitted that she was only an acquaintance of Arisu and yet accompanied her to make sure she was okay only heightened that attraction.

Still, I was stubborn and I wasn't going to give in to Arisu that easily, regardless of how on the nose she was.

"Who knows," I said with a shrug.

Arisu clicked her tongue in annoyance before finishing the last of her drink.

"Keep your points, they're meaningless to me anyway. I'll take care of this, if only to give you more free time with your little infatuation."

"Thank you, Arisu. I love you," I said with a smile.

"It bothers me that you only say that when I agree to do something for you," Arisu said with a glare.

"Then what would you like me to say?" I said with a laugh.

"I want to hear you say it, I want to hear it directly from your own mouth. I want confirmation that I know you, just as well as you know me," Arisu said without taking her eyes off me. All I could do was nod in acceptance.

"I like Ichinose Honami, I have feelings for her." I admitted without shame.

It's true, I do. I like Ichinose Honami. The groundwork has been laid, and I'm confident that she feels the same way. Now all I have to do is wait for her to realize, then for her to have the courage to confess.

Chapter 15

Outside the office, I spotted a girl sitting on the same spot where I had sat next to Arisu after her failed attempt at getting father to force me to apply myself. Her hair was short and she looked a little bit like a tomboy with a small flower hairpin on the side, pinning her hair behind her ear.

Normally I would just continue into my office, but she was crying. Whatever had upset her was really affecting her, she was heaving with sobs with her elbows on her knees and her head in her hands.

"Good evening," I called to her gently. I didn't want to surprise her by staying silent and moving close to her, so I announced my presence as early as I could.

She looked up at me in pure surprise before furiously wiping at her eyes. I was a little bit perplexed when she fixed me with a heavy glare. It looked incredibly strange on her, she didn't look like the type of person who normally would look at people in that manner.

"Go away," She said angrily.

Something must have happened to her to make her so angry and I found myself curiously wondering why. The student council office was a fair distance from any of the other facilities so whatever upset her must have happened in the office itself.

"Sorry to disturb you, but you seemed pretty upset. Is everything alright?" I asked gently.

She continued to glare at me, not offering any form of explanation. It wasn't like I had anything to do right now so against her obvious wishes, I heavily took the seat next to her with a bit of a thud before relaxing.

"I asked you to go away," She said again angrily.

"It's a public bench, I'm staying. Besides, whatever upset you must have happened in the Student Council Office. Even if I don't like it or do anything with it, I am the Vice President so it's only right that I look out for my fellow classmates right?"

She continued to glare at me for a few more moments. She clenched and unclenched the fists on her hands a few times before finally relaxing in defeat.

"I confessed my feelings to someone I like... They rejected me."

"Ahh, I see," I acknowledged. I didn't really know what else to say to that, I've never experienced it myself on either side of that situation.

"I've... noticed that they've started to have feelings for someone, I thought this would be my only chance. I expected to get rejected, but I didn't think that I would feel like this," She said sadly.

For a while, I could only stare at her and wonder what it would feel like if the person you had feelings for had to reject you. Especially if you were close to that person, would that ruin the friendship you had? Would you be able to still hang out with them even if you could only think about how you had a one sided love?

It was strange, I never would have been able to ask myself philosophical questions such as this if not for these random encounters.

"If you wouldn't mind, would you tell me what it feels like?" I asked curiously.

The girl went quiet for a bit and thought about it, not answering for a while. She furrowed her brow as she thought as though really trying to put the words to an answer. Realizing I wasn't going to get one for a while I decided to continue.

"I never experienced it before because I've never received or gave a confession before, I was just curious,"

She looked up at me looking perplexed as I thought about whether or not I should say something about this. It was something I thought may help her in this situation, sharing your own experiences. Maybe because I just finished talking about it with Arisu that it felt more natural to mention it again but I'm not sure.

This is what I came to the school for, to have genuine connections with people with no ulterior motives, no agendas. To be able to be open with people about mundane things and experience a high school life as innocently as it can be. If love was a life experience that we all have to have, then maybe my insight could help her.

"I have a friend who I had a crush on before I came here, Nanase Tsubasa. My other friend Eiichiro, he knew her before we had ever met and always had feelings for her. So when I figured everything out, I decided to stay silent because I didn't want to be the cause of issues for them, or for us to ever lose our friendship because of it. Sad, isn't it?"

In the distance, I could hear a door closing from the student council office. It had to be Manabu, trying to make a discrete exit while I was keeping her distracted. He had probably been waiting inside for the girl to leave so that he could avoid the awkward post-rejection encounter.

"Do you regret not confessing to her?" The girl asked curiously.

"I'm not sure," I frowned. "I don't think so, it would have been an unnecessary heartache for everyone involved. I knew my answer even if I didn't say anything."

"I see," She said quietly.

"Still, I think that it was brave of you that you would say something even if you didn't get the answer you were hoping for. It takes courage to confess how you feel to someone, so you should be proud of yourself. You seem like the shy type of person, so this is a huge milestone for you, congratulations." I offered with a smile.

She blushed cutely, the praise being a little heavy for her. Just by her mannerisms, she didn't look like she was the type to get compliments often. It was sad, she seemed like a kind girl, if not a little bit meek.

"I don't think it's brave, it's selfish. I burdened them with having to reject me even though I knew what the outcome would be," She said sadly.

"What do you like about them?" I asked curiously. Not once had she named the person, so it was obvious that she was trying to keep their identity a secret. I couldn't tell whether or not it was out of shame, or if she didn't want to reveal their identity for fear of their privacy. It was something that I respected in the short interaction for the moment.

"That person... is really kind and selfless. They look out for me and others and they're popular. For someone like me who isn't very outgoing, it was something I admire. I get nervous talking to people."

"You're talking to me just fine," I pointed out. "Besides, Horikita Manabu isn't really that great, trust me. He's always smirking and thinking that he knows what you're thinking. You can do much better than him. Besides, he'll be gone after he finishes third year which isn't too far away. Maybe this was a blessing."

I was trying to console her, let her know that there was a bright side to this. It wasn't right of me to pry like this, especially when she was trying her best to hide the identity of the person but I felt like right now some specific help would be good for her.

"Um, it's not President Horikita," She said with a blush.

I suddenly felt my blood run a little cold. Praise whatever God existed for me ignoring my apprehension for revealing secrets.

It was in times like this I realized there had to be a higher power. Sometimes circumstances allow you to dodge bullets in life. This was one of those instances, this girl really was lucky. She must have had some misguided belief that Nagumo Miyabi was a kind and selfless person.

There were only three guys in the student council at the moment. Myself, Manabu and Nagumo. There was no one else she could have confessed to. By a simple process of elimination, it revealed the only possible explanation...

"Ice cream!" I suddenly shouted. She flinched at the sudden loud proclamation before looking at me in confusion.

"I heard that ice cream was a good thing to eat when you suffer from a broken heart. Let's go, I'll feel better about my confession that never happened and you can feel better about what could have been."

Just as she was about to give me an answer, the one I was scheduled to meet here came into view. In the current situation, I hastily forgot who I was supposed to be meeting here tonight.

"T-thanks Ayanokouji-kun, b-ut I think you ha," With that she shot to her feet and bolted away. I guess that was her being introverted on full display, she really did have confidence issues. How she was able to muster the courage to confess to Nagumo Miyabi really was admirable. What a shame, I didn't even get her name.

"What odd company you choose to keep..." Horikita frowned as she watched her retreating form.

"I would agree," I deadpanned. It was rude but the situation called for it.

Horikita huffed in annoyance at the slight but took a seat next to me primly.

"I appreciate you agreeing to meet with me, before we begin I must say that I am incredibly annoyed with you." Horikita continued to frown before crossing her arms.

"What have I done now? Or is it something I didn't do?" I sighed. It really did seem that lately every female I came across was annoyed at me on some level.

"Surprisingly both, actually." Horikita huffed in annoyance. "You agreed that we could be friends. As I understand, friends do not allow the other to humiliate themselves."

I really was confused. What could I have possibly done to let Horikita humiliate herself?

"You're going to have to explain to me, I have no idea what you're talking about."

"Put simply, when we became friends you held out your fist for a fist bump. Matsuo-kun did the same after we parted with trying to find witnesses for Sudo-kun's case. When I did as I did with you, he laughed at me and explained what a fist bump is. That should be something that you should have told me instead of allowing me to look like a fool!" Horikita was really annoyed.

"I'm sorry, it caught me off guard at the time though," I apologized with a chuckle. "It was cute though I didn't know what to say,"

Horikita's cheeks dusted pink lightly and then like a typical tsundere huffed at the compliment.

"Do not attempt to get out of this with flattery, I expect you to tell me when I make errors like that in the future!"

"Okay, okay," I agreed with my hands in surrender. "How's the hunt for witnesses going?"

"Terribly, unfortunately and if I can be frank, inadvertently you are partially to blame." Horikita explained in frustration.

From everything I heard from Ichinose and Eiichiro, they hadn't been able to find anyone to speak up for Sudo. It was a thoroughly well thought out and well executed plan if I could be frank. There were no cameras in the place that he was provoked, they used Sudo's well known temper against him and they had successfully pigeon holed him with no way out. It would have been slightly easier for them if not for the fact that at the moment Sudo was acting as though he had no reason to be worried.

"I suggested asking for your assistance, if you would be willing to provide points to allow us to buy Class C off so that they could drop the matter. Unfortunately, I was rebuffed by Matsuo-kun. He seems adamant to take care of this issue without you. Ichinose-san seems to feel the same way, although she is confused as to why we would go to you for points but seems to rationalize it by assuming you're getting them from Sakayanagi-san."

"What makes you think I even have enough points to do that?"

Horikita narrowed her eyes at me in annoyance. Even though we were friends now, she still had her suspicions and still continued to watch me, although with less malice than before.

"What you did for me was much appreciated, but it was incredibly costly. While the rest of us are toiling with budgeting points, you were able to spend one million to clear my name as though it were pocket change. I've had my suspicions that you were behind the two million that was distributed by Kushida since then but I won't ask and I'll remain silent.

"With the fact that you have provided points for everyone this month they have become complacent. There is no sense of urgency for them, it's part of the reason why Sudo-kun is behaving so rashly, he seems to think that he is untouchable. He is unconcerned with his current situation and that's why we are continuing to have problems.

"Matsuo-kun is your best friend, I'm sure you would be willing to part with points in order to make this go away. It would be easier than making an effort and I imagine you want time with your friend again, you haven't spent any with him for quite a while now." Horikita explained.

I groaned and put my head in my hands in annoyance. She had me figured out and quite frankly in my selfishness I've become sloppy. Life was functioning around me and everyone had their priorities. This Sudo case was frustrating because despite the fact that it was a lost cause, Eiichiro and Ichinose continued to work on it. Like some sort of meaningless way to prove a point to me.

In my haste to just rip the bandaid off, I selfishly made a deal now that I was starting to regret. I was robbing them of a growth opportunity regardless of whether it was right or not. All because I selfishly wanted my Secretary to continue working behind that desk and for my best friend to become the fellow sloth he's always been.

I'm really not a fan of change anymore. Once I was out of that place I wanted my little bubble to stay the way that it was. I wanted to stay at the house with my two best friends and my beautiful sister, playing and doing nothing together. The tutors, the visitors, everything was like a small payment. If I just got through those and kept father happy then I would get the reward of time spent with them.

But now that wasn't the case, life was moving away from me and I was desperately trying to keep it the way it was. The chance of coming to this school which I thought was a blessing was a curse. It started looking rosy as there were no responsibilities that I had in the past, but now everyone was growing around me while I desperately wanted everything to stay the same.

In wanting to get precious time with Eiichiro again and wanting Ichinose to stop wasting hers on a lost cause, I... may have made an error.

Horikita seemed to notice the reaction and instantly saw through me.

"What did you do..."

"I... may or may not have made a deal with my sister to cause another incident with Sudo. There's a possibility that tomorrow, Sudo will have a run in with Class A students. In this hypothetical scenario, Sudo will have two different classes reporting him for similar incidents and everything will come to an end right away."

Horikita stayed silent while she ran over what I said in her head.

"...Is it too late to call it off?"

"No, but I paid a pretty heavy price," I sighed with frustration.

"What did you do?" Horikita asked again, pressing me for details.

"Well, I asked her to dinner. I treated her to all of her favorites for a meal..."

"Ahh, a food trap. A sound strategy, you're more intelligent than I anticipated," Horikita cut me off with an appreciative nod.

"Regardless, she agreed. In theory. Tomorrow morning there is every possibility that something may or may not happen." I didn't want to admit to what else I had to do so this was a healthy spot to leave things. Let Horikita enjoy the scenario that she created in her own mind, that suited me for the moment.

"Well, if you would, I would ask that you call it off. I said so before, I believe that there is merit in allowing Sudo to suffer the consequences of his choices. However, I also believe that there is merit in us attempting to help him even if it results in failure. If we are going to fail, I would wish for it to be a real test, not one where you ended it sooner."

I thought about it before giving her a nod and took out my phone to text Arisu.

I changed my mind, I'm calling it off.

It didn't take long for her to reply.

Very well then, thank you for the gift.

Gift?

I got dinner with everything I love to eat at no cost and I got the chance to confirm your bias for large breasted women with blonde hair and a bland personality.

Don't be jealous, they'll grow eventually.

I quickly shoved my phone in my pocket before Horikita could see the text chain, some things should be kept between siblings. I also didn't want to see what hell I just unleashed upon myself.

With heavy silence, we made our way back to the dorms side by side. It looked like Horikita was preparing herself to say something when she suddenly stopped and hugged me tightly, pinning my arms to my sides.

"Thank you,"

"Horikita, you have nothing to thank me for," I tried to placate her. This was a little uncomfortable, a few weeks ago she was ready to stab me with a compass and now she was hugging me like her life depended on it.

"I do, I have everything to thank you for. This is not easy for me so just let me do this."

"I hated you, treated you with nothing but contempt. You saved my life out of good will. Saved my reputation just out of the kindness of your heart. My relationship with my brother has healed because of you. You're my first and only friend. I have everything to be grateful to you for."

I realized that I had been incredibly childish. In my effort to keep things the same, I almost robbed my best friend of his opportunity for growth. My nature of wanting things to remain stagnant has been entirely self-serving at the cost of everyone around me that I care about.

Horikita was facing her inferiorities head on, forcing a change in herself when recognizing her misgivings. Willing to accept her faults and fighting desperately to change it after coming so close to the brink.

Eiichiro was going through a metamorphosis of his own, taking on the burden of leadership to shield me from responsibility. All for the sole purpose of making me happy in my newfound freedom from my commitments.

Ichinose was destroying herself simply to help those around her. Working incredibly hard to uphold the things that she had committed to out of sheer will and determination at a heavy price to her mental health and wellbeing.

Arisu was willing to give up the one thing she wanted more than anything, a chance to compete with me. All to give me the happiness of more time with my friends and the person she now knew I grew to have affection for.

This was a new revelation for me. Just like when I left that place and came to become a part of the Sakayanagi family, I had been far too cautious. I was so desperate to maintain whatever peace I had managed to muster and I had become paranoid. Just like when I cautiously watched Arisu and father thinking that they were masking cruel intentions rather than understanding they pitied and loved me.

I had to show faith in the people that I had surrounded myself with. Faith that when my secret eventually comes out, which it will, that they can accept me for what I am. Stagnation had become boring, just as I had grown from a mindless shell into a person who cared about the people I hold dearest, it was time to grow from a stubborn child into something more.

It takes courage to face the things that make you vulnerable. While everyone else was taking this opportunity to grow, I was trying to stifle it as best I could. For someone who was supposed to be a genius, it was incredibly narrow minded. With that in mind I started to question my own philosophy.

Could I grow as well? If I thought of myself as perfect and better than all of the people around me, would I be right or would that just be arrogance?

Perhaps it was time to be a little less lazy and do something. Not a lot, but at least something. This would normally be the time where I would brush it off and laugh at my stupidity for even thinking of something like this. But lately, I was finding myself actually wanting to help the people around me.

It's why I was currently dragging my feet a little bit as I walked to the school. I hadn't slept well last night and in a rare occurrence, I had woken up late this morning. Rather than waking up at my disciplined hour like I had every day of my life for morning training, I woke up with a start and was almost late to begin embarking to another day of school.

As I was walking to the school, a short distance away, I spotted the familiar long blonde hair of someone who had quickly become important to me.

"Good morning, Ichinose," I greeted tiredly.

"Morning, Vice President," Ichinose greeted back frostily.

...huh? What did I do this time? What didn't I do this time? In my confusion, I rapidly tried to figure out whatever it could have been to cause a greeting like this. Ichinose was always kind and welcoming no matter the circumstance. Whatever I had or hadn't done, I had caused the rare type of Ichinose that was almost never seen, one that was so rarely seen it could be considered a myth.

I was almost about to ask what on earth her problem was today when I was suddenly pulled from my plan at the arrival of the girl that I was speaking to last night suddenly interrupting us. I thanked whoever was watching over me for the sudden intruder who cut through the tension randomly like a hot knife through butter.

"Ah, good morning, Ayanokouji-kun," The girl greeted meekly.

"Good morning," I greeted with a grin. "I'm so sorry but I didn't manage to catch your name last night,"

"Chihiro," Chihiro offered nervously. "Chihiro Shiranami, I'm sorry that I just ran off like that. I was a little nervous and.. I was a little shocked at your proposal."

In the beginning of Chihiro's speech Ichinose looked a little embarrassed but at the tail end of Chihiro's explanation, Ichinose's face suddenly hardened even more than before. What the hell was wrong with this woman today?

"No that's fine, actually I had a scheduled meeting with Horikita that I forgot about so it worked out in the end. I almost forgot about it, it would have been rude if we suddenly went for ice cream and I wasn't there," I said with a chuckle.

At the mention of Horikita, Ichinose was practically radiating a blizzard from her body. It suddenly all fit together and I instantly realized exactly what was going on here. There was no other possible explanation...

The monthly recurrence that only happened for women, a struggle that I would fortunately never be able to experience and I was glad for that too. I learned very well with Arisu that I should NEVER ask about it. I was once again grateful at the fact that I was born a genius and wisely knew not to point it out.

"Still, I'm sorry. You were very kind to me last night, I hope that you didn't think I was being rude," Chihiro apologized meekly before stealing a glance at Ichinose. Ichinose suddenly looked a little embarrassed, refusing to make eye contact with Chihiro.

I'm reminded of when Ichinose told me that she felt that she was intruding on a moment awkwardly when she watched the argument between Arisu and I the first time we met. She really was a kind hearted person that even now although Chihiro had been the one to interrupt us, it seemed as though she felt like she was intruding on our conversation and was cutely embarrassed.

"No, that's fine, don't worry about it too much. I hope I was able to help you," I said quickly. Nodding in acknowledgement, Chihiro glanced at Ichinose before quickly leaving us back to continue our conversation.

"Well, it looks like you're popular now Mr. Vice President Ayanokouji, sorry to take up so much of your precious time," Ichinose said as soon as Chihiro was gone. She sounded annoyed and the embarrassment from a moment ago was instantly gone.

"Are you okay? Did I do something to make you mad or something?" I was completely confused.

"I don't know, Ayanokouji-kun. Did you?" Ichinose asked with heat.

"Look if you're angry about something stop with the vagueness. Just spit it out already, we don't have a lot of time before classes start."

Before she could answer, a blue haired boy that was roughly around my height came up and cut in, addressing Ichinose and completely ignoring me.

"Honami, we're going to be late to class. Let's go." The blue haired boy said

"You must be blind or something, can't you see that we're talking here?" I asked coldly.

The boy looked at me glaring for a few moments as I stared at him. Who did this guy think he was? Why the hell is he calling Ichinose by her first name?

"Okay, let's go Kanzaki-kun," Ichinose said, quickly making to leave. Before she could get too far I grabbed her by the wrist.

"We're not finished here, he can go by himself. Get moving, Kanzaki,"

Kanzaki looked at me angrily and was about to say something before Ichinose cut him off, telling him that she'd go to class soon. After continuing to glare at me for another moment, he nodded at Ichinose before making his way to class.

"Who's that? Why does he call you by your first name?"

It was as though a switch changed in Ichinose and suddenly rather than the frosty disposition from before, she looked at me in confusion.

"Kanzaki-kun? He's a classmate of mine, a lot of my classmates call me by my first name," Ichinose explained.

"Guys too?"

"Ahh... no just him,"

"And how long has that been going on?"

"A couple weeks? Why?" Ichinose asked in confusion.

"And you gave him permission?" I asked, annoyed.

"No... He just started one day? I'm not sure one day it just happened."

"And you just let him?"

"Are you jealous?" Ichinose asked, completely baffled.

"A little bit," I admitted with a frown.

Ichinose looked at me without saying anything. For a moment, she looked a little hopeful but that look was gone not long after. She suddenly looked at me coldly before pulling her wrist out of my grip.

"Sometimes it's nice when someone just makes an effort. Besides, it doesn't matter does it? I'm just your secretary, that's all I'll be to you anyway, right?"

With that she turned around and walked to her class and I wondered why the hell I bothered with women in the first place. They always seemed to make life so troublesome for no reason.

A moment later I felt a familiar arm drape itself across my shoulders and a grinning Eiichiro was standing next to me. I really hadn't slept so well last night and found myself a little annoyed at the moment.

"Trouble in paradise?" Eiichiro joked lightheartedly.

I frowned without answering as we made our way to class, before we stepped in I figured I'd just come out and ask him. I agreed last night to cancel the plan but really I just wanted all of this rubbish to be over with. I wanted life to go back to a little bit of normalcy and this was the first time that I got even a small amount of time with my best friend.

"Any progress?" I asked, I could feel my eyes drooping.

"Not really," Eiichiro said with a shrug. "We've lost to be honest, Sudo isn't going to get out of this. I'm going to meet up with the leader from Class C today, try and see if we can work something out."

"If you want some points to pay them off.." I started before he cut me off.

"No, really it's fine. I want to take care of this without your help. If I'm going to be the leader of this class, I can't rely on you to bail me out whenever things are rough. Don't worry my lazy friend, everything will work out as it's supposed to." Eiichiro said with a smile.

We walked into class and were greeted by a few of our classmates as we made our way to our seats. After a few minutes, I decided to take my first step into not being such a drag on everyone.

"If you want my help, I'll do something. If you want to take care of it though, I understand. After the meeting, come to the Student Council office and we can hang out. I have some paperwork to do."

He looked at me like I grew a second head, was I really that lazy? Was it so surprising that I admitted to the fact that I was going to do some paperwork? I didn't even say that I was going to do a lot, just some.

Apparently it was a big deal, because he gave me the biggest smile that I've seen on him since I came to this school. I missed it, it was something that I hadn't seen for quite some time. The other smiles were either forced or just a habit. This was the first time that I'd seen genuine happiness in my best friend in a while. I felt bad that I had done this to him for so long.

"Sure, I'll be there Kiyo,"

Don't tell me... Did I just set expectations for myself...? I didn't, right?

A/N: Hey guys I'm back a fair bit earlier than planned but I wanted to take some time to say something.

People in the comments have been a little too aggressive, especially with each other. I want to remind people that this is a hobby of mine there's nothing in it for me other than to put out something to enjoy.

This isn't a forum and I'm not a reddit moderator, I shouldn't be going through and deleting comments and telling people not to fight. This is just a story so please don't get too invested

Also, I'm all for constructive criticism but some people are way too aggressive just for the sake of it with nothing of substance. Please keep in mind that there is a person who is writing this, not a robot.

I do this because I enjoy it. The moment it no longer becomes enjoyable I'll just stop, I'm that kind of person. I won't leave a note or say it's on hiatus I'll just stop, people may not like it but it's how I am.

So please, understand that I'm someone who is rather introverted in real life. I don't tell people that I do this and I also don't let people I know read what I'm doing. The reactions from before the announcement effected me and I really did lose a lot of confidence to keep going on with the story. I rewrote and deleted this so many times, even considered deleting the previous chapter before just deciding to write myself out of a hole I thought I put myself into.

I want to point out that there are a quite a number of stories where they just abruptly stop being updated, I can only guess but from this experience I can understand why. Please be respectful with how you treat people and understand that even if I don't respond I do read all the comments and it has an effect. Sorry to be like this but I just want to be honest.

SS The dragons empty victory

"Sudo-kun is going to meet us there?" Ichinose asked me.

"Yeah, he said he'd be waiting. I told him not to go in without us so he's meeting us nearby though," I said grimly.

We had roughly fifteen minutes before the scheduled meeting with Ryuen. I have to admit I'm a little nervous, I've never had to negotiate or anything like this and quite frankly I'm a little scared. From everything that I've heard from everyone, this Ryuen guy isn't someone to mess with. Sudo isn't even someone I want to mess with and to think that someone else could be worse than him...

But I have to do this, it's the path I committed myself to take when I decided to become the leader of our class. Kiyotaka is depending on me and I can't let him down. Ichinose has been really supportive and I've committed to myself that this ends today. No matter what, this is all going to be done with today and then I get to spend time with Kiyotaka. It's been a long time coming for us to just hang out together.

I'm surprised at everyones changes, including my own. Everyone seems to be doing better than they were a month ago, even Kiyotaka. He really surprised me, apparently he's going to be doing some Student Council work today. I swear I thought that I was in the twilight zone or something when he said it. I wanted to try and peel his face off to see which imposter was in my best friend's place. It was like a Spy x Family moment or something. Maybe Twilight managed to infiltrate the school or something.

He seemed serious and I can't help but think the one next to me is one of the reasons for the change.

I normally wouldn't think so but it's the only explanation. Kiyotaka seems to spend the most time with her so if there were any changes to his behavior it'd have something to do with her. I can't help but wonder why though, it doesn't make sense. I have a reason for doing this for Kiyotaka, he's my best friend. I know he's had a hard life so for me it seems natural that I want to protect him.

Ichinose doesn't have that reason but she's really kind hearted and very charitable. I can only think that that's the reason why, it's not like she's in love with that stubborn lazy dumbass. I got a good eye for people's feelings so I'm positive that's not it.

Still, there's a change and a positive one so I'm grateful to her. Everytime I felt like all of this wasn't worth it, I'd see her pushing through and keeping me company trying to make sure I wouldn't give up. She'd give me words of encouragement but I knew it was just a pep talk. She was getting frustrated and it was rough but she didn't show it, she doesn't get annoyed easily so I felt kinda bad for her.

Ichinose didn't have any skin in the game and had all the risk. She did as much as she could without sticking her neck out too far with almost no benefit. I was kinda worried at one point that maybe she had a thing for me, I didn't want to have to reject her.

Right now we were heading to the meeting place, she came with me so that she could play witness. Just in case things went down, at least we had someone to cover our story. It wasn't like she was playing favorites and she's smart. Anything that Ryuen guy tried to corner her with I was positive that she had a way to get out of it. She made me promise that I wouldn't tell Kiyotaka that she was coming though, it was a bizarre request but I agreed.

We walked along in comfortable silence before Sudo came into view, waving at us enthusiastically and jogged over.

"Hey Matsuo, Ichinose," Sudo greeted enthusiastically. Ichinose gave a strained smile and looked at me.

"Sudo, look when we go in there you can't lose your temper okay? You really need to stay calm no matter what," I explained carefully.

"Yeah, yeah. It's fine, we got this. So, what's the plan?," Sudo waved nonchalantly.

"There is no plan, we have nothing. They have us and there's nothing we can do about it. We're going in there to try to minimize the damage,"

"What damage? You guys have some kind of idea, right?" Sudo asked confusedly.

"Sudo, look you really don't understand what's going on, we're not going in there to argue. We're going in there to try and get them to let us off,"

"What have you been doing all this time?" Sudo asked in shock.

"What have I been doing?" I repeated. I couldn't believe this, it was the first time I was ready to blow, I couldn't help it I was so annoyed.

"How about asking everyone in our year for witnesses? Or inquiring about camera footage in and around the building? Hell, I even tried to buy GPS data from Chabashira-sensei to see if there was anyone in and around the area to try and find someone who was there but not willing to testify. It was far too expensive.

"What did you do Sudo? You know what I found out? No one wants to help you, more than a few people laughed at me and said even if they did see something they wouldn't help you. You had a fight with senpai's on your first day at the convenience store. Your first day! No one knew that, you kept that one quiet didn't you?

"Then on top of that Class A and B students told me that you've been starting arguments over nothing. Sometimes just because someone bumped into you. So you tell me what I was supposed to do with that shit?

"I've done everything for you. I tutored you in my own time, on your schedule! You've had four people working to get you off while all you did was your club duties and messed around with your friends, so go fuck yourself if you think it's my fault that you're going to get punished!" I yelled at him.

The adrenaline wore off and I suddenly realized what I had done. Sudo was bigger than me by a lot, someone who had been in fights before and I was suddenly afraid that he was going to beat me up. When I get angry, I tend to swear and not think about what I'm saying. It's a bad habit and I suddenly got scared that it was about to cause me to get smacked around. It was probably a trait that I shared with Sudo, both of us got heated when we got angry.

Worst of all, if he hit me and Kiyotaka found out, I don't even want to know what he'd do. I didn't know if there would be anything left of Sudo. I froze when I realized what I had done and braced myself for whatever I had coming. Ichinose stood next to me just as shocked as though she didn't expect the onslaught I delivered.

"...I don't need this, I'll just go to the trial on my own. I'm not getting in trouble for something I didn't start," Sudo said bitterly, shoving me out of the way as he walked off.

It took a few seconds before Ichinose finally snapped out of it before she nervously scratched her cheek.

"That was a little unexpected," Ichinose laughed uncomfortably.

"It doesn't matter, like I said we've got nothing. Time to see what Ryuen wants in exchange for dropping this, sorry you saw me like that." I said sheepishly.

We continued to walk toward the Annex building before Ichinose spoke up again.

"I'm only a witness to make sure nothing happens, okay? Once we go in there, I can't help you at all. You understand that right?" Ichinose explained.

"Sure, I get it. I'm surprised you're here though. I thought Kiyotaka would be against you coming," I said as we opened the door.

"As if he cares anyway," Ichinose scoffed, clicking her tongue in annoyance.

That was weird, apparently I missed something. Still, as interesting as it was, I didn't have time to ask about it as we were greeted by the tall figure of Ryuen almost as soon as we walked in.

"I thought the student council wasn't supposed to get involved. I guess the Vice President bends rules for his friends, huh?" Ryuen taunted us as he came up to us.

"No, I'm just here as a witness. Conveniently, this location doesn't have any camera's so I wanted to make sure nothing would happen. Coincidences sure are freaky, aren't they Ryuen-kun?" Ichinose asked with a smile.

I was starting to get a little freaked out, not just because I felt like I was out of my depth but because Ichinose was starting to sound like Kiyotaka. I've heard that phrase straight out of his mouth so many times before.

Ryuen laughed at the observation loudly before looking at her with a taunting grin. When watching these two, I realized my own inferiority. The two of them were slyly attacking each other verbally like they were discussing the weather while I was nervous and doing my best to not show it. Ichinose may seem like she's kind and naive but I could see now that she was capable. Or at the very least, far more capable than I.

"So you're just here to watch him get slaughtered are you? Got nothing you're trying to pull with being here?"

"Who knows," Ichinose said with a shrug.

Okay, what the hell was going on here... They really are spending far too much time together if all of a sudden she's starting to act like him. It was like I was looking at his doppleganger. But with a wig and bigger...

"Well stop wasting my time and get to it already, I have shit to do." Ryuen said dismissively, ripping me from my thoughts.

"Well, you've got us. You've won," I said with a shrug. "I don't really know what else to say, I just wanted to see if there was any way we could negotiate something to make this go away."

I was surprised to see that Ryuen looked completely dissatisfied, as though he wasn't expecting me to admit defeat.

Honestly speaking, since I agreed to take this role I've been doing a lot of reading. A number of times, Kiyotaka has randomly quoted rules of power when explaining things to me. At first I didn't really understand what he was talking about until I looked up the quotes on the internet.

I found a book called 'The 48 Rules of Power by Robert Greene'. It wasn't easy to find a japanese translated version and I can't read english like Kiyotaka but I ended up finding something. I wasn't a fan of half the things I read in that book but some of it was helpful. After reading it and doing more research, I ended up continuing to study up on leadership and strategies.

I really don't understand much yet and I'm pretty inexperienced, but the only thing that I could rationalize was that Ryuen was the type of person who enjoyed his opponents' suffering. Maybe he wasn't satisfied with the fact that I just nonchalantly admitted defeat without losing my temper or being upset.

"Well, I wasn't expecting that. I thought you'd have a little more fight in you. To think you'd just roll over is a little underwhelming," Ryuen frowned in annoyance.

"When you've lost, you've lost. The sooner you admit it the sooner you can move on. There really isn't much in this for you anyway, it kind of seems like this is a waste of your time."

Ryuen suddenly smirked as though he got me to bite, a way that he could taunt me now that I brought up the fact that there wasn't much in it for him.

"Really now, this will be interesting. Go on, tell me, how isn't this a huge loss for you?" Ryuen laughed condescendingly.

"Well for one thing," I started calmly. "We only have eighty seven class points. Even if an expulsion happens for Sudo, from what I've noticed the class points can't drop below zero. We had so many infractions last month none of the math adds up that if we could have dropped below zero we wouldn't be in minus.

"So even if an expulsion happens, if it ends up costing us three hundred class points, hell even five hundred, we still can't go below zero from what I understand. We have little to lose, while three of your classmates took a beating for nothing."

"You think I care whether they got their asses kicked?" Ryuen rebuffed angrily. "They do what I tell them to do, that's what being a leader means."

"Regardless, if something like this happens now it's not really an issue. If this was going to happen sooner rather than later, it's better that it happened now. You've taught Sudo a lesson and it cost us next to nothing, so thank you for that. I appreciate it." I gave him a little bow of my head in thanks.

I wasn't trying to taunt him, I was being sincere. But he looked like I just spit in his face and suddenly I was afraid again. I continued on hurriedly.

"There's also the fact that Sudo is a really talented player, you don't get on the main roster in the first two months if that isn't the case. If they really need him, they'll bring him back on the main roster even with this. Winning cures all and if they're losing, they'll overlook this and bring him back on. Unless the school stops them." I said quickly.

Ryuen stared at me for a while. The longer he stared the more I continued to feel uncomfortable but I tried to do my best to stand there without giving anything away. It didn't seem to work though because after a while he just smiled at me viciously.

"You're right. You're absolutely right. This wasn't a very meaningful victory, the loss isn't as bad for you, you don't seem to be too broken about it. But that's okay, there isn't anything you can give me that I want.

"You have no points, there's no value in asking for a favor from you to overturn this; Class D is worthless. So I guess that monkey Sudo will have to just serve out his suspension like a good little dog. You have nothing I want, you're useless to me.

"But you have spirit and you don't seem to be broken. So even if you can't give me anything I want, I'll just have to enjoy breaking Class D. Again, and again, and again. Over and over, until I see the life drain from your eyes." Ryuen smirked viciously.

"Then we'll just have to learn from each loss until we can come back with a win." I said determinedly. With that I turned to leave and Ichinose was following closely after me.

"You know, it's such a shame to hear that you're losing control of your class to Kanzaki, Ichinose. I was looking forward to breaking you too, but since he's taking over, I'll enjoy destroying him first instead." Ryuen called out to us as we continued to leave. Ichinose didn't even give him an answer or turn around.

When we got outside, the gravity of the situation hit me and I realized how frightened I was. I wished I was able to just shrug it off like it was nothing but I barely managed to get through it. Maybe now I could get through another situation like that again. I felt like I passed a milestone, like the first time would be the worst and now it could only get better.

"That went better than you could hope for, you did pretty well in there," Ichinose smiled as she praised me.

"I don't know about that, I didn't really achieve anything. I didn't manage to get them to let Sudo off,"

"They can't all be wins, at least you stood up to a bully. Be happy with how it went, you held your ground,"

I asked Ichinose if she wanted to come with me to the Student Council office and she reluctantly agreed to come. I was wondering what was going on with her, she didn't seem to want to see Kiyotaka for some reason. I didn't know whether they had a fight or something but I didn't really want to bring it up.

I could see why Kiyotaka enjoyed spending time with her, she was easy to talk to and was pretty fun to hang around. She seemed to just go with the flow, just doing whatever came about as it came along and seeing where it led her. In a lot of ways she really reminded me of...

"Do you know someone named Nanase Tsubasa?" Ichinose asked suddenly.

Jesus Christ, was this what Kiyotaka meant when he said this girl was a God? Was she an esper of some sort? I was literally just thinking how similar they were and it was as though she plucked the name straight out of my head. Wait, hang on a second.

"How do you know that name?" I asked her suspiciously.

She seemed to get embarrassed and she nervously scratched her cheek before answering. Apparently that was some sort of tick for her or something.

"I overheard Ayanokouji-kun mention her name when talking to someone. I know you and Ayanokouji-kun were friends before coming to this school and that you're also friends with Sakayanagi-san so I figured you'd know who she is," Ichinose explained.

Why would Kiyotaka mention Tsubasa though? There were times he brought her up when he was making fun of me, I wonder if that bastard was talking about me behind my back again. I'll have to have a chat with that idiot, always making fun of me. We're supposed to be friends!

"But!" Ichinose started again panicking as though hearing my thoughts again. "Please don't tell him that I asked you about this. I just... happened to be walking past. Pure coincidence! I wasn't eavesdropping or anything like that... I was... just on my way somewhere and... right. Pure coincidence," Ichinose laughed nervously.

At the mention of her, I couldn't help but miss Tsubasa. Sometimes I understand how Kiyotaka feels when he tries to avoid the responsibilities of school life. We really had some great times whenever the three of us were together. Now that I think about it, I've been so busy with this new role that she hadn't come to mind for quite some time.

Now that she had been brought up I couldn't help but wonder what she was doing, what she was up to. Sure, from what I heard from the conversations being had before we came, she was going to be here next year but that time couldn't come soon enough. I'm sure Kiyotaka missed her too but I was getting lonely without her.

I love Kiyotaka, he really is the best friend that I could have asked for. There was a time that I really cursed his lack of initiative, especially in the beginning when he figured out the true purpose behind the school. I understood it though, for someone who has had expectations heaped upon him since he was born, I could understand him wanting a bit of a carefree life.

But as close to Kiyotaka I am, Tsubasa was still my first. First friend, first love, first everything. I didn't understand what was happening but thoughts of whether or not things would change for her while we were separated during this time made me a little apprehensive. What if during this time apart, she started to forget about us. Or worse, what if she found someone that she was interested in and I lost my chance to tell her how I felt about her.

"Tsubasa is... really great. I don't know what else to say about her. The three of us were always joined at the hip whenever we were together. We're the best of friends, she's in her last year of middle school. She'll be here next year, you'll really like her!"

I don't know what I said that annoyed her but her expression seemed to harden all of a sudden. I know that Kiyotaka is a genius, it's actually scary how smart he is. But I had an advantage over Kiyotaka that I never mentioned, something that I was really proud of.

I was really good at figuring out the way people feel around me. It wasn't anything big, just small things about the way things would think and feel but I don't have many things that I can be proud of that I'm better at than Kiyotaka. That's why I wasn't happy with the situation as I put the pieces together in my head.

Ichinose must have had feelings for me and asked Kiyotaka if there was anyone I liked. He must have mentioned Tsubasa to try and let her down gently that I had someone already. Now I had Ichinose pretending like she overheard Kiyotaka talking about her to make sure that she didn't get him in trouble or something.

I couldn't let this knowledge go unnoticed. I've got your back Kiyotaka!

"Yeah, she'll be here next year. You'll really like her. She's beautiful! She's really smart and funny too. She's really kind hearted, kind of soft spoken but she's really clumsy. She's always falling or knocking stuff over by accident, it's really cute.

While I wasn't lying about any of it or exaggerating, I couldn't help but feel bad at the moment. The more and more I described her, the more Ichinose's face continued to fall sadly. I didn't like that this was happening. But I had to make sure that Ichinose didn't have any falsehoods in thinking that she and I could be together. No matter how much she developed feelings for me, this was the gentlest way I could let her down. I'm sorry, Ichinose...

"I see... she's coming here is she?" Ichinose said, suddenly looking crestfallen.

"Do you have a photo of her?" She suddenly asked.

I nodded before taking out my phone. Actually now that I think about it, I haven't even seen her face for all this time, not even in a photo. I really was getting so busy that I forgot the important things, maybe Kiyotaka was right.

I hadn't spent a lot of time with him and he was my best friend. He was right next to me in classes all the time, we lived in the same dorm building but I neglected him. I made a promise to myself, now that all this is over with Sudo, I'll make sure to hang out with him as often as possible until the next set of exams or whatever else comes along.

I scrolled through my album until I found the one I was looking for. It was just before we got to the school, Tsubasa was in the middle with one of her arms around Kiyotaka and I with a blinding smile that stretched from ear to ear. Kiyotaka had his arm around Ah-chan and she was smiling like the huge bro-con I always teased her about being.

At least when she saw how close Tsubasa and I were, maybe she would get the message and I could let her down gently. I was glad that she asked for the photo, at least this would be natural.

"She really is beautiful, she's gorgeous." Ichinose said sadly.

I cursed my own cowardice when I heard her say that. I'm sorry Kiyotaka, I know friends aren't supposed to do this with each other but I have to save myself. I needed to make sure that Kiyotaka and Ichinose ended up together so that she could forget about me.

They got along really well and I wasn't sure what was going on but he seemed to care about her. I'd never seen him so angry before when Ichinose was struggling with helping me out. She must have been trying so hard to try to get my attention. Good job Eiichiro, when did you become such a lady killer?

But if Kiyotaka was so protective over her, maybe there was a chance that he could be with her instead. It wasn't like I was throwing him a grenade or something, Ichinose was gorgeous. If the two of them ended up together, they'd make a really cute couple. I know I'm being selfish but I need to make sure that I could start some kind of a spark between them. Help them out so that they can see something in each other and maybe something can develop...

"There's still time, she's not here yet. I won't lose," I could hear Ichinose say under her breath.

Time was against me, if she was this determined I needed to work fast. The cruise was coming soon, maybe I could start working on my plans then. It wasn't going to be easy, Kiyotaka was really good at sniffing out when something was amiss. I need to bring my A-Game on this one, I can't fail. Everyone's happiness depended on it. It was just lucky that I noticed what was really happening before it was too late.

Chapter 16

I've never been on a cruise ship before, it's surprisingly beautiful. Everything from the view to the luxuries are all things that are a godsend just when things at the school were starting to get boring. I really needed a holiday and I was looking forward to all the relaxation and laziness that was about to take place for the duration of the trip.

As I looked about the deck, sunbeds are scattered about all over and I instantly start to analyze which one will be mine for the coming days. I already had it in mind to see Chabashira-sensei and buy the rights to said chair and have an "Ayanokouji Kiyotaka" sign attached to it.

We had been on the deck earlier as a group, staring out at the sea and taking in the breathtaking view. There was a bit of a bittersweet acknowledgement that Sudo wasn't with us but with everything that happened it barely made much more than a mention. It's interesting that Yamauchi was the one who said it though. I wonder if he'd have the courage to say such a thing if Sudo was standing right by him.

Despite the fact that we were now at zero points once again, morale was surprisingly high. Almost everyone worked pretty diligently and improved their behavior to a very respectable level. Most of them acknowledged Eiichiro's efforts, while he did stumble a fair bit and didn't end up coming out with a win, at his explanation of how things weren't so bad most of them simply thanked him for doing what he could.

Almost all of them had the opportunity to help, even his friends that were dubbed the idiot trio and yet Yamauchi, Ike and Sudo didn't contribute much if not at all. Looking at them you can see how sometimes friendships could be incredibly superficial. If it were Eiichiro or I in that position, I have no doubts whatsoever that we would move mountains to help each other. Yet the three of them didn't seem to see the urgency.

Perhaps I'm expecting too much, but I honestly thought the two remaining idiots of the trio would be more put out at the fact that he wasn't there but instead they mocked him. I know why it annoys me, but it also shouldn't. It isn't like I have any love for any of them but it bothers me that a friendship could be boasted so loudly and yet mean next to nothing inside.

Irrespective, if I were to look on the side of the cruise liner for me the name is the Freedom. I don't care whatever words are painted on the side, this ship represents freedom. Freedom from school responsibilities, freedom from the student council office and freedom from that smirking bastard known as President Horikita Manabu.

Upon our leaving, all he said was to have fun with that same grin that he always has plastered on his face whenever he's trying to be cryptic. Ichinose took it with a grateful smile for the well wishes but I know that smirk far too well. Something is coming.

Things with Ichinose seemed to be different as well. It was like dancing around the very obvious, she seemed like she was trying to get me to notice her. She would do little things differently than before. She seemed to smile at me more sweetly and seemed to try to spend time with me at every opportunity.

For some strange reason, Eiichiro encouraged this with so much gusto that it was starting to make me a little weirded out. We had time to breathe now and while we were able to hang out a lot more than before but every time Ichinose would come through the door smiling at me, Eiichiro came up with some half baked reason on why he had to go and would pointedly and obviously mention we should spend more time with each other.

If Ichinose noticed it or if it annoyed her it didn't seem to show. She would beam even more widely and we'd spend that time alone, me on the couch doing nothing and her doing work at the desk, sometimes even in the mornings on the way to school. Every time it happened, she would pretend to tell Eiichiro it was okay and that he didn't have to leave, only to shove him out the door the moment he said that it was fine. It was actually quite comedic.

After leaving the deck and going back into the main hall, I ended up exploring for a while before coming to the café area and spotting faces that I really haven't had the chance to interact with for quite some time. Upon seeing me, Karuizawa got up from her seat and enthusiastically waved me over.

I walked over briskly before taking a seat next to Matsushita who gave me a bit of a strained smile. Not once since the incident where we had been chewed out by Chabashira had she spoken to me. Aside from the one time where she showed her disappointment that I hadn't answered a single question, we haven't had an interaction since.

I can't lie and say that it didn't bother me. Matsushita had become one of my first friends, one of the few who knew my secret. Still, despite the apprehension she kept her silence. I wonder how this is going to go.

"It's good to finally get to hang out with you again, Ayanokouji-kun," Hirata smiled gratefully at my joining them.

Thinking back, I've left this unfortunate offering to his own fate after everything that happened with Horikita and then Sudo after that. I remember thinking how this poor man was similar to Jesus, being sacrificed for my sins so that I could slip away unscathed from the relentless hoard known as the girls of Class D.

"It really has been a while hasn't it Hirata. I've been quite busy lately," I said with a frown as though the thought disgusted me.

Satou snorted as she ate her cake while Karuizawa grinned at the statement. Matsushita looked incredibly uncomfortable and I wondered if I should just leave. These were her friends, it wouldn't be right if my presence annoyed her.

"Who would have thought Ichinose Honami would be the one to get you off your lazy ass?" Karuizawa teased.

"At least everything on the boat is free, I'm pretty sure almost everyone in Class D is struggling for points right about now." I ignored her attempt at trying to gossip, trying to change the subject.

"You can say that again," Satou sighed.

"I'm down to my last three thousand," Karuizawa said sadly. "Kushida-san really came through for us, I don't know what I would have done without that fifty thousand she gave us."

"Yeah but we're back down to no Class Points again. So next month we're not getting anything either right now." Satou pointed out dejectedly.

With Sudo being suspended for a month, it was pretty much a consensus that we were going back down to zero points again. While the other classes went up by roughly a hundred points, we were back down to zero yet again. The already wide gap continued to grow and at first everyone was anxious, but surprisingly it was Chabashira who seemed in the best spirits.

Chabashira-sensei pointed out that there was a marked improvement in all of us, pointing out that Eiichiro had become more effective as a leader and that all of us made significant developments. While it went unnoticed, she gave me a knowing smile while the rest of them were too busy murmuring amongst themselves. I could only conclude at the time that it had something to do with my intervention with Horikita's expulsion.

It didn't change the fact however that if there wasn't something significant, the gap was going to continue to widen. While I wasn't anxious, it had caused Eiichiro to become a little concerned.

"What do you think, Matsushita?" I asked. Her discomfort seemed to lift slightly at being directly addressed by me before she hesitantly chimed in.

"I think we can come back from this if we all put in the effort," Matsushita said hesitantly.

"I wholeheartedly agree with you," A voice chimed in from behind.

As much as I love my little sister, I could feel myself become a little nervous. She was smiling a little too angelically, a little too innocently. It was the smile when she was up to something, one that I knew all too well. She approached the table in slow deliberate steps with her cane rhythmically tapping the deck as she walked. I got up from my seat and gave it to her before getting another for myself as she sat down.

"Thank you, Kiyotaka," Arisu said gratefully as I took the chair next to her.

"Sakayanagi-san, it's nice to finally meet you under... better circumstances," Hirata offered awkwardly. They all introduced themselves just as embarrassed before Arisu continued on.

"Yes, my apologies for the interruption on that day, it was rather embarrassing. I hope you can forgive me for my outburst. Unfortunately, this foolish brother of mine seems to bring that out of me."

"It's good you two made up though, we were worried about you after you left. I told you to go after her, you dummy!" Karuizawa scolded.

Arisu's smile never changed from her face and I could see what was going on. My darling little sister, so she saw an opportunity to corner me now that we're stuck on a boat with nowhere to run and no classes to occupy us. What is with all these troublesome women...

"Kiyotaka is surprisingly perceptive when it comes to me, he knows when it's best to approach and when to leave me alone. I'm sure things would have escalated, he was right in allowing me my solitude at the time," Arisu offered.

"The both of you are pretty close, aren't you?" Hirata observed.

"Oh yes, very close. Kiyotaka has accompanied me many times to Class A. I think it's only right that I get to know your fellow classmates as well. Isn't that right, Onii-chan?" Arisu smirked at me.

"The rest in Class A will probably be hurt, you know. I'm sure they'd want to spend time with you since we're all supposed to be on holiday," I weakly tried to counter.

"There's plenty of time for all that when we return to school." Arisu brushed off, never taking her eyes off me. "However, there are not so many opportunities like this. I think there's quite a lot we can all... learn about each other."

Arisu turned to the others at the table before she smiled sweetly at them. I could feel the beginnings of a headache coming, not even a day on this boat and already plots and schemes by this little brat.

"I hope you'll all treat me kindly. I'd love to spend as much time as possible with you all. It would be nice to bond and make new friends,"

"Same, we'd all love to get closer with you. We should hang out more often," Satou said excitedly.

"Let's exchange contact information. Class A is rather stiff, I don't get very many opportunities to gossip. I'd love to get to know all of you," This. Woman.

At the very least, the conversation took an innocent turn. Random topics of gossip shared between the girls, Hirata and I tried a few times to strike up a conversation between each other only to get dragged into whatever the girls were talking about. Arisu stayed mostly silent, only chiming in when directly addressed, tone dripping in honey the whole time. She was laying it on surprisingly thick.

Arisu was very capable in socializing with people, despite the fact that she had an obvious ulterior motive with this it was nice to see her like this. Class A really was unbearably rigid, every conversation was always a veiled negotiation or some way to build on a social hierarchy. While the people at the table right now were like innocent lambs unknowingly befriending a wolf, I had a little bit of hope that maybe they would rub off on her a bit.

I listened absentmindedly to the news on who's dating who, who likes what and other useless female chit chat. I tried my best to see if there were any schemes I had to intervene in whenever I could but Arisu seemed to relish in my discomfort. Matsushita seemed to relax and join in which was nice to see but she still didn't address me directly. Not long after, I could feel the dread start to creep up as the conversation turned for the worse.

"It's really great that Class A managed to get back over the starting thousand points, even if it's only by four. I'm so jealous, you guys got like ninety four thousand points the second month and then a hundred thousand," Karuizawa gushed.

"I can imagine that it's incredibly difficult for Class D with its current situation. How are you doing for points, Kiyotaka? It must be so hard for you?" Arisu asked innocently.

"I'm doing okay, I have enough. Thank you for sharing yours with me, not everyone is lucky to have a kind and caring sister who knows how to be discreet," I forced out with gritted teeth.

"I would never allow you to live in poverty. Besides, we did manage to share that wonderful meal together. So many new and interesting things are happening in your life at the moment," Arisu grinned at me.

Why am I suffering like this? There are some things that are supposed to be sacred, this was dirty beyond belief. If there was anyone in first year that was going to spread anything at this table like wildfire, it was the two sitting across from us. Now I'm stuck here while Arisu is casually hinting at the most dangerous topics possible.

I had to admit that I deserved this right now. I had been poking Arisu far too much. Making her look silly, having father take my side, refusing her challenge at the restaurant and even poking fun at her lack of... development. This was my divine punishment, I had to take this like a man. I created this monster.

"Argh, you're so lucky that you have a sister in Class A that helps you with points. There's so many things that I had planned to buy but I can't afford any of them! I haven't even been able to eat out in ages," Karuizawa said in frustration.

"We'll have to go shopping some time, my treat." Arisu said sweetly.

Karuizawa stared at Arisu like she was a saint, some form of divine deity. Satou next to her didn't look at her quite as reverently but looked excited at the possibility of girl time that wasn't window shopping.

"How did you even manage to figure everything out so easily? I don't even know how much it would have cost for the S-System info but it didn't seem like Class A bought it," Hirata asked curiously.

"Well, among other things, Kiyotaka's observations of the cameras on the first day was incredibly helpful. My class was really grateful for his assistance."

This little witch I seethed angrily in my head. I know for a fact that she noticed them too, when I pointed them out she didn't say a word. She just smirked at my observations while wearing a look on her face that screamed as expected. People say I'm manipulative, well they're right but still! Arisu was just as capable of the same, capable of mixing the truth with lies like a dangerous concoction.

"You noticed the cameras on the first day, Ayanokouji-kun?" Hirata asked confusedly.

The rest of the table all turned their eyes to me while Arisu innocently sipped on her tea. I don't understand why, but right now I wanted to disappear, leave the table and stay there all at the same time. What a strange occurrence.

"Actually, Eiichiro was the one who saw them and pointed them out to me," I said sheepishly. "I was trying to impress you, so I pretended that I was the one who noticed them. Sorry you had to find out like this."

Arisu's eyes narrowed in annoyance at me. To the rest of the table it looked like she was annoyed that I lied, but we both knew that it was because of my brilliant deflection. That's check, your move my dear sister.

I knew that I was throwing Eiichiro under the bus, or the cane rather, but I was okay with that right now. Eiichiro and Arisu haven't gotten along in years, what's one more little annoyance? It was also a little bit of a boost to him, particularly with the people at the table.

Kushida's support of him had done wonders to give him a good reputation within the class, but there was no harm in having a better one. While Karuizawa, Hirata, Satou and Matsushita never outwardly protested anything that came from Eiichiro it would help in the future if they had a better opinion of him.

To be fair, Hirata spent more time with him than I did lately. The both of them were doing all they could for the class and if it weren't for Hirata's obligations to the soccer club, I'm sure he would have helped out with Sudo's case. It must have been hard for Hirata. Juggling club obligations, a girlfriend and also mediating squabbles while also hosting a study group for the class. I had to lay on my couch in the office and that was difficult as it was.

"But Matsuo-kun didn't mention it until quite a while after that," Matsushita said with a frown.

"I think he may have been nervous to talk to the class," I shrugged.

"How strange, Eiichiro hasn't ever been the type to lack in confidence," Arisu said innocently.

"It's different, he never had issues when it was with people he's comfortable with but he was struggling with taking up the leadership role at the time."

"How curious, I never expected him to want that kind of responsibility. I had thought that someone else could have shown to be more effective." Arisu's eye twitched, the only crack she'd shown in her otherwise impeccable mask so far.

"Now that I think about it, Chabashira-sensei did say something about expecting you to come up with the questions about the S-System when he asked about it the first time." Karuizawa remembered suddenly.

Arisu's eyes lit up with excitement, she leaned forward looking at Karuizawa like she was an angel descended from heaven.

"Did she now?"

"Yeah, and she really let him have it before you came in too. Something about wasted potential?" Satou chimed in.

"Wasted Potential? Whatever could she have meant, Kiyotaka?" Arisu goaded me.

"Who knows," I shrugged.

I normally do this out of habit but this time I did it purposely just because I knew how much it pissed Arisu off. It got the intended reaction and I could see her grip on her cane harden a little bit.

Matsushita, who knew everything, seemed to clue in on what was happening right now. I could see her wrestling with what she was going to do for a moment before it seemed she came to a conclusion and threw me a liferaft.

"Well he is the chairman's son, maybe she had expectations after finding that out?"

Arisu had no idea that Matsushita knew so she didn't seem to get angry at the seemingly oblivious conclusion. Instead, she had her sole attention on trying to drag me out of obscurity.

The conversation seemed to turn back to the innocent again but I couldn't relax anymore. Just in that small amount of time my peaceful holiday had been ruined. I realized that this was going to be a daily occurrence. Knowing Arisu it wouldn't be predictable either.

The entire time I would be on edge, wondering what she was doing and she knew it. She seemed to be thoroughly enjoying it too, her childish way of sticking her tongue out at me for foiling her plans when she told on me. I didn't do anything to deserve this kind of punishment, why won't she just leave me alone?

I originally thought this boat was supposed to be called The Freedom but now it may as well be called The Alcatraz. This place had become a prison, a tomb even. Originally the beautiful sea view had looked breathtakingly awe inspiring and now it had become this disgusting pond, locking me in this rusting wretched steel bathtub.

"Still though, Matsuo-kun shocked us all. He said that after he met with Class C's leader that he went back to the Student Council office. He said you were doing paperwork!" Karuizawa said excitedly.

"You really have set low expectations if that is all it took to shock the class," Satou said jokingly.

"I heard Kushida saying that a couple weeks back, some Class B students were talking about how Ichinose-san was really tired and Ayanokouji-kun came in. Apparently, he carried her out and took her to get some sleep. It was the same day that Matsuo-kun paid for him to miss the rest of the day of classes... KYA!" Karuizawa gossiped excitedly.

"Is there something going on with you two?" Satou suddenly turned to me with hunger in her eyes at finding out gossip from the source.

"Of course there is," I nodded. "She's my Secretary and I'm the Vice President,"

"That's not what she meant, dummy!" Karuizawa shouted angrily. She had an excited look when waiting for the answer only to be shot down.

"You two do spend a surprising amount of time together, I was a little shocked to see you by yourself." Hirata joked with a smile. Before I could say anything, I heard the evil voice utter words that made my heart stop.

"Wait, they don't know? You haven't told them?" Arisu asked innocently.

I froze, remaining completely still. She wouldn't. This was way too far, even this was way too far. Maybe I had been poking her a little too much lately, but surely she wouldn't overstep this boundary.

At the sound of a secret, Karuizawa and Satou were both greedily leaning forward. Hirata looked curious while Matsushita just waited patiently for whatever Arisu was going to say. I could feel my pulse rise from the lack of oxygen as even I wasn't breathing at the moment.

"Class B has a bit of an issue at the moment, Ichinose's losing her position as the leader of the class." Arisu said simply.

She purposely baited me, making it look like she was going to reveal what I told her. She really was evil. My beautiful, intelligent and kind hearted evil sister. I wasn't supposed to, but I was actually enjoying this just a little bit. It was like an abstract chess game that nobody knew we were playing.

"Why?" Matsushita asked confusedly.

"Well, with her assisting Class D in the investigation from what I've heard there were a number of people who were unhappy that she did so at the expense of Class B's interests. There were a few that were dissatisfied with her decisions."

"...she's losing her leadership position, because of us?" Hirata frowned.

While the rest were pensive and wallowing in their own guilt, their attention was off the two of us. Arisu took the opportunity to smile a little challengingly at me.

"Don't feel so guilty, Hirata-kun. All of us have to take responsibility for the consequences of our decisions." Arisu said pointedly, looking at me.

"Ichinose knew full well the decision she was making and the consequences of those decisions. She may be many things, but a fool she is not. That I can assure you. You have nothing to feel guilty or ashamed of.

"Still this revelation of her managing to coerce you into mustering any form of effort is quite interesting. Perhaps I should spend some time with her? Who knows, there's every chance that I could be welcoming a future sister into our family eventually." Evil. Evil I tell you.

"It'll be difficult though," Arisu continued with feigned sadness. "I have Horikita Suzune's contact information that I got from President Horikita Manabu before we left. I scheduled for us to play a chess match on the decks at the sunbeds tomorrow, she seemed enthusiastic to want to meet."

"Just so many people to meet, so many things to do and such a small amount of time," Arisu said as she got to her feet smiling at me.

"Such a shame. Isn't that right, Onii-chan?"

Chapter 17

A/N: Sudo Arc honestly was filler. I used it for character development because this is where my original plan for the story was really going to start. To begin with I was only going to write maybe two chapters to skip through it but ended up doing a lot more to set things up.

It was this arc and the Zodiac arc idea that started this whole story in the first place so I'm excited to see what you guys think about what ends up happening, not a lot of it is going to deviate from my original plan. If you have suggestions though, please feel free. If it fits better than what I had planned I may consider deviating like I have in the past.

While she was playing with me threateningly it didn't take long to realize that Arisu wasn't really trying to reveal anything. It only took seeing her play chess with Horikita the next day without making a single jab or barb in my direction to realize. It seemed she just really wanted to get to know my classmates and see what it was that I saw in them.

While Arisu was getting friendly with Class D there wasn't really anyone that stood out that she would be close enough to consider a friend. The only one she seemed to get close with was Horikita, the two of them being fairly similar people but as Horikita was still very much a loner I had my doubts that there would be a budding friendship blossoming any time soon.

Arisu was on the same page with me now, she understood the risks. The more attention I drew to myself the more of a chance that everything came out. It was as though she knew that it was only a matter of time before it happened so she allowed me my peace while it would last.

Still, I'm very aware that as soon as everything comes out I'm expected to go against her to the best of my abilities. It wouldn't be enough for me to just beat her, if she sensed even in the slightest that I held back, it'd be a repeat of what happened the last time we played chess. If she was going to continue to allow me this indulgence for however long it lasted, I would give her the respect of the challenge she wants.

I really am lucky to have Arisu, I don't think there is anyone on the planet who understands me as well as she does. That's why, no matter what and no matter who I'm with, Arisu will always be my number one priority. Anyone else can come and go but no one will come between her and I.

Still, there was no reason to worry about any of that for the moment. Or so I thought, because not long after there was an announcement on the PA system.

"We will disembark in thirty minutes. Please assemble on the deck. All students should have changed into their jerseys. Make sure to check your designated bag and your luggage, and do not forget your cell phone. Please keep all other personal items in your room. There is a possibility that you will not be able to visit the bathroom for some time, so please do so now."

As soon as I heard I beelined straight for Arisu's room. If we were going to the beach then I needed to make sure that I could get her there safely. I ran into a few people who were chatting excitedly wondering what was happening and thinking they were going to have a nice day on the beach. Ignoring them, I continued to make my way before I got to the door that I was looking for.

After a short knock, I waited for a moment before Arisu opened the door and I stared at her in confusion.

"Why aren't you dressed?" I asked, perplexed.

Arisu hesitated before letting me in and asking for the other girls in the room to leave. They all seemed to know something I didn't and they all quietly left the room only nodding at me in greeting as they passed.

"There's a special examination starting now, it'll begin once they brief you and everyone will be required to stay on the island for seven days. I can't go, so I'm exempt. I will stay here on the boat until the examination is completed."

I stared at her for quite a while. It must have been nearly thirty seconds before I broke eye contact with her and gave her a nod before flopping down on her bed.

"What are you doing?" Arisu looked at me confused.

"Staying too, I'm not leaving you on the ship and going out there without you. You'll be by yourself for seven days, I'm not leaving."

"Don't be ridiculous!" She hissed. "This is the first special examination, Class D has no points! You throw this one and you'll be stuck at the bottom for the remainder of your school life. I will not be alone here, there are staff all over and I will be well cared for. Out! Now!"

I made no effort to move and ignored her only to feel her grab at my arm and try to wrench me from the bed.

"Ayanokouji Kiyotaka, I am not joking this time! I let the other exam go but this has consequences! If you do not go down to the beach immediately I will never forgive you! Out!"

I looked up at her and could see she was visibly upset. I didn't want to do this but at the same time I didn't want her to be here on her own. The rest of them could pick up the slack, I'm sure that most of them would be angry at this but some of them would understand. Still, I could give a shit if all of them hated me for the next three years. Because the choice between any of them, even Eiichiro, or Arisu was not even one that needed to be thought about.

Which was why I instantly analyzed the situation that I was currently in before firmly coming to a decision. When in scenarios like this, I always lived my life by looking at every action and reaction, making a decision and being able to live with the consequences no matter the circumstance. This was one of those moments and once it had been made, my decision was final.

"We don't have a lot of time, let's get you dressed in your jersey and we'll go down to the beach before the time ends." I said quickly standing back up.

"What!?" Arisu exclaimed in shock.

"If you want me to go out and do the exam, you're coming down to see me off. You can't go dressed in your pajamas," I explained.

"B-but," Arisu stammered. "Kiyotaka we aren't children anymore, you can't just dress me!"

I clicked my tongue in annoyance, now was not the time for this rubbish. Ten minutes had passed since the announcement. We only had a few more minutes before we would be late if we didn't leave soon. As quickly as I could, I took out her bag and went through it, finding her jersey while texting Koenji and explaining to her.

"I'm going to be late, if you want me to compete then you'll do as you're told. Hurry and start getting dressed while I get things ready. I'll explain everything when we get down to the beach."

I don't think I've ever spoken to Arisu like that in my life. I've always gone along with what Eiichiro and Arisu have requested, never have I commanded them or spoke to Arisu with such authority. Perhaps it was for that reason, Arisu quickly and obediently moved onto the bed to lay down so she could hurriedly change her clothes.

I threw the jersey that I found over my shoulder at her with my back turned to her so she had some privacy and made sure that her bag was packed exactly as they had explained over the PA system. Once it was all packed and checked, I turned around to see Arisu finishing pulling up her pants before getting her socks and putting them on her and tying her shoes as fast as I could.

The entire process barely took five minutes before I grabbed her and picked her up like she was a toddler. With one arm under Arisu and her clinging to my neck like an adolescent and her bag and cane in the other hand, I swiftly left the room before taking off down the hall.

Thankfully, everything happened so fast and we were running so late that Arisu didn't even have time to question what was going on but I had a plan. There was no plan B or contingency, just an ultimatum. One that everyone was going to learn once we had been briefed and the special exam began.

Running down the hall, it seemed as though almost everyone was already down at the beach because the teachers were already down there. Running to the last turn, I saw Chabashira-sensei who was waiting patiently. When she saw me I quickly handed the bag over to her which she checked to make sure everything was in order.

"I should have expected this the moment Koenji brought your bag with him for inspection," Chabashira chuckled in amusement as she checked everything over.

"Put me down, Kiyotaka," Arisu said in embarrassment, I was still holding onto her in exactly the same way. "If you're planning what I think you are, it isn't going to work. You'll b-"

"There's no time." Chabashira cut in as she finished checking everything. "You'll be late, everything is in order."

After thanking Chabashira, I quickly walked down the bridge to where everyone else was still carrying Arisu like a whining child. Chabashira was trailing behind us and as we got to the bottom and down to the sand I noticed that Chabashira-sensei waved at Arisu's homeroom teacher, pointing Arisu out. He gave an appreciative nod and we all went down to where the rest of Class D was waiting.

The moment that I put Arisu back on her feet her fist instantly went straight into my abdomen. I was already anticipating the retaliation and managed to move with the hit as it came, minimizing the damage.

"I told you to put me down," Arisu hissed angrily. "Everyone saw you carrying me like I was an infant!"

"We were running late," I brushed her off.

" You were running late. I should be back in my room, what are you playing at?"

"Just wait, trust me."

"I can not participate, Kiyotaka. I can't walk out there, it was all already agreed upon with that bald imbecile before the announcement an-"

Arisu fell silent just as Chabashira came over to us. The exchange didn't go unnoticed, almost all eyes were watching the back and forth quietly. Arisu looked livid, it wasn't the attention that she would want.

Chabashira-sensei took roll call and the moment my name was taken early on, I asked Chabashira if I could take Arisu over to Class A to have her name taken to which she just nodded. Rather than make her even angrier, I handed Arisu her cane and we very slowly made our way over to where Class A was having their names taken as well.

I stood with Class A, girls surrounding us as they all whispered excitedly to Arisu who was looking more and more embarrassed. I wasn't paying them any attention, I wasn't sure if what I had in mind would even be allowed. It didn't really matter, if it wasn't feasible to accomplish, then Arisu and I would be returning to the ship.

She'd be angry, she'd hate me and it'd probably be a long time until I could make amends but I couldn't care less. Arisu would not be spending this time alone.

"First, before we begin I'm very happy to see that all of you have been able to attend. Unfortunately, as there is currently a suspension, there is one of you who hasn't been able to participate."

At this, I looked over to the one that Eiichiro told me about. Ryuen Kakeru was looking at Eiichiro with a taunting grin that stretched from ear to ear. To his credit, Eiichiro simply ignored it, looking at Mashima-sensei with determination.

A few of the teachers were busy setting up a tent with equipment necessary to set up the special examination. It was obvious by the oblivious looks of most of the students, many of them had no idea what was going on. If not for the fact that I dragged Arisu here, I wouldn't have known for sure either.

"With that said, we will begin your very first special examination."

"The test begins now and will last for a week. This test will determine if you can live on a deserted island together as a group. In addition, this special test is designed based on real-world corporate training.

"During the test you are not allowed to board the ship without a suitably justifiable reason. You will be required to fend for yourselves during the duration of your stay. This includes finding a place to sleep, also finding your own food and water.

"You will all be given two tents and two flashlights. You will also be given a box of matches and an unlimited supply of sunscreen. As a special case, girls will be allowed to have as many female sanitary products as they'd like, without any restrictions. Please ask your respective homeroom teachers for those. That is all."

Before we could go off to our respective groups, suddenly a problem occurred to me at the last thing mentioned by Mashima-sensei.

"Arisu, you're not on yo-"

"Finish that question and you will taste my fist again," Arisu spat.

During the exchange, a lot of the others were all complaining at the sudden revelation. A lot of them were whispering among themselves and more than a few voiced their concerns. There was widespread panic amongst the groups but there were a few notable exceptions.

For one thing, Class A was virtually silent as none of this seemed to come to them as a surprise. It seemed that they had the advantage of knowing in advance due to Arisu's condition. It was an even larger advantage since now Arisu wasn't going to be sitting on the boat anymore unless she wanted company.

The next was Class C who were arguing amongst themselves. A moment later, Ryuen turned to look at them coldly only for every single one of them to fall silent. It seemed he really did rule over them with an iron fist. From what I was told by Eiichiro, Ryuen had boasted about how they all do as they are told, a true dictatorship.

Class B was interesting. Their new leader stood at the forefront, a mildly attractive girl with violet hair. Next to her stood Kanzaki, who seemed to be a bit of a parasite, latching on to whoever was the one at the top. Ichinose only had two next to her, Chihiro and Mako while the rest seemed to congregate around their newfound leadership. Most of them seemed to be relatively quiet but whispered frantically amongst themselves.

Finally, Class D. My beloved Class D who I coddled while all of them were none the wiser. All of them were yelling and arguing over the top of each other. Like a group of chimps all fighting over one banana.

While the rest of them all continued on their various conversations and yelling, Mashima-sensei and Chabashira-sensei both continued on, refuting any complaints with cold words that seemed as though it were a speech they had said a hundred times before.

"You may say this is unbelievable, but that's because you've lived a short, superficial life. There are prominent companies that hold training sessions on uninhabited islands."

"But... this was supposed to be our summer vacation. We were told that we were going on a relaxing trip, no one said anything about a special exam. Don't you think that springing this on us is a little unfair?" Ike complained loudly.

It showed how much Class D was panicking that I could hear them all the way on the other side near Class A. I didn't even want to know what hell I was going to be going through when I told them what I had planned.

I tuned the complaining out as best I could while listening to all the information given. I needed to know if it was even feasible for what I had in mind. Depending on whether or not the rules allowed for it was only factor, having Arisu in Class A was bound to be an enormous obstacle. It would be a huge undertaking. The things I go through for this girl...

"As a major part of the special test, you will be distributed a total of 300 points to each class. You may spend them however you wish, manuals will be distributed so that you may see what is available.

"The manual explains everything you can obtain with points. Also useful information like where you can get drinking water, food and necessities. If you wish to have an enjoyable holiday, you could have a barbecue. It comes with all of the instructions and ingredients. There are also tools and other luxuries that you can enjoy while on the island to the fullest.

"However, when the special test has concluded, each class' remaining points will be added to their total class points. Your point totals will reflect this change once summer vacation is over."

"There you have it," Arisu said suddenly. "This will be a huge undertaking, Class D will not play host to an outsider. There's no way that they will sacrifice class points when they're at zero. I'm telling you, do not follow me back to the ship. I will be unbelievably angry with you if you leave this test.

"Also, I know you. Do not forcibly injure yourself so that you have a plausible excuse to retire. I mean it, Kiyotaka. I will be furious if you do." Arisu warned me.

Before we could continue talking, Katsuragi approached us. Flanked on either side of him were two boys that I rarely saw and hadn't ever spoken to. Arisu, who was standing next to me, straightened up and stood with pride at their approach. I recognized their names from their OAA profiles though, I was pretty well informed on Class A as they were classmates of Arisu.

Totsuka Yahiko and Koji Machida. I had a bone to pick with Totsuka, Arisu told me that he was the one who bought my test scores and laughed at Arisu. While I engineered the situation, I don't like people laughing at my sister.

"Sakayanagi, Ayanokouji," Katsuragi greeted with a nod of his head. "I thought we agreed that you would be staying on the ship. I'm surprised to see you down here but this was your idea in the first place."

"I was just here t-"

"Arisu will be staying with Class D for the duration of the exam," I cut her off.

"Ayanokouji, you have to understand we're compe-"

"That wasn't a request, it's not up for negotiation. She is coming with us, there's nothing to discuss. I'm not asking, I'm informing you," I interrupted him as well.

"Who do you think you are to talk to Katsuragi like that?" Totsuka said angrily.

"Yahiko," Katsuragi warned. "If Class D are going to be the ones hosting Sakayanagi then it's of no concern to us. Very well, Ayanokouji. However, we will not be sharing any information on our strategy or any confidential information during this time. She will be kept completely in the dark. I'm sure you can understand that?"

I nodded in agreement. To be honest, I didn't care. They could keep whatever secrets they wanted, Arisu was supposed to be on the ship anyway and I wasn't planning on doing much on this exam except for looking after her. After sealing the deal with a handshake, Arisu and I ambled over to collect our watches that we were told that we were supposed to wear for the duration of the test.

The rest of Class D were also there as we arrived, all excitedly talking to each other on what they were going to do with the thirty thousand points they were going to be getting next month. I pitied them, they had no idea that there wasn't a possibility to finish with that amount.

As we arrived, Chabashira-sensei handed all the watches out and Arisu obediently put hers on before Chabashira started to talk again.

"Before I explain anything, first things first. Class D will be starting with a balance of two hundred and seventy points while everyone else starts with three hundred."

There was a furious uproar as people started wondering why, speculation growing in the group as they couldn't figure out the reason.

"You all have your wristwatches, you are not to take them off until the end of the test. If you remove the wristwatch without permission, you will be punished. It not only tells the time, but also monitors your vitals to ensure you're all healthy and able to continue.

"There is also a GPS function. In the event that there is something life threatening or you incur severe injury, the button on the side will notify the school and you will be collected. Do not be heroes, if you are in a serious situation do not hesitate to press the button.

"As to the reason why you're starting with two hundred and seventy points, if you refer to the last page of your manual. The penalties are listed there.

"Anyone deemed unable to continue the test due to significant deterioration in health or serious injury will be penalized by thirty points. That student will then retire." Chabashira paused for a moment to collect herself before continuing.

"That is why you are starting at a deficit. Due to Sudo's suspension, thirty points have been deducted from your total because of his absence."

Almost everyone was now angrily talking amongst each other as they complained about the unfairness. Eiichiro looked dejected at the revelation, most likely not thinking that Sudo's suspension would affect us here. But there was one person who caught my eye more than anyone else at that moment.

Koenji continued to look back and forth between Arisu and I, putting the pieces together. It was like he was formulating a plan of his own, trying to understand why she was here and more than likely trying to make his own decisions on what he was going to do as an individual.

It took a bit of time but Eiichiro read out the list of penalties.

While all of them were fairly obvious, the biggest hurdle for me personally would be the roll call rule. Every day during 8AM and 8PM there would be a roll call, which meant that I would have to walk back and forth between camps eight times a day. One round trip for morning roll call, another after then two more trips for afternoon roll call. This was... annoying. I vaguely thought about just letting this whole thing go for a moment and retiring with Arisu.

But I knew she would be mad beyond belief, this was one time where it wasn't an option at this point. But leaving her wasn't one either.

I...would have to work. I...have...to expend...effort for the next week. A lot of it.

"Ah-chan, are you here to see us off?" Eiichiro asked confusedly.

"Arisu will be staying with us for the exam," I explained before Arisu could say anything.

"Will Class A even go for that? She's going to miss roll calls, they might even treat her badly thinking she's a spy," Kushida said worriedly.

"Screw that, that's another mouth to feed. I'm not giving up any of my allowance for next month because of her or you!" Ike shouted angrily. While many of them agreed with him, most only murmured among themselves in consensus.

"That won't be a problem, I will be taking her between camps to make both roll calls for the both of us. I'll carry her between camps. I've already calculated eight trips a day. I will be back before roll calls then pick her up once my name is called." I explained calmly.

"That doesn't cover everything else involved,'' Yamauchi tried to argue.

"You're mistaken, this isn't up for negotiation. That wasn't a request, I am telling you. Either she stays or we go. You can deal with the thirty point loss for all I care. She won't be a burden, I'll take up the slack." I rebuffed.

"Or I can go stay with her at Class A's camp. But if I do that, I will miss every single roll call for our class. You'll lose sixty five points for that, and to add insult to injury I'll also retire half an hour before the deadline. You'll lose ninety five points just off me alone since we just had the first roll call. Piss me off and it'll happen, don't test me," I said coldly.

"This is bullshit, you can't do that!" Ike exclaimed loudly.

"We barely started and this is happening already, it can't get any worse," Hirata said frustratingly.

"Actually, this is quite a boon." Koenji cut in uncharacteristically. "Sakayanagi-girl possesses more value to this group than any one member of Class D alone."

"I don't see how though," Horikita said in disappointment. "I admire Sakayanagi more than most but this is going to be hard. She can't walk in the forest so she can't collect food. Toilets and everything else is going to be an issue for her, this is going to be incredibly difficult."

"If we were to send Sakayanagi girl off it would mean a net loss of ninety points to the group. We will lose Ayanokouji-boy who currently holds the highest OAA ranking in physical ability. With monkey-boy confined to his quarters, he's far more valuable now than ever before." Koenji explained.

"Furthermore, you seem to be forgetting that Matsuo-boy is her childhood friend also. If you believe that he will stay on this island while his two childhood friends retire you are sorely mistaken."

All eyes turned to Eiichiro questioningly. To his credit he didn't even flinch, the moment I said that Arisu was coming with us he didn't question it. There are many things you can say about Eiichiro. He panics, he misunderstands things and he's also very childish. But Koenji was right, he was loyal to a fault. If the group didn't let Arisu come, I had no doubt he was coming with me.

"That said, if Sakayanagi-girl was to stay, we could leverage our hosting of her for supplies. Class A would be losing a minimum of thirty points for her retirement, it would stand to reason that we could negotiate for them to supply us with fifteen for the trouble." Koenji continued to explain.

I was a little shocked and grateful to Koenji. I didn't speak or spend much time with him but in times when I needed the help he did so without asking for anything in return. When I offered him anything he took it with gratitude. I had my suspicions as to why, but all in all Koenji was a good friend to have.

The others seemed to slowly change their views as they listened to the points Koenji put forward. Slowly everyone started to consider their options, weighing out the costs and benefits before coming to their own consensus. It wasn't unanimous and Yamauchi and Ike continued to grumble about it but they were in the minority now.

"This is bullshit, Matsuo isn't going to drop out. He's leading the class, he won't just leave."

"I will," Eiichiro said simply.

Arisu and Eiichiro seemed to drift apart over the years. Arisu actually looked at him gratefully for the first time in what felt like an eternity. I was sure she was going to protest and insist on retiring alone but the sentiment touched her. Before she could say anything though Koenji finished what he was going to say.

"Finally, if you think I will be toiling about this vermin infested island while those three leave you are sorely mistaken. I boast the second highest physical OAA score in the year and if you believe that I will be laboring with your chores like a bellhop you are deluding yourselves. Should those three retire, I shall be following along right beside them."

A/N: Hope you all enjoyed this. There's a possibility chapters may take a little longer to put out from here on out. I'm looking forward to seeing what you guys think of what I had planned.

Chapter 18

"I'm happy that you will be joining us, Sakayanagi," Chabashira smiled.

"Thank you, Chabashira-sensei," Arisu replied with surprise.

"I hope that you can be a positive influence on... some of the class," Chabashira said with a pointed look at me.

It was already well established now that Arisu wasn't going anywhere. After having told them that she was staying and then being backed by both Koenji and Eiichiro, everyone had come to the consensus that as long as I was willing to care for her, they didn't have any other options. Arisu had stayed silent the entire time and I was wondering if she would actually stay.

It wouldn't be easy for her, what Horikita pointed out was right. Carrying her from camp to camp was going to be difficult, especially if our camp was located furthest away from Class A. It wasn't an issue for me, I've been carrying Arisu since we were kids. My little tsun tsun may have pretended to not like being carried down to the beach, but she loved it. The only thing she hated was the fact that everyone saw it.

Number two, no pun intended, was the toilet issue. When Chabashira-sensei demonstrated the one button pop up tent with the cardboard box I knew that it was going to be a problem. Still, if there was one thing that I was sure about, it was that Class A wouldn't be living in squalor. If needed be, I was more than content with negotiating to stay with them instead. If anything, it was the easier option.

If Arisu and I stayed with Class A, all I would need to do was sort my own food out and come back for roll call by myself. Then I wouldn't have to carry her about the isla... Hang on a minute. Hang on just a damn minute... Shit.

It wasn't an option as much as I begrudgingly wanted to admit. I couldn't leave Eiichiro and he wasn't about to come with us. They really wanted the Class Points and just this once I needed to be as supportive as possible. As Koenji had said at the time, I wasn't about to work like a slave, but I would help. Only as much as necessary, but I would contribute.

There was also the matter of Koenji, who very vocally supported Arisu staying. It was a surprise, especially when he gave them the same ultimatum telling them that if we left he would be coming with us. It was a gesture, but not a grandiose one. I was sure he didn't want to be on this floating rock either, it would be an easy way to pass the blame buck onto me.

"Koenji, you didn't just support Arisu staying to pigeon hole me into not going with Class A for the easier option, did you?" I asked suddenly.

Koenji smirked at me before moving to my side while the others were still arguing among themselves.

"Would a perfect existence such as myself resort to such underhanded methods?" Koenji asked condescendingly.

Yes.

"Notwithstanding, I still hold hope that you will retire. If not for that friend of yours, I have little doubts that we would be enjoying the plentiful facilities of the cruise ship at the present time," Koenji said with a frown. "Dragging this riffraff is going to be a monumental task. One that I usually would be more inclined to steer clear from."

Arisu wasn't paying any attention to what the rest were saying, listening intently to what we were talking about. Arisu was a tactical genius, not only that but she was ruthless and rather sadistic. To her, there was no strategy better than one that made your allies as uncomfortable as your enemies. I would be willing to bet that the thought of leading Class D intrigued her, it would certainly be a boost for her.

If she led Class D, the group of defectives to a win against Class A, who looked down on them as if they were ants, it would boost her reputation against Katsuragi. She didn't care for any of these competitions, Class Points or even finishing as Class A. Her sole focus was me. She'd have no issues in the slightest burying Class A into the ground if it meant she could compete with me.

But even if her relationship with Eiichiro had suffered over the years, she still respected him. She was probably nostalgic at the moment. Hearing Eiichiro's support moved her, I could tell. She would be more than willing to help with strategizing, even willing to take the leadership role of Class D for the exam.

It wouldn't work though, she had very little rapport with the rest of the group. While they would support the idea in the beginning, excited that someone from Class A would be taking the lead it wouldn't last. The moment she told them to do something they didn't want to, they'd ignore her. Knowing Arisu like I do, that would be very early on.

"Before we get moving, is there anyone here who's been camping or anything?" Eiichiro asked suddenly.

Something Chabashira said earlier suddenly occurred to me, only then did I realize I could have my revenge. Koenji may have successfully forced me to stay with Class D after I realized too late that I could have had an easier time with Class A. But he was about to learn that it was a double edged sword.

As he said so himself, he would stay on the island as long as I was here. Provided I didn't intend to retire, he would cooperate. After all, he used the fact that we both have the highest physical OAA scores to convince them. Why would that matter if you intended to do nothing?

"Didn't Chabashira-sensei say that there are many prominent companies who use this as corporate training?" I pondered innocently.

Koenji suddenly fell silent, the gloating tone gone from earlier.

"I'm not sure, but the Koenji Conglomerate Group is a pretty large company from what I remember, isn't it? If we need someone to lead us, I couldn't think of a more perfect being than Koenji."

Koenji said nothing and just stared at me as the rest of the group suddenly turned to him. Eiichiro clued in to what I was doing and started stifling his laughter as best as he could while the others looked a little hesitant. Even Chabashira was doing her best not to look amused.

He was more than capable. In this situation where I wanted to palm off as much responsibility as possible, he was the best option. Eiichiro had no experience here; the best we could hope for would be for him and Hirata to keep everyone in check. But when it came to strategy, the second best option would be Koenji, because the first option wasn't an option at all.

"That's actually a surprisingly good point," Horikita agreed with a frown.

"Would you be willing to help us with this, Koenji?" Eiichiro asked.

Koenji said nothing for a while, just continuing to stare and trying to come to a conclusion. After a while he seemed to come to a decision as he hesitantly started to speak again. If he was about to do what I thought he was about to do then I'd be sending him points the moment we got back to the ship. He more than deserved it.

"I have conditions," Koenji started cautiously.

"I will have full autonomy and that goes without saying. I will make all decisions for the group and no one will be able to work outside those decisions without my permission. If anyone has a problem with this, then they should speak now. The moment that there is anyone usurping my authority, I will retire.

"We will leave you to come to a consensus while Ayanokouji-boy and I scout the island. Stay in the shade until we return." Koenji instructed.

Maybe it was because they were told to do nothing but sit, but they all listened obediently. They all started moving to the shade while I grabbed mine and Arisu's bags to walk them to their spot. Eiichiro and Arisu followed behind at a slower pace while I doubled back and grabbed the tents to put it with them.

It would have been far easier to just let everyone scout the island then return at an agreed time even if Arisu had to stay behind and wait, which could only mean that Koenji wanted to talk in private away from the rest of the group. Putting the bags down I waited for Arisu to get there before helping her take a seat.

"Please, stay here or I'll be back on the ship with you if I get back and find you gone," I told her.

"You're being incredibly forceful," Arisu said angrily. "I didn't even agree to any of this, you spoke for me and didn't even let me have a say."

"You do have a say, it's your choice. Wherever we go, we go together." I said calmly.

"As I've said before, I do not like what you have become since we came to this school," Arisu looked at me coldly.

"Well, we will have plenty of time to discuss it over the next seven days, either on the island or on the ship," I said bluntly.

"In the meantime, would you be willing to read the manual with Eiichiro and go through the rules with him? It'd be really helpful," I asked Arisu while patting her head.

It was playing dirty. One of her biggest weaknesses that I tried not to overuse so she wouldn't catch on to it. Rosy cheeked and embarrassed, she just nodded bashfully before falling silent.

"I don't have my hat," Arisu said sadly.

"I put it in your bag," I let her know with a smile.

Before anything else could be said, I went to Koenji who was taking off his shirt and dropping it next to Eiichiro. I wanted to roll my eyes, what was the point of even doing that? That's just Koenji though.

Koenji set a monstrous pace, one that if we had anyone else with us they would have been long lost. The forest was mostly thick and overgrown and grew even more dense the deeper we went onto the island. Realizing how hot and stifling it was, especially at the pace we were going, I took off my own shirt before tucking it into my pants, letting it hang down my leg.

We were moving faster than a jog but not quite a run, the ground was uneven with branches and random potholes. Any faster and we would be risking significant injury, I couldn't help but marvel at Koenji. The man was a dynamo, it was one thing when we were in the gym. In there I could probably outpace him. But out here in nature where things were functional, I begrudgingly had to admit that Koenji was superior.

It's difficult to admit that someone may be better at something than you. Koenji was taller with a larger stride but that normally wasn't an issue for me. Still, the one thing I noticed during the morning gym sessions was that Koenji worked incredibly hard. This wasn't just God given talent, the man worked out like he was possessed.

"Now that we finally have a moment of solace from the rabble, there is something else that I would like to request of you in exchange for taking command of this examination," Koenji started suddenly. It was a testament to our conditioning that the two of us could even speak normally while keeping up this feverish tempo.

"Sure, if it's something that I can give you. Name it," I answered without hesitation.

"Your most recent endeavor with the application everyone seems to be using, horrendous name if I may add. It has begun to bear fruit, has it not?"

"That's putting it mildly," I said with a laugh.

"I tire of continuing to live in squalor. The meager points we will receive upon completion of these special exams does little to satiate my appetite. I have lived my entire life in abundance and I no longer wish to live on such a small budget like a common pheasant.

"Which is why I wish to barter a deal with you. One where you may provide me with points on a monthly basis and in exchange I would offer you the equivalent in Yen upon our graduation." Koenji offered.

There was no doubt in my mind that he was going to ask for an amount that would be considered ungodly to an average student. BUDDY was doing well and I feel like I've said it a thousand times but it was like board game money at this point. The truth is that I had concerns about spending too much because I didn't want the student populace to know that I was the one who coded it and that I was benefiting from it.

This was for a number of reasons. One I felt as though people would use it more sparingly if they knew that a student was making so many points from them. It was very realistic that the first year leaders could tell their classes not to use it for fear of giving our class an advantage. Many of them wouldn't listen completely, they'd probably use it sparingly only to make money instead of enjoying life as a fellow lazy degenerate like myself.

Currently, first year students are using it mostly to make money. They saw the benefits of earning points and starting early in order to build up a bankroll. There were few exceptions that were so lazy or unmotivated that they weren't working at all, people like Karuizawa and Kushida who valued their social lives over having to do a part time job.

However in Class D alone, there were people who were doing a lot of work almost at every opportunity. Two notable examples were Sotomura and Hondo. In the other classes there were other examples, I knew them by name but not by face. Arisu would make a mandate to stop Class A students from using it if another student other than me had coded it. She still didn't know but if she did I doubt it would be an issue for Class A's usage rate.

The other two, that was a different story. I didn't know about Class C but now that Class B was run by a new leader, they would probably enforce such a rule. Interestingly, Class B was the second highest when it came to usage when looking for work. I would have thought that would be Class C instead, with Ryuuen forcing minions to work and give him the points but it wasn't the case.

The second reason was that I didn't want the attention. It's not like the points had a use by date, they didn't disappear or expire while they were in my account. While I still had my peaceful lazy existence, I would budget myself to appear normal. That said, the moment my secret came out would be the day that I go to spend like one who won the lottery and was looking to get back onto social welfare.

"Do you have a number in mind?"

"Two hundred and fifty thousand a month seems sufficient enough at this stage," Koenji replied quickly. It seemed like he planned to have this conversation for quite some time and was just looking for an opportunity to bring it up.

Normally this would seem ungodly to the average student but to me it was a pittance.

"I don't mind but I have no interest in the money, keep it."

Koenji suddenly stopped in place and when he turned to me he actually looked a little angry. While I'm not afraid of anyone, the anger was a little surprising so I stopped as well looking at him in bewilderment. What did I say to make him angry?

"Allow me to explain something, Ayanokouji-boy, for it will be a valuable lesson for you.

"Do not be naive to think that money is unimportant. While your father has managed to amass a fair amount of wealth and the school pays him generously, he will not live forever. Sakayanagi-girl is important to you and is impaired. There is every possibility that she will need to be cared for and abundance is something that shouldn't be taken lightly.

"Secondly, you have no idea of the situation of that Ichinose-girl. She may have a family that requires financial support in the future. Do not be so willing to throw away an opportunity simply out of lack of foresight.

"Finally, I am Koenji Rokusuke and I do not take handouts. A Koenji pays their dues and squares their debts. It is one thing to accept random acts of generosity but I will not be indebted by accepting points on a regular basis when no compensation is given. I have my honor and pride, I will not allow it."

"Ichinose isn't my girlfriend," I said childishly.

Koenji rolled his eyes and started to make his way in the same direction we were heading again, not even looking at me to see if I was following along.

"It's only a matter of time. You're also someone who doesn't place value in short term relationships. If Ichinose-girl is the one you have chosen, she will be around for quite some time. You should consider her to be a part of your foreseeable future."

"You seem to be paying a lot of attention to me and my habits, should I be worried?" I joked lightheartedly. Koenji gave a booming laugh at the sudden joke but quietened soon after.

"Information is valuable, especially when the subject has potential as a future ally. Though I must say, your choice in women is predictable but rather disappointing."

"Why would you say that?" I asked with a laugh.

"When we return, I shall introduce you to Kiryuin Fuka and you will understand." Koenji said with a smirk.

It wasn't long until we heard the sound of the ocean waves, we were close to the coastline on a different side of the island. We pushed through the trees before coming to the cliff face that looked out over the ocean. Maybe this exam wasn't going to be so bad, I hadn't been camping before or anything so this would be a new experience for me.

"Over there, do you see that?" Koenji asked while squinting his eyes at the reflection of the light against the water.

I looked over to where he was pointing and saw that he pointed out a ladder that ran down the cliff face that looked like it had a small hut at the bottom. We tore off along the cliff side running as fast as we could toward the ladder and were there within a few minutes. Koenji went down first with me following and upon reaching the hut we found a device indicating a spot as well a duffle bag with broken down fishing rods, sinkers and lures.

"This is good, we'll be taking these," Koenji said with a nod.

"What about the spot? We can't take it, we haven't established a leader." I said with a frown while helping him to collect the equipment.

"For what I have planned, it doesn't matter. We should leave as soon as possible and return to the group. This equipment will be useful."

After collecting the fishing gear we climbed up the ladder again. We quickly made our way back into the shade of the trees before inspecting what we had in the bag. We hit the jackpot with this, four rods and everything needed to use them. I hadn't inspected the manual yet but there was no doubt that this would help with saving points. We zipped the bag back up before Koenji put it over his shoulder and we started to make our way back.

We walked in relative silence, there was no need to rush at this point but we kept a brisk pace. After a while we could hear voices on the path that we had passed earlier on and looked to see Katsuragi along with his sidekick Totsuka.

Koenji and I quickly hid as the duo walked past.

"-spot that you saw from the boat." Totsuka was saying excitedly

"The rest of the class won't be far behind but we have to hurry. The spot won't be unoccupied for long. From what I could see it was likely the best option on the island. We'll have to make contact with Class D. I didn't realize that there would be a roll call. Having Sakayanagi with them will cause problems." Katsuragi continued

"Class D are broke, maybe we could pay Ayanokouji to re-" Totsuka trailed off as they moved out of earshot.

Once they were gone Koenji and I moved quickly making sure to keep off the path to remain unseen. When we were a safe distance away, Koenji started to speak.

"Once we return to the group and establish a base, you and I will have to go back out and pretend to scout the island to make contact with Class A. It'll look suspicious if you were to go straight to their base."

"Sure that's fine. This turned out pretty well, we'll save some points with this." I grinned indicating the bag.

"Don't be coy, we were incredibly fortunate that we were able to establish their leader before the exam even started. The fact that we remained hidden was an even greater success, Class A will be none the wiser that they have lost before the examination even began.

"Having said that, before I can continue formulating a plan I must ask. How much of your assistance can I expect from you during our stay here?" Koenji asked as we continued to walk.

"I plan to participate, this is actually kinda fun," I admitted.

"So long as you are not exposed?"

"As long as I am not exposed," I parroted in agreement.

"That's far more than I expected if I may be so candid. I fully intended for you to simply care for Sakayanagi-girl while leaving us to fend for ourselves as a group," Koenji said gratefully.

"Within reason though," I added as an afterthought.

"How ambiguous," Koenji scoffed in exasperation.

When we came back to the group we were surprised to see that while most of them were there, a few of the boys had gone missing. Eiichiro was sitting with Arisu with the two of them talking while the other girls seemed to be in their own groups chatting amongst themselves, some of them relatively angrily.

The moment Arisu saw me her eyes lit up with happiness as Koenji and I approached them. Eiichiro quickly moved to Koenji and the two of them started to talk between them while Arisu got to her feet.

"You're back," Arisu said with relief.

"Of course I am, you thought I'd disappear or something?" I asked in amusement.

"No, that's not it. How do you coexist with some of these idiots?" Arisu scoffed. "The two called Ike and Yamauchi are beyond ignorant. I have half a mind to get them expelled just for being so stupid. How they were even granted admission, I could never understand."

I realized that the fun I had scouting and exploring what we could of the island was probably something that was going to be in short supply. If those two continued to cause problems, it was very likely that Koenji was going to just head back to the boat. I... would have to do something about this. More work, disgusting.

"Did they say anything to you?"

"...not to me," Arisu said hesitantly.

"What did they do?" I sighed.

"Eiichiro successfully convinced the group to allow Koenji to take the lead, but those two were against it. Ike has been on a couple of camping trips with his family, Yamauchi thinks that he should take the lead over Koenji.

"One of the girls said they needed to use the toilet. She was completely embarrassed, apparently it's worse than it looks, which is actually a feat in and of itself. The girls argued about the need to buy the temporary toilet, it's twenty points in the manual.

"Those two in particular weren't happy about the expense. They're committed to attempting to go through the exam without spending any points. It's not possible, they're going to be a problem moving forward." Arisu finished.

"Got any ideas?" I asked. I had a few of my own but it would be worth hearing her thoughts, we hadn't worked together on anything like this before.

"A couple, since they're committed to going through the exam without spending any points, it wouldn't be difficult to poison Yamauchi and make him retire. It'll be thirty points from Class D but it's a small sacrifice for reducing an obstacle." Arisu had a smile on her face that was far too happy for something so sadistic.

"Any options that don't involve potentially killing someone?" I chuckled in amusement.

"I'm confident you can injure him without getting caught," Arisu said with a firm nod.

"You're ruthless," I couldn't help myself as I broke out into full blown laughter. The loud laughter caught the attention of the girls sitting around in the shade and I was suddenly keenly aware that both Koenji and I were shirtless and covered in sweat.

"Nothing life threatening," Arisu brushed off. "Just for you to break his arm or leg or something."

Chapter 19

I hate my life. At this very moment I absolutely hate my life. I hate Koenji, I hate my sister, I hate my best friend, my classmates and everything about this stupid island.

"Are you sure we can't get a camera for the trip?" Karuizawa asked Eiichiro.

"No, but I wish we could," Eiichiro said dumbfounded as he watched in awe.

I was putting up a tent. The third tent to be more specific, since I already put together the first two. Apparently this was enough to cause most to stare at what I was doing as though I was walking on water. We had reached the place that was going to be our base camp for the next week, a river that was found by Ike which had supposedly been the perfect spot.

At first another group had found a different base, only for it to be taken by Class B. According to them it had a well and relatively flat ground but Koenji seemed to approve of our spot more. With the river, we'd have a shaded area to fish and thanks to the fishing rods that Koenji and I found at the hut, we were able to fish while saving eight points.

Surprisingly as good as the fishing gear was, it was the canvas duffel bag it came in that was far more handy. It was a heavy duty canvas that looked waterproof. The girls were taking it with them and carrying it between them to collect food that they foraged for. For the first night, we agreed to spend ten points on the meal sets in order to have a night of reprieve after a day of change and hard work. At the moment they were just keeping themselves busy, building up a stockpile to have something to do while we set up.

I was busy setting up the tents by myself. All because I'm apparently surrounded by boys with the upper body strength of a dutch woman.

Our current shopping list with our points per Koenji was as follows:

Two Extra Tents for 20 Points

One Hammock at 3 Points

One Toilet for 20 Points

One Meal Set for the first night for 10 Points

Sets of Pillows, Fans and a Mat for each of the tents totalling 24 Points

One Water Purifier for 10 Points

Totaling 87 Points

His plan was incredibly corporate. The entire strategy revolved around mitigating risk. Keeping morale high with basic comforts and especially mitigating the risk of sickness, physical and mental. He even had a plan that he came up with to mitigate the risk of our leader being found out.

In private, I met with Kushida and asked her to keep the two morons in check. She really made a big show of the fact that she was supposedly doing me such a huge favor but agreed to do it nonetheless. She also really seemed to cling close to Arisu who didn't really like her all that much but managed to keep it from showing.

All in all Koenji's strategy was a relatively decent plan.

I also knew Arisu would absolutely hate it. Arisu hated safe plans, she wanted blood.

"The strategy we will have in place is to keep our exposure low. Mitigating risk through lowering all factors of interference. We will be spending points to allow for a baseline of comfort while operating on a budget. Our target is to stay above one hundred and fifty points at the end of the trip, however there is also the possibility of going over-budget should we require it." Koenji had explained.

"We're spending too many points," Ike whined. "We should be saving the points now, we only have to endure for a week anyway."

"Very well then, if you wish to defecate in a cardboard box then be my guest. If you are able to last the week without using the toilet once then do so. Should you be able to manage, the class will all sacrifice a portion of their allowance to pay you the two thousand points that you will be missing out on.

"However, the one button tent is going to be used to store supplies. You'll use that filthy box in the open. Use the toilet once and you shall pay each of us two thousand points from your own pitiful allotment." Koenji said coldly.

Ike seemed like he was going to rise to the challenge but was quickly dealt with by Kushida. At the end of the day, she was still a girl. She wanted the toilet as well, the thought of using that box was disgusting to anyone. None of us wanted to live like cavemen and I sure as hell wasn't going to let Arisu use it, even if I had to carry her on my back to the cave everytime she needed to go.

"You all seem to be operating under the assumption that the aim is to not spend any points. This is shortsighted, it is a pheasants mentality. To make money you must spend it and it would be unnecessary to risk the health of the group, physical or mental, to save a few meager points." Koenji explained.

Eiichiro was paying rapt attention to everything. He was serious about all of this and from what he told me, he was spending every bit of spare time that he could to research on leadership and the like. To him this was a hands-on lesson from someone who could teach him things that he normally wouldn't be able to learn on his own.

"Now, there is one thing that is to be addressed. If you will notice, the tents will be placed surrounding the panel. I will be the one holding the card and no one will know the identity aside from myself, sensei and the leader. There are only two things you will all be informed of, the leader is a boy and it is not Ayanokouji-boy. One by one, the boys will enter the tent and leave. Only the leader and myself will be allowed to see the panel and use the card."

"All of this is to mitigate risk. The less potential leaks, the better for all. It is for that reason that Chabashira-sensei has been instructed that only I may make purchases for the group using points. Under normal circumstances, anyone can make purchases unless specifically instructed and agreed by the group." Koenji finished before leaving the camp.

"Why the hell is Ayanokouji exempt from having to be the leader?" Ike spat.

He didn't like Koenji's plan at all even though to be blunt it was the best option we had right now. There were holes but it was a plan that lowered the risks as much as possible. He didn't mention the fact that we already found Class A's leader but I couldn't tell whether it was because he thought the group was defective as a whole or if it was because he didn't want to risk a leak from Arisu.

I didn't even need to ask him if he knew whether it was Totsuka Yahiko, I just knew that he'd known. Koenji was incredibly observant, to the point that it was almost frightening. At this stage, he was the only one who knew that BUDDY was mine aside from Eiichiro in our year. The only reason Eiichiro knew was because I told him.

Sure, Koenji may have just known because he was so keenly aware of me but I didn't think that was the case. He seemed to be incredibly perceptive. The way that he had seen through Kushida and Horikita was one of the biggest big dick moves I have seen in my life, just casually dropping the observation like he was talking about the weather.

But he was also someone who seemed to keep to his word and also didn't like taking advantage of people he considered friends or allies. Which is why despite the fact that I hate him at the moment, I was putting up tents. I was told that if I did that much and with what happened earlier, the only obligations he expected of me was to help with the initial setup

At the moment he was pretending to scout the island so that he could meet with Katsuragi to negotiate the terms of Arisu staying with us. He had some things that he wanted them to purchase which included a one person tent that Arisu and I would be sharing. The one person tent was supposed to be set up in front of the panel and he wanted to use it during the times that we would need to reclaim the spot.

"Onii-chan," Arisu called from her seat on a rock. "The tent is too far to the left, you'll have to take it down and move it."

"The tent is exactly where Koenji said he wanted it." I gritted my teeth in annoyance.

"No, no. I'm fairly certain it needs to be moved slightly to the left." Arisu smirked.

"You just said it's too far to the left!"

"Did I? I meant it's too far to the right, please move it slightly to the left,"

They could enjoy this for now. All of them are acting all smug at having me do this right now, but soon they wouldn't be laughing. Let's see how much they're laughing when they're scurrying about collecting food and firewood when all I do is fish and sleep. We'll see how much my little sister is gloating when everyone sees her getting carried around the island for everyone to see.

It was closing in on the first night where we'd need to leave for roll call soon if I was going to take Arisu there and make it back on time.

"She's right, Ayanokouji-kun," Kushida chimed in. "A little to the right please."

"She just said to the left!"

"Did she?" Kushida giggled.

They had their fun, but soon I would have mine. Because the moment Koenji returned, Arisu was going to find out exactly why our reluctant leader only purchased a single hammock. The primary use wasn't for sleeping or lazing.

"Ayanokouji-boy, I must speak with you and your sister," Koenji said as he came back through the trees.

He dropped the canvas bag he brought with him in the center of the camp and opened it to reveal that it was filled to the brim with corn. The class congregated around it all gushing at the find Koenji managed to bring back with him. The two of us moved to where Arisu was still sitting at the riverside before Koenji let us know what happened at the Class A camp.

"Bald-boy was more willing than I anticipated," Koenji informed us. "He has purchased the Water Shower and the one person tent for us. You and Ayanokouji-boy will be staying in it, however I've asked you to leave the space in front of the panel for a reason. I will be setting that tent up there, we will need access once every eight hours to reset the base.

"However, he has asked if you could bring Sakayanagi-girl to the treeline. They have spoken to Mashima-sensei who has agreed to do the roll call there to make things easier. They offered to pay the two of you in private points to retire but I informed them that is not an option. Take a break before you both embark."

This was music to my ears. I was absolutely dripping with sweat, I'd give anything for a shower. With everything nearly being done, everyone set about with their tasks of getting things ready with our fire and finishing putting the last tent up.

I found it utterly ridiculous that I was stuck putting together three tents with no one helping me and yet they all banded together to do one but I let it go. I suppose this was their moment to gloat after all the unwillingness I've shown over the past months.

Still the shower wouldn't be here until our meals came with our final roll call and neither would the one man tent, so instead I was forced to rinse off in the cold water of the river. At seeing the feminine crowd trying to look like they were doing things just for a peek I wondered how they would react if the boys did the same.

It was only a little while longer before Koenji suddenly came over with the hammock, telling Arisu to stand. I had my suspicions when he got it but it was far funnier to see it in action.

"What on earth are you doing?" Arisu asked as he wrapped it around her middle before looping it under each of her legs. He continued to wrap it in the same fashion until all that was left were the two rope ends that were supposed to go around the trees.

He tied both ends of the ropes into loops before calling me over. When he gave me the ropes I laughed before lifting Arisu straight off her feet and then putting her against my back like a backpack.

"Kiyotaka! You put me down immediately! I am not a schoolbag! I will not be carried around like this!" Arisu shrieked.

It was lucky that she didn't think to pull me by my hair as she resorted to hitting me with her elbows instead. Eventually, knowing that I could take it and that this was how it was going to be she gave up and slumped forward, completely resigned to her fate.

"Why do you continually humiliate me like this?" Arisu huffed, slumping further forward.

"Think of it as payback," I laughed.

"Is it uncomfortable?" Even though I thought it was funny I didn't want to hurt her.

"Surprisingly no," I heard Arisu say. "It's actually probably more comfortable than being carried normally. It doesn't make it any less embarrassing though..."

We left the camp, letting everyone know we were leaving as I started to walk and enjoy our moment of peace and quiet. We'd been surrounded by people almost the whole day, I was glad to have this moment alone with Arisu.

"Arisu, I'm really happy you're here with me." I told her as I continued to walk.

We walked in silence for quite a while, I was enjoying the scenery for once. In my time at the school things were beginning to get boring for me in many ways.

I was always firmly against competing and really wanted to just spend my high school life relaxing. This special exam wasn't so bad, I know I said earlier that I hated putting up those tents but it was more of the annoyance of doing it by myself than anything else. Besides, how would it look if I spent all this time doing nothing only to admit I was wrong and actually enjoyed participating?

Camping was something I'd never done before, it was fun. That's all I really want, fun. Normalcy. If people like Koenji and Eiichiro were willing to take up the burden of responsibility I didn't mind.

I also loved what I was doing right now. Spending time with Arisu was something that didn't happen often since we came here. The next week would be difficult but it would be worth it.

I've never told her this, but this is why I continued to train everyday. To be able to do things like this. If I hadn't, this wouldn't be possible. Arisu would be stuck on the ship, I would be with her and she would be angry. At the very least, this was a sacrifice on both of our parts but it was one that was worth it so we could be together.

My Arisu is a good person with a kind heart. She may be ruthless when it comes to competition but in moments when it's just her and I, she's just a normal girl and I love these precious moments.

My deepest wish was that she didn't have to struggle. I've never asked her if she hated her disability and she never complained. Arisu was always prideful, I doubt she'd ever give me an honest answer if I asked if she hated her circumstances.

If given an ultimatum of whether or not I could trade my life experiences for Arisu's circumstances I don't know what I'd choose. Would I choose disability or torture?

I do know though that if I was told I could relive my life, I wouldn't change anything. I would suffer in that hell a million times if it meant that I could be Arisu Sakayanagi's big brother. That's how much the girl that was currently perched on my back meant to me.

"I'm really glad you're here with me, Arisu." I said again.

"I know that this is harder for you than it is for me. I know that once again I'm being selfish, you shouldn't have to suffer like this. But I also know you could have gone back to the ship at any time. You're here for me and I appreciate you staying."

"I'd suffer worse," She finally said. "We don't get to spend as much time together anymore. I miss you. We used to always be together, it hasn't been easy for me either."

There was something I was wrestling with for quite some time. It was something that occured to me back when I started planning BUDDY. I always wondered if the dorms were the only accommodation for students.

Teachers had their own lodgings, could students pay for better places to stay? The school was huge, there had to be an option to pay points for a better place right? But I never brought it up because I wondered whether Arisu was enjoying her newfound freedom from me.

Just like Arisu, I had my own demons. It couldn't have been easy to deal with such a mess like I was. I have my scars, even if I seem normal I do have things wrong with me that will never be healed because of that place. Maybe she was happy with her newfound freedom from me.

"Arisu, when we get back... If Manabu says that it's possible... Would you like to live together on campus?

"I could look after you... I know you probably have some of the Class A students helping but... I'm homesick. I've missed spending time with you." I said hesitantly.

Arisu stayed quiet again for a bit. It was good that we weren't facing each other, at least then she wouldn't be burdened to just say yes because I asked. She rarely ever could say no to me when we were looking at each other.

Arisu always had difficulty saying no to me, even if it wasn't what she wanted. It was why I felt guilty when I didn't give her what she wanted. I've always said I'm selfish and I am. It doesn't mean I didn't feel bad about it.

"I found that out the first week... I thought you wanted to be rid of me..." Arisu admitted quietly.

"Is it possible?"

"It is, it's not cheap. But it's possible."

"I'd like to... if you'd have me."

"It's what I've always wanted since we came to the school..."

We continued to walk and we weren't too far away anymore. It was roughly a twenty minute walk each way but I didn't mind. On the way back, I'd tie Arisu back on the other way instead of back to back if she was happy to go along with it. I carried her on my back when we were kids, it shouldn't be a problem. I'm fairly certain the only reason she was huffing earlier in the camp was just because people were watching. I know Arisu loves when I carry her.

"Kiyotaka, are you tired of me? Are you sick of having to watch over and care for me? Am I a burden..."

"If you weren't on my back I'd flick you," I said in exasperation. "I don't know how many times I have to tell you. I'll never get sick of you, you'll always be my best girl."

It wasn't much longer before we got to said treeline and we saw Class A waiting for our arrival. It was still about half an hour before the roll call but I had a feeling that it was a one off so they could gauge what time I got there etc. I didn't say much, just took Arisu off my back before handing her her cane and leaving as quickly as I could to get back to camp.

Katsuragi must have spoken to them before coming out because no one said anything about it or made fun of Arisu. I was more than ready to put Totsuka Yahiko's face straight through a tree if he uttered even a giggle. There wasn't even a reaction, Hashimoto and Kamura met with me and took Arisu to help her to the group.

The moment I had told Arisu when I'd be back to get her I beelined straight for our camp. I got there faster on the way back, the extra weight and having to be careful of Arisu slowed my pace a bit one way. It was worth noting, it would make planning for the next six days easier.

It was good to see that our tent was completed and all seemed to be functioning reasonably well with the class. Hirata, Eiichiro and Kushida seemed to be doing a good enough job with mediating the group and Koenji was eating by himself. As long as things continued to stay like this, the next six days would be relatively uneventful.

Once the roll call was over and I had something to eat, I started to make my way back to Class A's camp as quickly as I could with both torches in my hands. It was already getting progressively darker and I needed to keep a fairly decent pace to get back at a decent hour. I was only a third of the way there when I was interrupted by a voice.

"Ayanokouji-kun!" I heard only to be wrapped up in a hug.

Ichinose Honami. I haven't had the chance to see or spend time with her in days but it felt like weeks. It was the first time she hugged me, it was nice. Hugging her back for a bit I realized how tiny her waist was. With her arms around my neck, she pressed herself as close to me as she could. I didn't have the heart to tell her she smelled a bit, I'm sure I wasn't any better.

"How did you know where I'd be?" I asked in confusion. I could tell her face was heating up as she buried her face into my chest trying to hide. There was no point even doing this, it was getting dark. I wouldn't even be able to see if she was blushing unless I shone my flashlight right in her face.

"Koenji-kun told me that you'd be walking this way to pick up Sakayanagi-san. I broke away from the rest to see you." Ichinose admitted shyly.

"Miss me already?" I teased.

"Who knows," She said with a shrug trying to tease me back.

I don't know why people hate it when I do that because when Ichinose did it for the first time just now, it was hot. Does that make me a narcissist?

"Now you're acting like me? Must be love," I said with a laugh. Ichinose froze, hesitating for a bit before seemingly coming to a conclusion.

Ichinose opened her mouth to say something when we were suddenly interrupted by the arrival of Kanzaki shining his torch in our faces. If there were anyone here watching this, they'd want to punch him in the face like I did. I was pretty sure Ichinose was about to say what I thought she was going to say but she fell silent at the interruption, glaring at Kanzaki.

From what I heard the new leader of Class B was for lack of a way of putting it, a bit of a bitch. She wasn't a fan of the way things were run under Ichinose and while Ichinose was helping us with our case with Sudo, working on student council duties and trying to catch up on rest whenever she could, the new leader was whispering in their ears.

Ichinose had told me that they argued collectively that she was stretched too thin with her duties and didn't want to burden her. While the group seemed to have good intentions of looking out for her, Kanzaki had put the knife in her back by supporting the new leader's claims. Once Ichinose was out of her spot, things started to change. With Ichinose not in power it seemed like none of the class had the backbone to stand up to the new head.

It was a shame, I was so proud of them before. In the end though, it seemed like they were a group that was just a budget, underwhelming version of Class A. At least before they had someone who cared for them and shielded them from the harshness of the school, now they just had a less competent Ryuen, one that seemed to want to make a name for themselves.

"Ichinose, you shouldn't be away from the base camp. Class D is an enemy in this exam, you are a potential leak." Kanzaki instructed her.

"Enemy? Why would we be enemies?" I asked in confusion.

"Ichinose is my beloved secretary, I would never consider her an enemy. As for Class B, we'd only be enemies if you were even a threat in this exam. A parasite and a second rate opportunist aren't fit to be called competition."

Kanzaki didn't like being called a parasite at all. He looked like he wanted to fight, stepping determinedly at me ready to get in my face while Ichinose moved in front of me protectively. He must have looked at it as though she was protecting me, the truth was she was protecting him from me.

"Kanzaki," Ichinose started. "I may no longer be the leader of Class B, that's fine, everyone made their decision. I'm not fighting any of you on this. I'm still committed to the Class, I will not leak anything and Ayanokouji-kun isn't a threat. He has integrity, he won't force me to reveal anything."

"Just because you say you won't, doesn't mean that the class will trust your word alone. Himeno sent me to bring you back, let's go." Kanzaki said forcefully. He turned and started walking back in the direction of the camp.

Ichinose looked defeated and seemed like she was going to walk to follow him but kept stopping and starting. She looked like she was having an internal battle on what to do, what she wanted or what she was instructed. Kanzaki noticed she wasn't following and finally it seemed like she mustered up the courage.

"I won't," Ichinose said firmly. "Himeno-chan may be the leader of Class B now but I'm not her slave. I'll be going with Ayanokouji-kun to pick up Sakayanagi-san. I will be back when I decide to come back."

I was proud of Ichinose when she told me that Class B passed the exam with the strategy I suggested. I was prouder when she stood up to me, showing that she had some backbone even in the face of someone who could take away her position. Even still, I've never been prouder of Ichinose Honami than when I watched her stand up for herself for the first time.

The reason I was trying to make her confess was so that she could do something in her own self-interest for once. As fun as the game was with us, I liked her just as much as she liked me. Well, I felt very strongly for her, I was pretty sure that she was already in love with me. I'm a person who doesn't throw that word around easily but I was quickly building to that.

I still wanted the dance to be over, I wanted us to be a regular couple. Do things that every other couple that is in a relationship would do. But if I wanted to see the growth in Ichi- Honami I would have to be patient and so I was.

But I'm still a hormonal teenage boy, and Honami was never more beautiful than she was right now. Feeling bold, I hugged her from behind and pulled her close. Kissing her on the cheek, I looked straight at Kanzaki with the biggest shit eating grin that has ever graced my face.

"You heard what Honami said, Kanzaki. Now fuck off."

A/N: I lost the document that had my chapters planned, I must have deleted it by accident... I'll have to do all of this by memory which sucks. I did a lot of research for it to figure out points etc. But that's life, if the story is going to continue I just have to deal with it.

Since I lost the doc I struggled with this chapter and was going back to the LN to find things. I may have ruined the structure or timing or locations because of it so if you find anything wrong please let me know.

I hope you guys enjoy this, it wasn't easy to write :'( Have a great day.

SS Now I sit broken hearted

I noticed him the very first day, I knew right away from the reactions that there were very few who knew who exactly entered the room late on our very first day. I come from a comfortable family, my parents were very well informed and kept up with current events. I heard about it at the time.

My parents were revolted that a child could be kept in a place like that. I didn't know what they were talking about at the time, they were pretty careful about keeping the details from me. It wasn't until I saw him and got curious that I researched the details. It sickened me to my stomach, how can anyone treat another human being that way...

I was like a miner who found the largest and most precious gem in the world that none of the others around me noticed. To them it would look like a random large rock, it was good fortune that at the time I realized the true prize when I saw him.

I'm a girl who's relatively intelligent, my parents would always fawn over my accomplishments. I thought that if I showed my value, that others would want to befriend me. Would want to be close to me. I didn't realize at the time that it intimidated people and so others my age began to distance themselves from me and not long after I was ostracized.

So now when coming to ANHS I made the decision to blend in. I wanted to comfortably try and make sure that I was in a good relationship with everyone around me, I didn't want to stand out too much and I planned to scout out the boys there to see if there was any potential. I'm not naive, I know how the world works.

While others are doing their best to get to Class A for the benefits, I know that it is a sidebar for me. I have opportunities outside of this, to get there would be great, but it's not a primary objective for me. I was looking for a future, not a career. Rather than leave the decision to my parents to find me a match, I was hopeful that I could find a boy I fell in love with. Someone who had the characteristics, drive and desires to live a similar life to me.

I wasn't looking for someone who was looking for a free ride. I don't want my family being taken advantage of, I didn't want someone who simply wanted to live off my inheritance, I wanted to find someone who wanted to build something of their own.

That's why the moment that I laid eyes on Ayanokouji Kiyotaka, I knew I found the one. While every other girl in our class was torn between different guys on who they would give their affections to, there was only one for me from the start.

So I waited, I patiently observed and waited for my chance. Then when Matsuo-kun asked questions about the S-System and floundered at the end, I cut in. He noticed.

At the time my heart was beating like I was dying. He noticed. I wasn't just another girl in the class, he recognized me. An opportunity to ingratiate myself with him came along and I took it. Walking with him to the pool I made myself known, told him that I knew, assured him that I'd kept his secret and made friends with him. I even tried to make him see the similarities between us but he either didn't notice or didn't acknowledge it.

I made my intentions clear and then I waited. I gave him my number so that he could contact me, so that we could get closer. Then I waited some more. Deciding that I'd give him a push I tried to make my intentions clearer, pulling his arm around me and reminding him that I was a girl. I was trying to be subtle, but I was also trying to scream at him. Wanting him to look at me...

But he didn't. Maybe he saw through me, perhaps he didn't think I was genuine. I wrestled with the possibility that I inadvertently put myself in the friendzone, I thought that maybe if I just let it be he would come to me but he didn't. So I continued to wait.

Then the results came out and he scored a zero. To me, this wasn't trying to be inconspicuous, this was a message. I know that I'm probably being self-centered, I probably wasn't even a thought in his mind when he did this, but I felt like it was a message to me. That he didn't have the ambitions and aspirations that I had hoped for. That he really was what Chabashira-sensei had called him; wasted potential.

I didn't want to believe it. When we discussed things as a group I could only breathe my thoughts out loud before I could even stop myself.

"...to not even answer a single question..."

I built things up in my head. It's easy to judge me and say that I'm some sort of a horrible person but I'm just a girl. I'm a young one too, I've had everything handed to me by my parents. I had this image of someone like my dad. Someone who's smart, strong, ambitious... I thought I found someone just like him, a person I could love and admire.

Just like that, I realized Ayanokouji Kiyotaka may not be what I thought he was.

So I just continued to watch and wait. I was too prideful to talk to him on my own, he was a boy. I expected him to be a man and approach me, I did everything that was required of me. I showed my interest, I gave him the necessary tools to pursue me and that was what I was supposed to do. I just had to wait.

I realized far too late that I had made a horrible mistake. I scoffed at Kushida who was so cheaply trying to seduce him, he wouldn't fall for that. But then I saw him befriend Horikita Suzune, a person who had nothing but disdain for him. I was so baffled and confused at the time that I spent so many agonizing hours trying to figure out just what I missed. What was the flaw in my approach?

Too late I realized what it was. I thought it was intelligence that he valued. I assumed that it was loyalty or discretion. I realized far too late what was really important to Ayanokouji Kiyotaka, it was authenticity.

I was so stupid, I was incredibly arrogant. Thinking that my social standing and intelligence was the most important thing that I had and it was far too late to realize. I only needed to look carefully at the similarities between Sakayanagi, Matsuo and Horikita. When you look at the three of them, they couldn't be any different. Sakayanagi is brilliant, Matsuo is aloof and Horikita is headstrong. If you look at the surface, you wouldn't see any similarities.

But if you look beneath the surface, just as I compared Ayanokouji to a gem, you would see that they had the same underlying characteristics; when it came to Ayanokouji, they were authentic. They didn't lie, they didn't deceive. He didn't need to guess or analyze their intentions, they were honest.

It was far too late to see, because before my very eyes I saw Ayanokouji Kiyotaka fall in love with Ichinose Honami. How was I supposed to compete with her? She was everything that Ayanokouji wanted and it wasn't an act. There was no ulterior motive behind what she was doing and she loved him back now. It was as genuine as it could be as well, because she knew nothing of his past.

She loves him for who he is and not for what he has. She loves him for the lazy, aloof and sarcastic man that he shamelessly acts to everyone. He is authentic, he shows himself exactly as he is with no shame. To him, if people shun him for it, he's grateful. He doesn't want people who use him around him.

I wasn't trying to be that and I'm not that person. I was just trying to get him to notice me and thought this is what I had to do to achieve it. I fully intended that once we were courting, that I'd show him who I really was. I had no ill intentions, I just wanted the one who I grew to care for to notice me.

I can't wait patiently hoping that Ichinose Honami will screw up because I know she won't. I know that whatever mistakes she makes, as long as she is sincere, Ayanokouji will forgive her. Because that's what he values.

I haven't even been able to look at him or speak to him because every time I do my heart twists in anguish. I had every chance, I could have just been honest with him. I could have just supported him and been real. I could have not been prideful, I could have done what Ichinose Honami did, had lunch with him daily. Listen to him, tell him when I thought he was wrong. I could have made him notice me, but instead I waited.

I waited on the sidelines while Ayanokouji Kiyotaka went right by and I could have called out to him to see me, instead I just sat on my hands and all I have left is my pride intact but I am shattered.

So, now I sit broken hearted. Ayanokouji Kiyotaka will never be closer than he is right now, but he couldn't be any farther away...

A/N: Forgot to mention here that I purposely didn't correct grammar errors etc. This is supposed to be like a diary entry, wanted to highlight Matushita's mental state. I was just trying it on. I try to write each SS with the characters characteristics and for Chiaki's I just wanted to try this out.

Chapter 20

"Did I really just do that...?" Honami breathed.

"You did," I smiled proudly.

I was still holding her the same way, my face millimeters from her cheek. She turned to me and suddenly the situation hit her. She quickly separated from me and looked anywhere but me. After a moment, I handed her the second flash light and we both started moving toward where Class A would be waiting for us with Arisu.

The encounter took longer than expected and I hoped that Arisu wouldn't be mad at me for being late. Still it was worth it for what I witnessed. Honami took the flashlight looking deep in thought.

"...you kissed me." Honami finally said as we continued to make our way to the cave.

"Sure did," I agreed with a nod. What else was I going to say?

Honami stayed quiet for a while deep in thought. I wasn't sure what she was thinking about and was curious but let her think. Whatever she wanted to say, she should decide on it without any interruption from me.

"You know, that's the first time a boy's kissed me." Honami admitted.

"Ahh, how was it?"

Honami didn't say anything, I couldn't see her face with our torches pointing forward and I didn't want to be rude and shine mine in her face so I just waited for a reply. I could imagine it probably resembled some variety of tomato.

"You should know, I'm not the kind of girl to kiss or be kissed by someone who isn't my boyfriend." Honami finally said ignoring my question.

"Oh, right... Sorry about that, I should have asked permission or something. I was caught up with trying to taunt Kanzaki," I explained.

"So you didn't want to kiss me? You just did it to annoy someone?" Honami asked coldly.

"You should know me well enough by now to know I only do things that I want to do. It was your cheek, you realize that right? It's not like I kissed you on the lips."

I was starting to get whiplash. Was I supposed to kiss her or not? Women. Honestly.

"If you're ever expecting to kiss me again, don't you think you have something to tell me?" Honami asked expectantly.

Oh Honami. To think that she thought that it would be this easy. It was pretty naive but I could tell that this was all new for her. Still, I was a little concerned at the moment. There wasn't really a way to keep going like this without making her think that I wasn't interested in her. It was a worry of mine.

It was never as blatant as this, she never asked directly like this before. But I'd never let anything escalate to that extent before either. So it was easy to play the oblivious game but now I've opened Pandora's Box. Honami was probably going to be more aggressive in trying to make me confess.

How was I supposed to know this would happen? It's not like I planned this...

Still, there's only so long that you can drag things out before people start to lose hope. There's only so many times you can dance around before eventually things start to get stale. I committed myself, Honami would be confessing to me before this exam was over.

Just as we got to the edge of the treeline, I could see Arisu waiting with Hashimoto. With the flashlight on her, I could see Arisu was not impressed with how late I was. Seeing Honami changed that angry look to confusion quickly.

"Ichinose-san? Is everything alright?" Arisu asked worriedly.

"Everything's fine, don't worry. I just ran into Honami on the way here," I said as I grabbed the hammock from Hashimoto.

He gave us a slight wave before making his way to the cave. Arisu looked even more confused than before and didn't even make a fuss as I started to wrap the hammock around her in the same way Koenji did earlier.

"Honami? Did I miss something?"

"No, K-Kiyotaka was just saying how he makes a habit of kissing girls on the cheek without permission," Honami stammered out trying to take the spotlight off her.

It was getting darker and we needed to start moving. At least I wouldn't make this mistake again, I had to make sure that I was quick about moving between camps from now on. Even though we were lucky that it was a full moon and there was some light, this was cutting it close.

I didn't want to just send Honami back to the camp after she told Kanzaki she would go back when she pleases. She could stay with us as long as she wanted, if that meant til morning then we'd find space for her. I doubted that Koenji would have a problem with it.

With Arisu secure, I grabbed Honami's hand so that I could lead us through the path back to the camp. I realized I made a mistake, I was concentrating on what I was doing and forgot the conversation that was going on prior while I was busy securing Arisu.

Arisu never missed an opportunity to put the knife into my back and seemed to notice what was happening. If she wasn't on my back I would be able to see it, instead I could just feel the smugness rolling off her in waves.

"Is that right, Kiyotaka? How interesting. Kissing Ichinose-san, holding her hand and calling her Honami all in one night. Should I ask you to take me back to the ship so the two of you can share our tent instead?"

At the teasing, Honami's hand gripped mine a little tighter and I knew she went rigid. I wasn't sure if it was just because of the teasing, maybe a mental image of the two of us in a tent. Regardless, I knew that if I didn't give a reaction then Arisu would stop. I forgot that Honami wasn't aware of this.

"S-share a tent?"

"It was on the cheek, you're reading far too many romance novels." I cut in quickly

"Well, it is romantic is it not? The three of us, on a deserted island walking back to camp in the full moon. We're like one big happy family,"

"And you're the child being carried arou-'' I felt a hand start pulling my hair and another tugging my ear. Should have put her back to back again.

"Sakayanagi-san, are you okay? It looks uncomfortable being tied up like that," Honami asked worriedly.

"Yes, I'm fine. It's far more comfortable than it looks," Arisu assured her. "At first I was embarrassed but I've grown fond of it. It's like Kiyotaka is my horse or donkey or the like."

Apparently Arisu was done with the teasing now, Honami filled her in on what had happened on the way to go pick her up. She apologized for delaying me and making her wait but Arisu seemed to be in thought. She noticed exactly what I had and I was grateful that she ended up staying silent.

I thought very highly of Honami, she was competent and capable but a little naive. It's sad but kind hearted people are easily taken advantage of, especially one as innocent as Honami. I would know, I've selfishly used her since I've met her. Not out of malice or ill-will but it would be a lie to say that I haven't.

I don't think there is anyone in the school that I could have chosen that would have gone through what I've put Honami through. It wasn't easy to work in the Student Council, it was even more difficult to do two people's roles. Even if it was a low representative level there was a fair amount involved. There was more with secretary and vice president duties, it was no small feat.

Even if she has feelings for me now, she didn't when she started. It goes to show how little people do for Honami and how much people have taken advantage of her kindness. My tiny efforts were like miracles for her, making someone coffee or buying them a chair was the barest of gestures.

Which is why at the moment I wanted to bury Class B. She gave them a foolproof strategy, worked herself to the bone for people and also took their struggles on herself. In gratitude, they stripped her of her leadership. It was for that reason that I was thoroughly looking forward to putting them into the ground.

Who would have thought that I could be enticed yet again into doing something because of Ichinose Honami?

"What you said about our class wasn't nice though, Kiyotaka." Honami said suddenly. We weren't far from the Class D base camp at this stage.

"Which part?" I asked curiously.

"Any of it. You may not like Kanzaki but it wasn't nice to call him a parasite. Also, Class B is just as much a threat in this exam as anyone else. I never looked down on Class D for their struggles or you for your laziness.

"It would be a mistake for you to underestimate me, don't mistake my kindness for weakness. Just because I used your idea for the first exam, doesn't mean I'm not capable of coming up with tricks of my own." Honami said with determination.

We entered the Class D base camp to see everyone sitting around the campfire and they all turned to look at us when we entered. I noticed some of them stare pointedly at mine and Honami's intertwined hands but I chose to ignore it. Now that there's light from the fire, I'd be able to see just how red Honami's face gets when she finally realizes.

"So, you're going to try and find our leader for the exam?"

"Of course, that's the objective isn't it? We're competing, just like Kanzaki said. Don't think I'll go easy on you because we work together on the council now," Honami said with a smirk. "I told you the first time I met you, I'm not just boobs and butt. I'll enjoy the look on your face when you realize, don't worry."

"They are nice though," I admitted boldly.

Honami really did look great in her gym gear, I kind of wished I got to see it more often.

"Have you two forgotten that I'm here too?" Arisu asked irritably.

Is it wrong to admit that I did? Arisu was as light as a feather and I was thoroughly enjoying the banter.

"Sorry, Sakayanagi-san," Honami apologized embarrassedly. "I'll be going back to our camp now that you're both here safely. Can I borrow this? I'll give it back to you when you bring Sakayanagi-san back from roll call tomorrow, same spot."

She shook the torch in her hand at me questioningly. I was planning to walk her back but got distracted.

"Stay for a bit, chat with the rest. They won't mind, it's all good," I said quickly.

Honami looked at the group hesitantly for a bit who was now watching what was going on in the distance with intense interest. I could see Karuizawa and Satou whispering to each other and giggling excitedly.

She seemed to wrestle with it for a bit as though deciding on whether or not it would be best to minimize the damage and go back now or stay and chat with the group. Suddenly as a thought occurred to her she looked at me with narrowed eyes.

"You're so confident that I won't find your leader that you would invite me to sit and chat with the class without hesitation?" Honami asked coldly.

"Extremely confident." I said challengingly.

Before we could continue on with this flirting back and forth I felt Arisu's cane go across my throat and she pulled back. I felt myself choking when suddenly Arisu's angry voice cut across my ears.

"If the two of you will continue this disgusting display, at the very least put me down so I can leave! You two are utterly nauseating!"

Honami must have realized as well and her eyes went down to our intertwined hands. She let it go like it burned her, her face heating up and I suddenly saw the tomato that I missed out on seeing in the dark. She scratched her cheek nervously as I let Arisu down and untied the hammock from her.

Arisu let out an irritated huff but took Honami's arm as the two of them walked over to the group. I was on the receiving end of glares from Ike and Yamauchi, a relieved smile from Eiichiro and the hungry faces of Karuizawa and Satou. Matsushita just stared blankly at the fire while Koenji was lying on the riverbank by himself.

I put the hammock up near the one person tent while I looked at the group as they all helped Arisu take a seat on the ground. While Ike and Yamauchi still didn't seem to like the situation, the rest of the group seemed to love having Arisu with us. They all pitched in helping her maneuver around the camp whenever she needed.

I was grateful to them, anyone who treats my Arisu well always has my favor. When I got back to the group, I saw again why I fell for Ichinose Honami in the first place. Just like the time she came into Class D and I saw her for the first time.

Arisu was sitting between Honami's legs while using her chest as a backrest while Honami was protectively holding her from tipping over and joining in on whatever conversation they were discussing. Why was I suddenly strangely jealous of my little sister?

I joined them when I was done, sitting closely to Honami and listening in on the conversations. I couldn't lie, I was exhausted. It was a busy day and I was thoroughly prepared to make sure another like this didn't happen again. Lazytaka will be making a return as of the second day of the deserted island exam.

Eiichiro was once again acting strangely. He kept glancing in our direction and giving me a thumbs up everytime we made eye contact.

"Those two look incredibly close don't they, Karuizawa," Satou said loudly. Not subtle at all.

"They sure do. There must be something in the air of that forest." Karuizawa sang back.

With everyone's attention now on us I decided that it was an opportunity to put a little heat on Honami. There was nothing like a bit of public pressure to get the dance going again. I glanced at Honami who was looking expectantly at me thinking that I was the one who was trapped.

"You know Karuizawa, for someone who is already dating you seem to always be interested if there's something going on with Honami and I,"

"H-honami?" Eiichiro stuttered.

I noticed Kushida seemed to narrow her eyes at that. It wasn't like I planned it to see what people's reactions were. It seemed a little childish though, it's just a first name. Unless you're a parasite.

Karuizawa for all her bravado earlier just fell silent not saying anything.

"I'm actually curious though, when you and Hirata got together, who confessed to who?" I asked.

"U-m... I did," Karuizawa admitted. Hirata didn't seem very comfortable with the line of questioning.

"I think that's great of you. When a girl likes a boy she should just tell him. You saw what you wanted and you went for it, good for you. You weren't stubborn and trying to get him to confess, how modern of you," I praised her loudly.

Matsushita suddenly excused herself and went to the tent while Kushida seemed to look a little annoyed. Arisu snorted trying to stifle a laugh and Eiichiro just looked like he was missing something. The rest just looked completely confused at the sudden turn of conversation.

"I think Karuizawa-san confessed because she knew how Hirata felt and knew that it was the right time. I'm sure that if Hirata was a lazy idiot who gives people mixed signals all the time, she would have been more cautious." Honami said in a dangerously sweet tone with a twitching eyebrow.

"That was oddly specific," Ike noted with a frown.

"I don't think so, I think Karuizawa is just confident. She knows what she wants and she just went for it." I brushed her off.

"Maybe it would have been nice if Hirata just did something for once instead of waiting for other people to do it for him all the time."

"Am I missing something here?" Ike asked Yamauchi in frustration.

"I think we both are," Yamauchi said dumbfounded.

"Am I lazy?" Hirata asked Karuizawa in confusion.

Karuizawa just excitedly hit him on the arm trying to shut him up.

"Shh... The ship is sailing, shut up." Karuizawa said in elation.

"Why the hell would the ship leave us behind?" Yamauchi exclaimed suddenly.

"Maybe Karuizawa just stopped being stubborn for once."

"Well m-"

"I think I speak for everyone when I say listening to you two is incredibly frustrating." Arisu cut in.

With that the game was over. Honami was irritated for the rest of the night and stayed quiet while the rest continued to talk. When it was time to go to bed, Honami said she'd be going back by herself telling me she'd give me back my stupid torch tomorrow before stomping off in annoyance.

It was incredibly cute.

The morning of the second day was a pretty relaxed affair for most but not for Arisu and I. I would never complain about it and I had no regrets, but the first night was rather difficult. Twice Arisu had to wake me to meekly tell me she needed to go to the bathroom. In the dark and half asleep I took her and waited outside for her to finish before bringing her back.

It was difficult not because it was hard or annoying for me but because it thoroughly embarrassed Arisu. She already felt like she was burdening me again and this was yet another thing to add to the pile of growing shame that she had. No matter what I said it wasn't going to change anything. Which is why I knew I had to do something to take her mind off it.

I always kept a routine so my body clock allowed me to wake early without an alarm and I found Koenji already outside getting ready to go for a morning run.

Koenji Rokusuke was not going to be sharing a tent with the rest of the low born commoner ignoramus'. When it wasn't being used to carry my cargo back and forward to Class A, he was using the hammock to sleep outside. He continued to impress me, especially for someone who was not only willing, but wanted to retire.

His defect was glaring but say whatever you wanted about Koenji, when he did something he didn't do it halfway. I wasn't sure what I was expecting but you could tell that he had been taught to lead from an early age, he had gained the respect of the class incredibly quickly as the one taking charge of the exam.

Not only was he leading with coming up with conclusions and solutions decisively but he was very involved. Anything that needed to be done with high importance he oversaw personally. Last night he was the last to go to bed and now he was the first to be awake.

While everyone else was destroyed physically and mentally, taking the opportunity to sleep in as late as they could, Koenji was up and ready to train with what must have been barely six hours sleep on a hammock outside in the elements.

"I have decided to run on the beach for the morning. Would you care to join me, Ayanokouji-boy? It would not do well for us to lapse in our conditioning, especially not when we are afforded the rare opportunity to train on sand." Koenji offered.

"Sure, give me a sec," I nodded. I carefully went back into the tent to check on Arisu. Now that I was out of the tent she was sprawled out facedown like a starfish. It didn't look like she was going to wake any time soon and I was doubtful that she'd need to go to the bathroom again for the next hour.

To be sure, I went over to the tent where Eiichiro was sleeping who had his mouth open like he was catching flies. Luckily, he was the one sleeping closest to the entrance of the tent and he was out like a light. I shook him as gently as I possibly could, careful not to scare him awake. He looked confused when he woke up. Startled, he choked mid breath before he groggily opened his eyes and looked at me in a daze.

"Koenji and I are going for a run," I explained. "Can you sleep on the hammock? Just in case Arisu needs to go to the bathroom and calls out for help."

Eiichiro obediently gave a sleepy nod before getting up with a stumble. He tiredly continued to stumble his way to the hammock without a word once he was out of the tent, the moment he was lying on it he was out like a light again.

Making my way back to Koenji, we walked leisurely down to the beach before kicking off our shoes and leaving them on a fallen log at the edge of the sand. We then took off at a brisk pace, enjoying the view of the sun rising over the horizon of the beach.

It was a new experience, I never ran on sand before and it was surprising how challenging it was. I've trained my body in so many different ways before but could feel different parts of my legs that I hadn't used before started to ache at the newfound experience. Even muscles in my feet seemed to be cramping a bit at the odd sensation.

"Such a beautiful sight to behold, there really is no other substitute for perfection," Koenji said suddenly.

"I know what you mean, the sunrise over the ocean really is different to seeing it at the school," I agreed.

Koenji turned to me with a confused frown, not even slowing in his pace as he was blindly continuing to run in the same direction.

"I was speaking of myself,"

It was too funny, I had to laugh. This guy's self confidence was on another level, I really hoped that some of it would rub off on Eiichiro by the time we left this island.

"I'm surprised you didn't buy a mirror from the points, it was only a point. You must be feeling like you're missing a limb without it," I teased him.

"Who's to say I did not?" Koenji asked back. "As one taking on the burden of leading those pheasants, it is a necessary luxury for one such as myself."

We continued to jog, looping back so that we could make our way back to base. It was getting closer to roll call time, I still needed to shower and get Arisu ready to take her to Class A. I thought about it all last night, with how Arisu was looking dejected at being a burden I decided that today I wanted to do something nice for her. Everything about today would be about Arisu, I was planning to look through the manual when we got back. I wanted to see how many points the tent and the water shower was to see if there was any wiggle room to ask Katsuragi if they'd buy it on Class A's tab.

Let the second day of the deserted island special exam be known as Arisu day. Today was going to be the day that no matter what the request was, I'd be doing it for her. She needed a bit of a boost, she was sacrificing far more than I was. It would be a nice gesture to show my appreciation.

We continued to jog for another half an hour before grabbing our shoes and starting to make our way back to base camp. It probably wasn't a good idea to go running on sand when I was about to take Arisu to the cave but I didn't realize it until after we were already back at camp.

Some of the others were awake, a few of the boys were already at the river fishing and trying to get some breakfast together for everyone. The moment we were back, Koenji beelined straight for the shower. Originally he had said that we were going to use the one button tent for storage but after we got the water shower, we found that we had an unlimited supply of vinyl sheets.

Instead we turned it into a makeshift showering area and got more vinyl sheets to use as coverings for supplies we found. We had a small pile of firewood, kindling, the corn that Koenji found before and a mixture of berries and fruits. The plan set for the day was that the moment that roll call was over with, everyone was to split into their groups and go foraging supplies. It was very efficient with Eiichiro arguing they should do it in the early morning before it got too hot.

Eiichiro was sitting on the hammock looking like he was contemplating the meaning of life with a more than half asleep look on his face. I'm sure he wasn't expecting to be on a survival mission when he was accepted to the school. This was far from anything he would have thought he was doing. The poor guy was pulling his hair out with how many people he had to manage.

Koenji came up with strategies and plans, delegated instructions to Hirata and Eiichiro and then did whatever he damn well pleased. I'd be envious but after yesterday my responsibilities were the same from now on. As long as I brought Arisu to and from the cave, my duties were zero.

Which meant that today, Arisu day would be the best one on the island. While we still had time, I picked up the manual that was on the hammock where Koenji was sleeping. Leafing through I found what I was looking for and was ready to ask Katsuragi to spend five points to get it. If he said no it wasn't going to be a problem, I'd just ask Koenji to get it and lie that Class A paid.

Life was good for Ayanokouji Kiyotaka. I come to the school and Eiichiro steps up for me so I can blend in the background. I get manhandled into joining the Student Council by that smirking bastard and enter Ichinose Honami to take over everything for me. I'm dropped on an island and Koenji steps in to take things over. Life just seems to fall into place for me. It's like I'm a protagonist in a light novel or something.

Chapter 21

A/N: The story has broken 100k words in the last chapter. I never thought I would have started anything like this, it's a great milestone. Thank you for being a part of it

When I decided that I was going to make Arisu happy today, I already knew what I was going to do. I had so much to be grateful for, she sacrificed almost everything since we had come to this school and I had done nothing. So I decided that today I was going to give her the one thing she wanted most. The one thing she wanted that only I could give her.

Which is why at the moment despite myself I was excited. After convincing Katsuragi to part with five more points, I was on my way to the ship to pick up my purchase. I couldn't wait for the delivery at the evening roll call, it'd have to be now. So instead of waiting I decided to do some work and go pick it up myself alongside Eiichiro.

It was surprisingly easy to ask Katsuragi for what I needed and there was a small part of me that felt bad that I had rejected his application to the council. If Manabu at the time had allowed for both to join, I wouldn't have cared. They could have both joined and everything would be fine. But after this exam, I was planning to have a conversation with the smirking bastard to put him in one of the representative roles.

I liked him, he was alright. I don't like many of the Class A students save for Kamuro and Hashimoto because they look after Arisu but I haven't spoken to them much if anything at all. Simple greetings of hello and goodbye at best but Kamuro looks like she'd be fun at parties and Hashimoto seems a little weird, but I'm in no position to judge. Have you seen my friends?

I like Katsuragi though, we have similarities. When I asked for the points, I learned a lot more about the stoic guy and it was unexpected. I thought that I'd dislike someone that Arisu hated but I was surprised to find that he wasn't that bad.

"You're here early," Katsuragi noted when he came to us at the treeline.

Arisu was slumped forward on my back with her face burrowed into the side of my neck. It was one of the things that most don't know about her. Arisu was not a morning person. My little sister always needed caffeine to turn into a normal functioning human being in the mornings, it was like I was carrying a corpse just waiting for life to be breathed into it.

Unfortunately, that was a drug that Class D did not have the luxury of having at the moment, but one that Class A seemed to have indulged themselves with. As though he were some sort of esper, Hashimoto had come down from the cave with said divine liquid known as coffee to bring to Arisu who just took it from him with a grunt.

"I was hoping to talk to you before I had to head back, do you have a minute?" I asked.

"Of course, lead the way," Katsuragi nodded.

Hashimoto took the cup back from Arisu so I could put her down. She was back on her feet with her cane in her hand but before I could head off Hashimoto stopped me.

"Thanks for doing all this, before you go do you want some coffee or something to eat?" Hashimoto asked me.

Totsuka wasn't pleased, from what I could tell he wasn't very happy with the arrangement but kept his mouth shut only because Katsuragi told him to. Still, the mention of giving me anything was enough to make him crack.

"We're not giving him anything, Hashimoto. This is an exam, if he's too stupid to give us an advantage by carting Sakayanagi around between camps to give us points like a donkey he can suffer for it!" Totsuka spat.

I was getting sick of this idiot. He was like the Class A version of Yamauchi except he had his mouth firmly attached to Katsuragi's ass like a real life version of the human centipede. I was ready to grab onto him when I felt a tiny hand tug on my wrist.

The now caffeinated Arisu looked at Totsuka coldly and was ready to give him a piece of her mind before Totsuka seemed to notice the interaction and started to gloat.

"Look at that, just like a slave. Carries her around the island like a mule then like a typical brainless meathead wants to start a fight only to stop when his master tugs on his shirt. How pathetic." Totsuka taunted.

"You know Totsuka, everyone seems to have the courage to talk a lot when they're around people to protect them. I wonder if it was just us, with no consequences and no one to stop us if you would be so bold.

"One day soon, we'll find out the answer to that. I haven't forgotten that you've laughed at my sister and everytime you taunt me is just another pound of flesh I'll take one day. Don't worry, I'm a patient guy." I finished before walking off with Katsurgi.

Before I could get too far, I heard Arisu's voice call out to me. She wasn't one to take things lying down and she certainly wasn't one to let her big brother fight her battles for her.

Arisu was also vindictive and spiteful. Just like me, she was patient and willing to wait for opportunities but Arisu was also willing to strike out when a chance was right in front of her. She was more than willing to discipline her allies just as much as she was willing to cut down her enemies.

"Onii-chan, there won't be any need to take me for this evening's roll call tonight. We'll stay at the river and I'll have dinner with you so you can have a rest." Arisu said sweetly.

"Every time this maggot opens his mouth at me or my brother, I will miss another roll call. Keep that in mind, Katsuragi. My brother is doing this not out of kindness for Class A. He is doing it for me. If your dog keeps on yapping, I'll be making sure he remembers his place." Arisu threatened.

Totsuka looked murderous and ready to blow but Katsuragi shut him up with a sharp glare. He sighed tiredly before moving back to Arisu, this situation wasn't easy on him either. This is why I didn't want the leadership position in any capacity. Who the hell wants to have to deal with headaches like this all the time?

If he had any hair, I'm sure it would be falling out by now. Katsuragi seemed like a far better second-in-command than a leader. I don't know why he was so fixated on taking the lead but I had my suspicions. Most students were obsessed with Class A so he more than likely knew that if Arisu took the lead she would constantly be putting their position at risk. It's difficult to put your future into someone else's hands, especially when it means nothing to them.

"Sakayanagi, this hasn't been easy for anyone and I'm sure less so for you and Ayanokouji. Let this one go, please. I'll ensure Yahiko doesn't speak out of turn again." Katsuragi assured her.

Deciding I should throw Katsuragi a bone since I was here to ask him for a favor anyway, I pat Arisu on the head. Her face went red and she suddenly looked down at the ground while I smiled at her.

"We'll come back for the roll call tonight. It was a rough night, everyone's tired. We'll let this one go, okay?"

Arisu just nodded in complete silence, still bashfully looking at the ground. I realized that the rest of Class A came out for roll call, this useless situation shaved a lot of time off my hands. I'd have to run back again. Nodding at Katsuragi, we both moved a short distance away from the group before I quickly asked him.

More excited gossiping female whispers as they moved to Arisu came to our ears as we walked off. How troublesome, it's just a head pat. I didn't have time for this so I got straight to the point.

"I know you bought us the shower and the tent but there was something else I wanted from the manual. Arisu coming back and forth and staying in the exam saved you from losing thirty points but we've used fifteen. I know it's a big ask, but I was hoping you'd be willing to buy us something for five points."

Noticing my hurried speech and recognizing that I was pressed for time, Katsuragi nodded. I told him what I wanted and he agreed to make the purchase during roll call. After I was done with my own, I'd go straight to the ship to pick it up so that I could surprise Arisu with it when I got back.

"I know you're pressed to make it back so I'll let you go, can we talk when you come to pick Sakayanagi up?"

"Sure, no problem!" I yelled at him as I ran toward Class D's base camp. "I'll be back a bit later than normal to get her since I have to pick it up!" I yelled over my shoulder.

I wanted to keep it a secret but I'm pretty excited for it. It was a purchase for me just as it was for anyone else because even though it was an exam and everyone was trying to budget points, at the end of the day we had six more days to enjoy ourselves here.

For five points they had a leisure set in the manual. Nothing big like a portable video game set but it had board games, playing cards, a badminton set and a football etc. Just a few things to pass the time that would be worth it. Luxuries were pretty scarce at Class D and if anything some were grumbling at the ones we had.

The pillows, mattresses and battery operated fans were indeed a luxury but I felt as though they were necessary. While some frowned at the purchase the truth is that we had to fend for ourselves out here. If someone got sick, injured their neck or back on the ground or even got sick from heat stroke etc, it would be worse by losing thirty points. I agreed with Koenji's decision but it also meant that the others wanted to clamp down on other expenses.

They didn't even want to spend three points on a cooking set which had cutlery and plates for everyone in the class. When they saw the leisure set they were sure to complain saying that I should have got that instead but I didn't care. At the moment we were using the stuff from our first meal set and that was sufficient enough.

Just as I was making the last leg of the run, I stepped in poop. Which animal from Class D didn't even use the toilet? Disgusted, I dragged my foot with each step trying to get it as clean as possible before taking off at my original pace.

I barely made it back in time for the roll call and as soon as I was done I went over to Eiichiro to tell him what I bought. Excited, we both started off to the ship, fully intent on waiting until we were able to take it with us. The rest of the class went about their tasks, Yamauchi grumbled about me not having to do anything but soon disappeared.

"I can't wait, I've been so bored," Eiichiro said excitedly. "Do you know what's in it?"

"Board games, playing cards, a badminton set. I think there's a few balls in it as well. A football and something else, who knows. We'll see when we get it,"

"Board games... as in a chess set?" Eiichiro asked worriedly.

"I'd hope so or else I bought it for nothing," I shrugged.

"Don't you think that's a little reckless?"

I was a little confused at this reaction from him, I didn't know what he was getting at. I wanted Arisu to have fun, at the moment all she could do was loiter around the camp while everyone else did things. She didn't even get to help with much and had to ask people for help all the time. It was sure to be boring, there was literally no way for her to entertain herself.

I assessed everything and I've seen that Arisu has grown a lot. She'd given up on so many things she wanted from me just in the last two months alone, I thought that maybe enough time had passed where my concerns before when I stopped playing with her were no longer an issue. I had some hope that this time, she may be able to win.

"You should have a little more faith in Arisu, you guys barely talk anymore. She's grown up now, I don't think it'll be an issue anymore."

"I'm not worried about that. I always thought what you did was stupid anyway, I mean people will figure things out. They're not as stupid as you think they are,"

"I beg to differ," I scoffed.

"Everyone is stupid compared to you," Eiichiro said with exasperation. "But for normal people they're not all dumb. They at the very least respect Ah-chan and it's pretty well known that she plays chess. She's been beating other senpai's like they're novices.

"All of a sudden, she loses to her lazy, supposedly stupid brother and you think they're not going to ask questions?"

"I'm good at games," I shrugged. "Just relax, we're on a trip. What's the worst that could happen?"

At that moment we got to the beach and I was... thoroughly confused. About eighty people, Class B and C were all on the beach eating barbeque and playing with jet-skis, games and the like. I was dumbfounded, what the hell is going on here?

...Class B is playing on the beach and Honami didn't invite me? I'm going to make that parasite drink sea water.

The game between us is still going on so I wasn't about to go looking for her. I wasn't even going to chastise her for this, I have no right to. It's not like I'm her boyfriend so I have no reason to be angry. No reason to be jealous. No reason to be annoyed that Honami was on this beach in a swimsuit with other boys around...

I was walking with Eiichiro to the ship to see if our purchase was ready with my focus directly on the destination at hand. I definitely wasn't scanning with my peripheral vision to see if I could spot if Honami was with anyone. If hypothetically I was, I would have noticed that she wasn't there which confused me. Or would have confused me. If I was doing that. Hypothetically

Since Honami wasn't there, I wondered why but tried to put it out of my mind. We walked to the ship when our path was blocked by Kanzaki and a boy from Class C.

"Looking for someone?" Kanzaki asked with hostility.

"Kanzaki, there's something on your neck," I pointed out in concern.

He ran his hand on his neck and looked at his hand before looking back at me in confusion.

"Ahh, sorry about that. It's just a tan line. Must be from the collar that Himeno has on you. She let you off the leash to play on the sand?"

Kanzaki once again like last night moved forward to fight me only this time Eiichiro stepped between us.

"What the hell is the matter with you?" Eiichiro hissed at me.

I didn't even know what was wrong with me. I hated this filth from the first day I met him. It was obvious that he liked Honami at the time and I'll admit I got jealous. This time though the hostility wasn't because of that.

I didn't even feel any competition from him, he wasn't of any concern to me. I hate that Honami is getting mistreated by these ungrateful turncoats. I value kinship and loyalty and I have no issues whatsoever trusting Eiichiro, Tsubasa and Arisu with my life. If you allow someone to be close to you, you should be able to trust them.

This dirty piece of shit was weak. The moment he realized that Honami had feelings for me and that it was negatively impacting him, he jumped ship for the next best thing in his eyes. Honami's leadership hadn't been taken from her because of inability or negligence, it was because this disloyal parasite in front of me stabbed her in the back.

I just wanted a reason to take his head off, if I could provoke him into hitting me first I could justifiably break him. Still I was letting emotions get the best of me and that's uncharacteristic of me. I should know from Sudo's mistake and understand that all of these 'witnesses' wouldn't back my claim that he hit me first. What was wrong with me?

"We're not here to fight, Ryuen and Himeno want to speak to the two of you," The Class C boy explained quickly.

We followed the Class C boy who led us to where Ryuen and Himeno were seated under a shaded pergola. Eiichiro made it a point to stand between Kanzaki and I, as though this idiot was actually going to be able to hurt me.

When I flicked through the book looking for what I was trying to find, I'd memorized all of the prices of things available to use. At a cursory glance, everything here along with whatever they had at base camp was far more than the original allotted three hundred class points. They had shared the cost.

So Class C and B were working together, how interesting.

We got to the shaded area where the two were laying on long sunbeds with a small table between them, cool bottled water on the table. Taking a minute to appraise the new leader of Class B I couldn't see the appeal, she didn't hold a candle to Honami physically and from what I had heard and observed, didn't really have much going for her in the strategic department either.

From my basic understanding the only thing I could think of was that they had philosophical differences. It would seem Himeno felt some sort of a burden to win this exam in as big of a splash as possible to outshine Honami's previous ingenious strategy with the midterms.

"It appears a couple of losers have appeared, Yuki," Ryuen said with a smirk.

"I told you to stop calling me that," Himeno frowned.

Eiichiro stiffened next to me but I wasn't so sure if it was because Ryuen called him a loser, he seemed to be a little afraid of him. Eiichiro was always so happy-go-lucky, he was of a pushover for the more unfriendly types. I didn't want to be here, I just wanted to get my box and go back to camp so I could go pick up Arisu.

"Ryuen," Eiichiro greeted with a nod. "You all seem to be enjoying yourselves, It's hard not to be a little jealous."

"Would you like something to eat? Some cold water?" Ryuen offered in a fake friendly tone.

"I'd be worried that you poisoned it," Eiichiro half joked.

"Well it appears that not all Class D members are stupid after all," Ryuen said back but the entire time he was staring straight at me.

"You have nice hair and you're quite effeminate but I don't swing that way, thank you though" I told him.

Ryuen didn't bite for the jab but his face changed into a vicious grin. I always wondered why someone like Ryuen never seemed to use his minions to do work on the BUDDY system and funnel the points to him. It was such an obvious thing to do, he seemed like the greedy type. Apparently he had his suspicions of me.

"Vice President Ayanokouji, you finally appear," Ryuen smirked.

"I'm not exactly hard to find," I frowned. "My routine is pretty set. Gym in the morning, class during the day, sleep on the couch in my office after school..."

"I don't go looking for people, they come to me," Ryuen boasted. "Kanzaki, go get me cold water. This one's warm."

Kanzaki looked like he was struggling a bit but with a look from Himeno he did as he was told. Just as he was leaving though I couldn't resist.

"Fetch boy," I whistled like he was a dog.

To the others it happened fast but I saw it coming. Exactly what I wanted. Kanzaki whirled around and hit me as hard as he could on my left eye. I took the blow without even stumbling and before he could throw another I started to laugh, holding Eiichiro back with my right arm as he tried to defend me.

"My sister hits harder than you," I taunted.

Himeno looked annoyed but got to her feet anyway. To her this was another insult, she knew I was taunting him because of Honami and Kanzaki probably already told her what I said last night.

"Are you two done? Kanzaki, get out of here. He's baiting you."

Kanzaki clenched his fists and glared at me but turned around to walk off anyway. Before he could get too far I called out to him again.

"Don't forget Ryuen's water,"

This time it was Eiichiro who cut me off. He was confused about what was going on, I'm not normally like this. I don't really like drawing attention to myself and I've never really done this to anyone before. I really was acting uncharacteristically.

"What is going on with you?" Eiichiro hissed at me.

"Sorry," I apologized without feeling.

Himeno was looking pretty irate at being embarrassed by Kanzaki taking the obvious bait but composed herself. Apparently she wanted something from me.

"I don't understand why you're behaving like this Ayanokouji-kun. You've helped us before in the past."

"I helped Honami, all of you just happened to benefit from it. Besides, I didn't really help. I just made an offhand comment and she ran with it. There's nothing impressive about me, I thought of something randomly and said it as a joke." I shrugged.

"Strange that it just happened to be an ingenious idea, isn't it." Ryuen pointed out.

"Coincidences sure are freaky," I brushed him off.

Something about what I just said made Ryuen's eyes widen with recognition. I couldn't understand why, it was something I said often but I've never met him before.

"I guess they are. Isn't it a coincidence that you joined the Student Council early on in the year when you achieved nothing?

"Then not long after, an app comes out where everyone has a chance to palm things off to other people? Seems like a solution for someone notoriously lazy.

"It's also very strange that no one has asked where the two hundred point fee for every transaction goes. So many coincidences, isn't that right Mr Vice President." Ryuen laughed.

"Huh, how about that," I said feigning ignorance.

"Yeah, how about that," Ryuen parroted. "Wanna shed some light?"

"If I could I wouldn't and if I knew I wouldn't tell you," I said nonchalantly.

"Why's that Ayanokouji-kun?" Himeno asked with suspicion. Apparently this was the first time she was hearing about this. Seemingly, she hadn't even considered any of this.

"Who knows," I shrugged

Ryuen laughed maniacally with glee. He looked at me with excitement getting up from his seat and standing in front of me.

"You're the one I've been looking for, this is great. I was getting bored of these mindless idiots. To think you were right in front of me all this time."

"I really don't know what you mean. I'm just lazy."

Eiichiro, who was standing there ignored for quite some time, was doing a really good job of not showing his nervousness or reacting.

It was impressive, he seemed to have grown a lot as well. Normally he'd be panicking and Ryuen would have been able to read him easily judging by what he did. This time he stayed calm.

Maybe there was a benefit to letting the Sudo situation play out.

"We're leaving Kiyotaka, we came here to go to the ship not for this." Eiichiro ordered with authority. It took him a while but he figured out that I couldn't exactly say this for him. He was the leader, in the present company it'd be a mistake if I ordered him about.

We left while ignoring Ryuen taunting us at our backs before making our way to the ship. Meeting Mashima-sensei was a pretty uneventful affair but the box was fairly large and decently heavy.

I felt bad about dragging Eiichiro there and with everything that happened I took off my shirt and handed it to him before picking up the box and putting it on my shoulder.

"You know I can help with that, you don't always have to show off and rub it in my face." Eiichiro grumbled.

"I thought you'd be happy that I was doing something, it was kind of an apology," I admitted sheepishly.

"You can just explain what happened back there and that'd be easier than this. You're not like that to people, now your eye's bruised. What happened with you and Kanzaki?" Eiichiro asked.

So far Arisu was the only one who heard it straight from my mouth. I hadn't told Eiichiro and it wasn't for any other reason other than he was acting like a complete weirdo lately whenever Honami was around.

He was my best friend though, I didn't know what was enticing this kind of behavior but I wanted to make amends for being a bit of a pain, especially lately.

"I've started seeing Honami differently lately, Kanzaki had a thing for her a while back. He's a big part of the reason she lost the leadership of Class B. I don't really want to get into any more details." I tried to be as vague as possible. I don't know why, I normally never have an issue with getting embarrassed.

Eiichiro looked a little dumbfounded.

"You like Ichinose Honami and all of that was because you're jealous."

"It's not as simple as that but if you want to put it that way sure," I said with a frown.

Eiichiro's face split open into the widest of smiles. He clapped me on the back so hard that I almost dropped the box. I glared at him as he grinned with... relief?

"That's great, Kiyotaka. That's so great..." Eiichiro said happily.

"Alright you've been creeping me out lately. What's going on with you?" I asked. This guy was acting really sus lately.

"Nothing! Nothing at all, I'm just happy you found someone!" Eiichiro said with excitement.

I wasn't going to get anything out of him so I just let it go. Not long after we reached the camp, I was surprised to see Arisu and Honami sitting there waiting for us to return.

We walked to the center of the camp and I put the box down while Eiichiro explained to everyone what we had. I walked over to Arisu and Honami, confused about how Arisu got there and why Honami was here.

"How did you get back to the camp? I was just about to get you,"

"Koenji-kun picked me up, he said something about you being busy. Please don't ever let him pick me up or take me there again. The man is a brute, I'm sure I have brain damage with how fast he was running and shaking me about." Arisu complained.

"Sorry about that, I got caught up. I'm sure you were fine though, Koenji wouldn't let anything happen to you." I apologized sincerely.

"That's not the point. I'm here for you, I want you to take me," Arisu said firmly.

"Okay, okay," I laughed.

Honami just sat there awkwardly while we had our little sibling moment, probably thinking about whether she should leave or not.

I realized that I forgot everything that happened. She mentioned that she'd give me the torch back when I was on my way back from picking Arisu up. It slipped my mind and I forgot and I was about to apologize before I noticed.

Honami was staring at my bare torso, it was the first time that she'd seen me shirtless. I didn't think it was much to look at but it was a reaction that I got quite frequently nowadays. Still I was feeling a little smug and I clicked my fingers in her face to break her from the spell.

At first she was a little pink when she looked up at me but almost immediately her face changed to one of concern and she got to her feet before taking my head in her hands and inspected me closely.

"You're hurt, someone hit you?" Honami asked with concern.

Arisu sat lower and hadn't been able to see from her angle. She must have felt bad that she didn't notice because at first she looked sad but then her face twisted into fury. Trying to keep things from getting out of control I waved my hands in surrender.

"It's fine, don't worry. I kind of provoked it," I explained.

Arisu looked surprised but Honami narrowed her eyes at me.

"Kanzaki?"

I didn't answer and just tried to keep my eyes from looking anywhere but Honami's face. She already told me last night that she didn't like that I provoked him or called him a parasite, I wasn't going to tell her that I just finished calling him a dog.

"What am I going to do with you?" Honami sighed in exasperation stroking my cheek.

I couldn't say anything. It wasn't because I ever had issues coming up with something to say, it was just because I was distracted. She was so close and all I could do was look at her electric blue eyes that were staring at me in concern. Then my vision kept moving back and forth between her eyes and her lips. All the while the rest of the camp faded away.

Damn this woman, the game is getting harder.

Chapter 22

My concerns were for nothing, the leisure set was well received. A few of the girls were playing with the badminton set, the guys made a makeshift football goal with a couple of sticks laying on the ground and another group was playing cards.

In the center of a fallen log, Arisu was sitting playing chess with Horikita while Honami helped her out. Arisu couldn't sit on the ground so instead she was calling out moves and Honami was moving the pieces for her.

I was at the river fishing. It was fun, relaxing and I had some peace. I had been running around this damn island since we got here so it was nice to have a moment of peaceful silence. I couldn't help but glance every so often at the two as they sat with each other. Honami didn't look bored in the slightest even though I wasn't sure if she knew how to play.

It gave me reprieve though, I didn't want to think about anything I just wanted silence for right now. I needed to collect my thoughts and figure out what was going on with me.

Class C and Class B working together was a bit of a surprise and it seemed like they were going for a zero point strategy. I wasn't sure if points could go into the minus, I hadn't asked any questions about the parameters of the exam because it wasn't my responsibility. I had kept my hands clear of this test and let them do as they wished.

I never questioned any of their strategies and I also didn't get involved at all. I participated only in what I was asked and I was left to care for Arisu. Outside of checking prices in the manual, I had left them to their own devices. There was one thing that I recognized from early on. The second leader that I had identified aside from Class A's when I was with Koenji.

Ichinose Honami was the leader of Class B.

I knew it from the beginning, the interaction with Kanzaki was too much of a coincidence. I know Honami well, I can tell when she's lying or hiding something. She wasn't bad at it, I just knew what to look for. I knew the queues of when she was doing something sneakily or if she wanted something or even if she was fibbing.

The interaction with Kanzaki last night though, Honami knew nothing about it. She looked at it as a random chance thing but after meeting with Himeno today I was convinced that I was on the money with this.

While I didn't think much of Himeno, she actually did come up with somewhat of a conniving strategy for this exam. She played Class B masterfully, either she was brilliant or they really were just mindless sheep.

Making Honami the leader was a good move on multiple fronts. For one thing, it wasn't obvious. She was the former leader before she had taken over, for leaders like Katsuragi who could only trust their closest allies, it would be unthinkable to empower your enemy.

Hiding in plain sight. Since it was unthinkable for Katsuragi, he wouldn't vote for her. He'd need tangible proof before he did anything like that. Also by aligning herself with Ryuen, she was attempting to mitigate another potential identifier.

The only issue is that this is Ryuen. I had no doubt that he would have no issues whatsoever stabbing her in the back so the only thing I could think of was that they had some sort of contract. We were on an island though with no phones so I didn't even know if one could be in place.

Finally, Class D. I'm sure that Honami really did hear from Koenji that I was taking that route but Kanzaki appearing was too much of a coincidence. It's fairly obvious to everyone that there's something between the two of us. The moment Kanzaki told her not to see me, she would have disobeyed.

She's stubborn so it was to be expected that when he told her Himeno wanted her to come back that she would dig her heels in. By provoking Kanzaki and then challenging that Honami wouldn't be able to find our leader, things had been set into motion. I can see now that no matter what happens in this exam, Himeno wins.

If Honami finds our leader, it adds to their points. I'm sure that whatever deal was put in place between her and Ryuen that it was his responsibility to find out Class A's leader. Himeno provoked Honami into being a plant in our camp. The fact that Honami had interacted with us so many times made it easier for us to accept her.

It didn't bother me that this was the case and if Honami found our leader then I'd tip my hat to her if I had one. The issue is that if we submitted her name and they were at zero points, it would be a simple matter to point the finger at Honami and convince the lemmings that she leaked.

Even if I planned to intervene, which I didn't, Honami would lose. If she found our leader and gave the information, Himeno would win with a masterful plan. If Honami was found out, Himeno could pile all the blame on her. The fact that they were also using a zero point strategy alongside Ryuen meant that they were living in comfort, so it'd look even better on their side.

The only question that was left unanswered would be the reaction. How would Honami take it?

It's subtle but I've noticed that she has distanced herself from Class B a little bit. Nothing major or drastic but it's there. I've only seen her with Mako and Chihiro since everything happened and her interactions with Kanzaki are cold. I noticed right away that he calls her by her last name again and I never thought to ask if it was by her telling him or his own choice.

These were all things I planned to talk to her about today. Depending on what answers she gave, if she was ready to choose herself over the Class then I would confess. There'd be no reason not to, whether the decision for her own self interest came from confessing to me or giving up on Class B didn't matter. As long as either way she chose herself for once.

There was also the fact that I was tired of the game. The interaction earlier was the catalyst, I wanted nothing more than to kiss Honami earlier but I didn't. The game was still being played and I didn't like to lose but I would this time just to get what I wanted.

Who would have thought?

So I continued to cast my line so deep in my thoughts that I didn't even realize that my little sister and my love interest both snuck up on me, tearing me from my thoughts. Honami was holding the chess set while stabilizing Arisu who was holding the crook of her elbow.

"Can we play?" Arisu asked hesitantly.

I turned my head at them and smiled at Arisu before giving her a nod. It was the widest smile I'd seen on her in months. She made her way over to the rock near me pulling Honami with her and Honami set the pieces on the board. It was one of those cheap magnet boards with tiny pieces, nothing close to the sets that Arisu and I usually played on but it would serve its purpose.

I continued to fish in the peaceful silence.

"You can play white," Arisu said excitedly.

I nodded in agreement before calling my first move.

"E4,"

"D6,"

"D4,"

"Knight to F6,"

I was lost in my thoughts while the game went on, nothing was biting. I learned that I was terrible at fishing even though I enjoyed it.

"Knight to C3,"

"G6,"

"Bishop to E3,"

Finally, a bite. Just like Ike showed me, I slowly pulled on the rod careful not to yank it and break the line. I pulled the reel exactly as he showed me hoping to catch my first fish.

"Bishop to G7,"

"Knight to D2,"

"C6,"

"F3,"

Excited, I finished pulling only to find that there wasn't a fish there, apparently it got away because the lure was still attached. Dejected, I got ready to cast again.

"B5," Arisu said after a pause.

"Knight to GE2,"

I threw the line out this time casting it out a little further than before, maybe the spot I threw the line in was already tapped out from the others earlier.

"Knight to BD7,"

"Bishop to H6," I called after a moment, my line got stuck.

"Bishop takes H6,"

"Queen takes H6,"

Arisu seemed to pause for a while, seemingly studying the board. I wanted to throw this damn rod into the water when I reeled it back only to find that my lure was gone. It must have got stuck on a rock.

"Bishop to B7,"

"A3,"

"E5,"

We continued to play through the match while I was cursing whatever God existed that this stupid rod wouldn't get me a fish. How can I enjoy something when I don't get anything out of it? We were coming to the end and I was thoroughly impressed. Arisu had improved a lot, it was a high quality match.

"Queen to A4, Check," I said as the game was coming to a close.

"King to E1,"

"F4,"

"F5,"

"King to- Nevermind, it's over I concede," Arisu admitted.

I was done with fishing, I didn't want to do it anymore. Now that we had the leisure set there were other things we could do. I took the rod apart and went over to them on the rock. Honami was staring at the board deep in thought.

Even though she just lost, Arisu looked the happiest that I'd seen her in such a long time. It made me feel guilty that I hadn't played with her for so long, wondering if I made the right decision long ago.

It didn't matter, we had plenty of time during the trip to play so I was content with that. Everyone was busy doing their own thing and it was time to take Arisu to Class A's camp for her roll call. Honami was still completely silent the entire time but she followed along.

"That was wonderful Kiyotaka, thank you," Arisu gushed excitedly from my back. "I missed playing with you, I missed the rush."

"I've heard you've been ruthlessly destroying everyone," I laughed. "As expected of Sakayanagi Arisu,"

"There are some skilled players here, it's been interesting," Arisu admitted.

We walked quietly to the cave, we left a little early to have a more comfortable pace. I didn't want to run back again and Arisu already complained about being ragdolled by Koenji earlier. It was nice being in the comfortable silence for once.

We got to the treeline and left Arisu before Honami and I started to walk back together. After we got a safe distance away, Honami grabbed my hand. Something seemed to be bothering her and I stopped and looked back at her questioningly.

"I have something to tell you," Honami said carefully.

"...Okay," I was going to miss roll call but if this is what I thought it was then it wasn't really important. Still I thought I should remind Honami for her sake. "You'll miss roll call though, do you want to do this now or after?"

"Now," Honami said firmly. "I don't care if I miss out on roll call. This is important. Please, let me finish. If you interrupt me, I may lose the nerve..."

Alright, I'm almost certain that...

"I'm in love with you Kiyotaka, I have been for a while. I didn't realize until not so long ago but I'm in love with you," Honami confessed.

"I'm being incredibly selfish because I know you love someone else. I know that by telling you this, I'm jeopardizing our working relationship by doing this but I needed to tell you," Honami continued.

"Who said I-"

"Please Kiyotaka, just this once." Honami said weakly, she looked like she was going to cry.

"It's not fair. We got put into different classes, you fell in love with someone before we even met and now I'm feeling this way. It should have been simple, we worked on the student council together and became close friends.

"My class hates that I'm close to you. They resent the fact that I helped Class D and even worse is that I don't care anymore. I've lost my status but I'm relieved. You did this to me, you made me like this. I have less to do and I enjoy it. Now I'm like this a-"

"You've gotten lazy?" I cut in with a smirk. This was far better than I could have ever hoped for.

"Yes!" Honami screamed. "It's all your fault! Even now, I'm cutting my responsibilities to Class B. They're losing points because I'm being selfish! Giving a meaningless confession to someone who doesn't even feel the same way about me!"

"Who said I don't feel the same way? What are you talking about me being already in love with someone else?" I asked with a frown.

Honami just stared at me blankly. I could see that she was starting to feel hopeful and not wanting to prolong her suffering anymore. I just decided to tell her.

"I feel the same way, I have and I've known for a long time. I was just waiting for you to confess, I just wanted you to do something selfish for once."

"You knew..." Honami whispered.

"Of course, it was fairly obvious."

"...and you feel the same way,"

"I do," I said with a nod.

"Say it. So I don't misunderstand, please." Honami requested meekly.

"I love Ichinose Honami, I've known I do for a while."

Honami didn't move, I didn't realize that she thought I didn't feel the same way. Who the hell told her I was in love with someone else? I wasn't expecting what she said next and for the first time I was the one that was speechless.

"...but what about Nanase Tsubasa?"

Whatever I thought was going to happen during her confession, this wasn't it. Sure I had a crush on her before but it was nothing now. More importantly...

"How do you know that name?" I asked dumbfounded.

Honami was suddenly embarrassed and looked at the ground. She hesitated to tell me and at that time I was currently wracking my brain trying to figure out whether it was Arisu who told her or Eiichiro. Both possibilities were unbelievable, there was no way either of them would say anything.

"I was at the student council the night you talked to Chihiro-chan. I overheard your conversation," Honami admitted.

Suddenly I remembered hearing a door to the student council close and I instantly groaned. I originally thought that it was Manabu but it didn't even cross my mind that it was Honami. At the time, I thought Chihiro confessed to Manabu only to learn that it was Nagumo instead. I hadn't even considered it was Honami.

"You left halfway, didn't you?" I groaned.

"Yes I did, it was hard to listen to after I heard the name," Honami admitted. "I asked Matsuo-kun about her and he told me that she was coming next year. I told myself that I'd make you fall for me instead. Selfish again. I really am a horrible person."

As bad as it sounds this was far more than I could hope for. So many times I'd been cursing Honami's selflessness. Now she finally thought of herself and acted selfishly not thinking about others for a change. It probably wasn't the best of things, to encourage someone to be selfish, but I was tired of her being taken advantage of. Even by me.

Is it wrong that I also felt a huge swell of pride that Honami admitted that I had made her see the benefits of doing less? Full of ego, I wrapped her up in a hug which she accepted gratefully. It could potentially be our first one as a newborn couple.

"If you listened to the whole thing you'd have heard that that was a while ago. It's not like that anymore, Tsubasa and Eiichiro are in love with each other. It was just a childhood crush, I have someone else that I look at that way now," I told her.

Honami beamed with a smile before suddenly looking mischievous.

"Really? What's her name?" Honami asked innocently.

"Now you're just being greedy," I sighed, rolling my eyes.

Honami just laughed for a bit and hugged me tighter before suddenly she relaxed her grip and let go as though a thought occurred to her. She pulled away and looked like she wanted to say something but was stopping herself.

"If you have something you need to say we should just get it out in the open," I urged. "We already missed the roll call and we'll need to go back and get Arisu soon or it'll get dark and we have no torch."

Honami continued to hesitate for a while as though she really didn't want to say what was on her mind.

"If we're going to be in a relationship, I have something I need to ask you," Honami reluctantly admitted. "You're a genius aren't you...?"

For the second time in one night, Honami left me speechless and I froze.

"I wasn't going to confess anything tonight but I think even though I had in my head that you didn't feel the same way, I knew deep down that you did so I took a chance," Honami explained.

"But I had to do it now because I've noticed things. I didn't want you to think that I was only feeling this way because of what I observed. It doesn't mean anything to me and if you don't want to tell me I understand, I have things about me that no one knows as well."

I could always tell when Honami was hiding something and I was confident that I could tell if she was lying. I couldn't get a read on those reasons, the only thing that I could think of is that I slipped up somehow.

"What makes you think that?" I asked carefully.

"I had my suspicions when you came up with our plan for the midterms. The school has a long history so when your father said that no one had ever done it, that made me think. As I thought about it more, I wondered why Sakayanagi-san was so intent on competing against you.

"She seemed really upset that you wouldn't take things seriously. I wondered why she would be so upset when she's as gifted as she is. If you were nothing special then it wouldn't bother her even if she loves you.

"I had everything confirmed when you played chess against her." Honami finished confidently.

"I'm good at games," I offered lamely.

"Sakayanagi-san has been playing chess at lunch times against all comers and has a pretty high win rate, people talk about it on the school boards." Honami countered.

"I've played against her a lot so I know her better than they do," I tried to defend.

"You beat her without looking at the board. You memorized the pieces and moved perfectly without even looking in our direction even once. While fishing." Honami pointed out.

Fuck.

I was too relaxed and too complacent. I was so comfortable around Honami and Arisu I didn't even realize what I was doing. I felt like I was warned about this and still managed to blunder. I stepped in poop and Eiichiro even pointed out that it was reckless and now I made a monumental misstep.

I couldn't even blame Arisu for this one. So many times when we played I would be doing something else while playing. Reading a book or while I was training we played like that all the time. There's no way she would ha... No. She wouldn't...

Before I could say anything, Honami cut me off by raising her hand.

"I said before that you didn't need to tell me anything and I meant it. I guess I just wanted to impress you a little bit. I didn't want you to think I was stupid or anything so I just thought I'd let you know what I noticed," Honami finished lamely.

"You wanted to prove that you're not just boobs and butt?" I tried to joke.

"Exactly," Honami confirmed with a nod and a smile.

"One day I'll tell you everything. Not now, but one day," I promised.

Honami just smiled before taking my hand and pulling me back toward the cave.

"Come on," Honami urged. "We have to go pick Sakayanagi-san up, she's waiting."

Before she could pull me along I tugged her back and kissed her. It was short and innocent, barely a peck but she reciprocated even if she was surprised. It was still my first kiss though and I'd taken a thorough beating tonight, I had to get back on top.

"W-what wa- why did you do that all of a sudden?" Honami stammered, clearly flustered.

"You said it before, you're not the type to kiss someone who isn't your boyfriend right?"

"B-boyfriend... right..." Honami breathed in a daze.

A/N: There you go, ship's sailed. Sorry to those that don't like it but this was always the plan. Thanks to Yae_Simp for giving it a read before I posted it.

SS Who knows

Can you tell me how someone can be incredibly happy and a little sad at the same time? I can't keep the smile off my face right now as I watch my boyfriend carrying his sister to Class D's camp at the river.

My boyfriend..

It's so hard to believe, even a little difficult to say. Thank God this is an inner monologue and it's dark at the moment. If my face heats up anymore I'm sure to pass out. I was never one who was desperate to fall in love or to be in a relationship and in such a short amount of time he wormed his way into my heart.

I can't believe he feels the same way...

Everything about my confession and how we got together was thoroughly underwhelming. We're in a dark and damp forest in the middle of an exam on a deserted island while competing against each other. It was perfect, I wouldn't have it any other way.

I'm sad though, because we have to part yet again. I also feel cowardly as I always lose to him, I'm always the one who gives in. The entire time he knew how I felt and he just waited while I was tearing my hair out thinking that he didn't feel the same way about me. I wasted so much time, all of this could have been avoided. Yet again I was stubborn.

It's horrible because he foiled every one of my plans. One night I got him food and made an offhand joke that it was a girlfriend's duty. He just laughed at me and commented that he bought our dinner most nights and that it would be a boyfriend's duty by my logic. We bantered back and forth and I realized now what he was doing. This was a war and I lost hopelessly.

I feel like a winner though.

Even though I'm dejected, I'm okay with this because I don't want to be the kind of girlfriend who has to be by her boyfriend's side at every moment of every day. I've heard that absence makes the heart grow fonder. Maybe while we're sleeping in separate camps he'll be thinking of me? I know I'll be thinking of him. About my first kiss...

It was everything I could have hoped for but I wished I had the power of one of those super people he reads about. If only I could stop time for a few more seconds to make it last longer. I was surprised and before I knew what was happening it was over. My body seemed to know instinctively what to do though because as surprised as I was I kissed him back.

I'm lying to myself though, it was all just doubts but I knew he felt the same way. I was telling myself he didn't out of fear because if I never put myself out there, then I would never have to risk being rejected. In the end I'm thankful that everything happened exactly how it did. The push and pull was fun even if I gave in like a fool.

I've noticed a lot about him. Things that I'm positive that no one else has, I study him closely whenever I'm around him. There have been changes in him compared to when I first met him both physically and in his personality.

For one thing he's... bigger. Not in height but broader in his shoulders and everywhere else. I couldn't help but stare at him earlier with his shirt off not because of anything perverse but because I was surprised. I don't do a lot of physical training but I could tell that he is noticeably bigger.

He's grown his hair longer and his hands are rough but they're also huge. The size of his hands dwarf my own and I feel like a toddler or a small child when I hold it. I can only think he trains harder, he definitely eats a lot more. He has a strange relationship with Koenji-kun so maybe they're pushing each other.

His personality has changed as well and I've noticed small idiosyncrasies. He still has the bored look on his face most of the time but I noticed a difference when he was trying to fish. It was as though he already anticipates things and knows he'll come out on top. If my suspicions about him are correct then the boredom was justified.

Not long after Sudo-kun was suspended I even caught him looking at me with lustful eyes on more than one occasion. I can't even say that I hated or disliked it, in fact...

I'm positive that he is a genius. He can lie and deflect all that he wants but he can't fool me. If he thinks I'm just a dense and simple minded girl then he is mistaken, I'm perceptive. I notice things, particularly the people I'm closest with and I'm confident in what I've observed.

He plays us all like puppets. I've noticed him pulling strings with people, enticing the exact reaction that he wants. As though he sees into the future and he knows that if he just pushes this one grain of sand, everything will unfold exactly as he wants. He may think he's fooled me, but that chess game wasn't an accident. I don't care what thoughts come to his mind or which words come out of his mouth, he never does anything without carefully considering the pros and cons.

Even if it was subconsciously, I believe that he was testing me. To see if I could notice what he was doing. He has been feeding me tiny spoonfuls of a broader picture bit by bit and watching me to see if I can figure it out. It's almost as though I'm an experiment of his but for the life of me I can't figure out what the purpose for all of it is.

I hate to say it but I know that I'm being outmaneuvered. I know that I'm playing his game and that he is one step ahead of me every time. If I had an ego, I would feel distraught. I'd be frustrated at constantly being behind the eight ball but I'm not. As difficult as it is to believe, I find it strangely exhilarating.

The purpose for provoking Kanzaki that night wasn't for a reaction from Kanzaki, I'm sure of it. He did that to see my reaction and what I would do. It was an opportunity to show him that I'd choose myself, that I had seen what he was trying to show me about Class B.

They're good and kind hearted people, no one can tell me otherwise. The issue with them is that they're malleable, they go with the flow. They are the reflection of the person who is at the top. They're fundamentally different to Class D who are unapologetically individual. What you see is what you get with them, flaws and all. Some of them may be misguided but they're shamelessly themselves.

I've come to realize quite a number of things. If I continued to be the leader for Class B it would destroy me. I'm someone who wears my heart on my sleeve and it bleeds for the people around me for better or worse. Their failures aren't their fault, they're my failures.

Hypothetically if someone were to be attacked, I would shield them with my body. If they were still harmed, it would be my fault because I didn't shield them well enough. It's a destructive and misguided way to look at things.

In spending so much time with Kiyotaka, I've come to learn about just how flawed this way of thinking is. You can't give to people if you have nothing left and no one has an unlimited supply to offer to people. The best way to live life is to give everything to the people you care for as they will be the ones who appreciate what you do for them the most.

The smaller that circle is, the more you can give to them.

I'm incredibly fortunate that I have learned this so early on in my high school career. I know that I am incredibly stubborn and the longer this lesson took to learn, I'm sure I would have dug my heels in more. I would have hard headedly defended my position instead of acknowledging my shortcomings and perhaps it would have led to my demise. It may have even destroyed me.

I was trying so hard to figure out the puzzle of how I felt and now that I've figured that out it's as though it is just a corner of an even bigger one that is my boyfriend. While before I was frustrated when trying to figure it out, the puzzle now is an enjoyable one and I am excited to figure out what mosaic I will stumble upon once all of the pieces fall into place.

I've subconsciously also started behaving like him. Without me even realizing I've been adopting his mannerisms. I seem to shrug a lot, I've caught myself saying 'who knows' so many times without meaning to. I've also come to enjoy being able to relax.

I was crushed in the beginning when the class had decided to let Himeno take the lead, I felt betrayed. I worked so hard to cultivate a certain culture only for it to be twisted into something completely different.

I can't be angry because everyone seems happy to go along with it, so now I can do the same. If Himeno fails then so be it, cest la vie, I don't want it anymore. I've seen how Kiyotaka is the picture perfect sibling and now I want to be the same. Time will pass and my sister will be here too, I want to dote on her just like he does with Sakayanagi-san.

Still, I feel as though I've won a battle only to be thrust into a war. I may be his girlfriend now but I have noticed that I'm not the only one who has their eye on him, some of them quite surprising. I doubt any of them will let the fact that we are together stop them either.

It doesn't matter to me though, let them come. He chose me and I will not give him a reason to regret his decision.

The last thing I've noticed is something that I'm shocked that I'm okay with. I will always be second to Sakayanagi-san. If there was ever a situation that he had to choose between me or Sakayanagi-san he would choose her. I always thought that I wouldn't be okay with that. I'm still a girl and I've always thought that I wanted to be the center of my significant other's universe.

There is a bond between those two that I will never break or come between. I'm okay with that with all my heart, as long as I never make him choose it will never be a problem. I've even come to care for Sakayanagi-san, I hope sometime soon we can be on a first name basis.

Now that the puzzle that is love is complete though I have also become aware of other things. Kanzaki was infatuated with me. It wasn't love like what I have for Kiyotaka but it was an attraction for him. It must have been weak though, the moment he had the chance to tie himself to someone he thought would benefit him more he did so. I can't blame him or hate him, he's working in his own self interest. It's something that I have gradually learned to do myself.

It isn't the same though and I know it. I have learned to act in my own self interest but I do not do it at the detriment of others. As long as I don't hurt people, I'm willing to put myself first now. I believe Kanzaki will shove anyone in front of a bullet to save himself. I'm not sure if this is a change in character or if I'm like this because of my feelings for Kiyotaka but only time will tell.

Perhaps it wasn't even an attraction, maybe he just acted that way out of fear that Kiyotaka would turn me against Class B. Maybe he thought that if he got me to see him instead of Kiyotaka, I would be willing to do more for Class B instead of splitting my attention between the Student Council, Class D and ours.

Who knows.

With all of these thoughts and feelings jumbling around my head, I took the path back to Class B's camp. It's grossly different from what I would have envisioned if I was taking the lead.

We had multiple tents, no more than four to a single tent. They splurged on a bath system, games, a BBQ set, a toilet and just about everything else. Every luxury that was available on the manual we had purchased. Even snacks and chocolates. They even brought a lot of it to the beach and shared it with Class C.

I'm positive that Himeno did this as a slap to my face, to ally with the class that I had been working so hard to prove that they had set up Class D. If she was hoping for a reaction from me she would be disappointed. I didn't show up not because I was hurt but because I had somewhere else I'd rather be. These luxuries were meaningless to me, I'd rather spend the day with Kiyotaka.

She had done everything to set me up to fail. I had the chance to say no to being the leader but upon her explaining her plan to use me to get information on Class D's leader I accepted. I wasn't even looking, I just wanted the chance to go to the river. That changed when Kiyotaka confidently said that I'd never find the leader, I was annoyed.

He was right yet again though, Koenji-kun was very thorough. As far as I could tell no one knew who the leader was aside from Koenji-kun and the person themself. I was content to fail in this mission, I'm even okay if I'm found out. It'll be a failure to the point where they won't put me in this position again.

I was fully intent on walking straight to my tent and being alone with my thoughts, nothing could ruin the happiness I felt right now. I wanted to sleep as early as possible so I could see my boyfriend on his second trip back with Sakayanagi-san. Unfortunately, fate had other plans for me when the class was sitting around our campfire with dinner from our meal set.

"Ichinose-san, could we have a moment?" Himeno asked with a false smile.

I changed course a little reluctantly as I faced the group who were watching me absentmindedly. I doubted that any of them minded that I missed roll call, we had no points left. Himeno had paid for our dinner meal sets in advance already and with everything we had we were all set. Realistically my absence wasn't something to concern the group.

Everyone was too busy eating and laughing with each other. No one really bothered with this power struggle game that Himeno was trying to play with me. They didn't even realize it was happening, it was sold to them that this was to assist me. As far as they were aware, Himeno was helping me.

I'm sure that if not for how we tackled the mid-terms they would be more apprehensive. They had faith in high risk high reward strategies now so they went along with the plan with little to no pushback. Despite the fact that the direction of our tactics had changed, our unity was still just as strong.

I suppose the culture I cultivated hadn't been completely crushed.

"We were worried about you, you should have been back for roll call. I was about to ask Shibata-kun to look for you."

"I was busy with Class D and didn't think it'd be a problem, sorry for making you worry." I explained.

"I'll ask you to make sure you're back for roll call. We need to make sure you're okay. Try to be considerate of our concern for you," Himeno continued to smile as she spoke.

"I'll make more of an effort but it could happen again. Try not to expect much, I have a lot on my plate at the moment,"

"Well the effort is appreciated, have you found their leader yet?"

"No I haven't yet, they're quite good at hiding who it is. Still, I'm going to get an early night so I can get back to it tomorrow. I'll just take my meal and eat it for breakfast, I'm not really hungry. Good night everyone," I said cheerfully.

I took my meal from Mako-chan who was holding it for me before making my way to my tent. Unzipping and carefully getting ready for bed, I put the meal set beside me and got ready to sleep. I was hungry but I knew that Kiyotaka had been eating charred fish and burnt corn so I wanted to save it for him. I can endure for one night, I'll eat some snacks in the morning to hold me over until dinner.

The challenge would be making him eat it. Sakayanagi-san told me that she tried to share her meal with him only for him to pat her on the head and tell her that she should eat as much as she could. He was making every effort to lessen her burden.

Before I could close my eyes, the tent opened again. Thinking it was just Mako-chan or Chihiro-chan I was ready to ignore it before a voice broke me from my thoughts.

"That wasn't very nice, Ichinose-san. We were still talking," Himeno frowned.

I really was tired, today was an emotional day with so many revelations. I didn't have the strength for this right now but I also knew that she wasn't going to let this go. Resigned, I sat up on my mattress before giving her my full attention.

"Are you even trying to find their leader?" Himeno looked at me suspiciously.

"Of course," I nodded. "Even if I had my reservations on your plan, you're the leader of Class B now. If you request something of me that I can do, I will do it. I hold no ill will for you, Himeno-san."

Himeno eyed me carefully as though she were trying to find a lie in what I had said. I really didn't, if anything I was grateful to her. I had more time now and I had the boyfriend I hoped to be with. There really wasn't any reason to hate her.

"I find that hard to believe," Himeno said carefully.

"It's true," I said with a shrug. "You're the leader of our class now and it suits me. I have everything that I wanted through all of this. I've told you my misgivings with your plan and it's up to you to decide our fate now."

"My plan is not so different to what your little boyfriend came up with," Himeno hissed, getting angry.

I was tired and getting a little exasperated. I was happy, I just wanted to be left alone with my happiness.

"It's very different, Himeno-san. That isn't important though, I will give you my best effort but I'm sure it won't go the way you hoped for. I'm certain they'll figure out that I'm Class B's leader for the exam."

"You seem to have so much confidence in the group that's at zero points for the last two months," Himeno tried to bait me. I just stayed quiet, the less I said the sooner this would be over.

"Either way you lose Ichinose. Find their leader and I come out on top with two leaders identified in this exam. Everyone has the holiday they wanted and we get a hundred points for our trouble. If you're found out, you'll take the blame. You made a mistake by letting yourself get assigned so you could spend your days with him," Himeno taunted me.

"We're dating now, I have no regrets," I informed her. "If it unfolds that way, so be it. You shouldn't feel threatened by me, I have no interest in taking back the role."

"You don't know it now but being in your position is draining. It's so much responsibility and I know what it's like to struggle there. Being responsible for thirty nine other students and their futures is not an easy burden to bear. Thank you for taking it from me," I said gratefully.

Himeno glared at me, it seemed she really hated me. I have no idea what I'd done to her to incite this kind of hatred but I honestly didn't care anymore. I can't please everyone, I tried and I failed. There's always going to be someone who wasn't happy with the decisions you make, you just had to hope it all worked out.

"Do you honestly think you'll be able to come out of this unscathed if you're the reason this class fails in this exam?"

"Who knows," I shrugged.

Her eyes twitched when I said that, most people seemed to dislike it when Kiyotaka did it but I could see why he did it now. It was a little fun to keep people guessing.

"I met him today, quite an interesting guy," Himeno started. "Many different interesting revelations."

I was confused, I hadn't heard about this. I knew that he had been punched by Kanzaki but didn't hear anything about him speaking with Himeno. I was so concerned at the time that he had been hit that I didn't think to ask how or why at the time.

"It's very convenient that BUDDY was released at the same time that he was put onto the Student Council isn't it? Even more convenient that you encouraged all of us to use it to build up points for the bank in case one of us was up for expulsion.

"I wonder if that's true, Ichinose-san. What would the others think if you had them all working so that he could make a skim off their work or rather, what if all this time you had them doing this so that you could transfer to Class D?" Himeno asked rhetorically.

Maybe I wasn't as perceptive as I thought, I never considered that Kiyotaka was a part of that. Now that I know what I've observed, it wouldn't surprise me in the slightest that he was behind it. It all made sense, only he would find a way to perpetuate laziness.

Even still, regardless of whether the two hundred point skim was going to him it made no difference. The benefits to us were far greater than the meager amount that he was making from it. We had saved a modest four million points from it, a number we never would have achieved at this point without it.

Only pride and jealousy would stop you from taking advantage of such an opportunity. It made no difference, even if I knew all of this I wouldn't have changed my decision to encourage us to do all we could to save up for the bank. I wasn't in control of those points anymore, I had handed them over to Himeno along with the leadership role. I had no idea how much was left, for all I knew she spent it all and I didn't care.

"It's easy to tell everyone that they need to work part time while you were busy flirting with Ayanokouji-kun isn't it?" Himeno accused me rudely.

"That's not true..." I sighed tiredly.

"Isn't it? You're dating now, could you have done that without doing everything he told you to do? I wonder what else he made you do. He could have anyone but he chose you. It doesn't take a genius to figure out why..." Himeno was twisting the truth, just like she had done before.

I looked at her and felt sorry for her. She would really stoop this low to try and ruin my perfect night. She wasn't successful, they're just words. Nothing anyone here says can hurt me, especially not tonight.

"If that's what you believe then I can't change your mind. You can tell the class whatever you want. The less they expect of me, the less they will rely on me. I told you before, I'm not interested in taking anything from you."

"It's sad that you would try and ruin my perfect night. I'm sorry to say that you haven't succeeded. Nothing can ruin tonight for me," I said with a smile.

With that I laid back down and closed my eyes. I felt liberated, I felt like a weight had been lifted from my shoulders. I stood up for myself, I gave in to what I wanted and most of all I had everything in my life that I could ever desire. I was also more than a little satisfied when I heard Himeno close our tent out with a huff of frustration.

Chapter 23

Last night wasn't fun, I was teased by my backpack when we parted with Honami. The teasing wasn't the problem at all, it was kind of nice to have a playful Arisu back. High on playing chess again and having something to do other than sit and rely on people, she was in great spirits. She spoke very highly of Honami and I could understand why as they seemed to have bonded during the trip.

Honami was incredibly attentive with Arisu and the best thing about it was that it wasn't for show. It would be obvious if it was, when doing anything for her she wouldn't suddenly look around for me to see if I'd noticed like Kushida did. She didn't point out anything she did and she seemed to do things just on instinct alone, never needing to be prompted.

I was expecting to have people annoyed with me about missing roll call but I wasn't expecting the explosion that I got when I got back. Yamauchi seemed to have been waiting for this opportunity, he didn't miss his chance the moment we were back. As usual, he seemed to have a skewed view on just how much he actually contributed.

I myself had scouted the island with Koenji first thing when we got on the island which got us eight points worth of fishing gear, pitched our tents in the initial set up, fished and got us the leisure set. Yamauchi got berries and perved on the girls while they swam in the river. I didn't see how this tipped the scales in his favor but in his mind he had been the model of contributions by comparison.

Well I attempted to fish, I hadn't actually caught anything yet in that stupid river.

So when we got back and he got in my face I was fully intent on smacking him and helping him get to sleep early tonight. It wasn't an act of violence, it'd be assisting a classmate of mine with getting an early night of rest. Good God, I really was doing a lot of work this trip.

Stepping in poop really was a bad omen, I was later forced to watch something so disgusting that I prayed I'd never have to see it again.

"Where the hell have you been!? We lost five points because of you! You said you wouldn't miss any roll calls if Sakayanagi was allowed to stay!" Yamauchi shouted, walking straight to me.

Before I could say anything he pointed his finger directly in my face, I wanted to reach out and snap it.

"We've been working our asses off to save points while you've been doing whatever the hell you want. As soon as we got here you've been making demands of us when we're trying to save points! You've been strong arming us into accepting your shit while the rest are trying to make sure we get some points for next month!

"Not all of us have a sister in Class A to sponge points off! Are you going to pay us all for the points we're going to miss out on?" Yamauchi exclaimed.

Before I could say anything a small hand patted me on the shoulder, calming me down. I hadn't forgotten she was there, it was one of the only reasons I didn't lash out right away. Turning my head to Arisu she looked exasperated with me.

I still hadn't told her, she was teasing me about the fact that Honami and I seemed closer and about the fact that we were seemingly joined at the hand ever since we came to the island. It wasn't that I was hiding it, I was just waiting on a chance to tell her. She just kept rapid firing teasing jabs not letting me get a word in. Before I knew it we were back at the camp and I was planning to tell her when she was done having her fun.

I did miss the roll call though even if it was for a good reason. I was prepared to just tell them why and knew the chaos would get me out of it. The girls loved good gossip, if they heard that the reason why I missed the roll call was a confession I'd be saved by them. Most of the boys would be annoyed, all of them save for Hirata were single and would give anything for a confession from any girl.

"Sorry for missing roll call everyone, something happened on my way back to camp and I got held up," I offered the rest of the group, ignoring Yamauchi completely.

If he didn't remove that finger from my face soon he was going to lose it. Thankfully for him, the beginnings of an explanation caused him to back off for just a moment and he put his hand down.

"What happened?" Kushida asked with concern.

She moved closer to me inspecting me thinking I got into a fight. My eye must have started to darken a bit and now people noticed the bruise. It happened earlier on the beach but the rest hadn't noticed since it was fresh. Honami saw it instantly, how about that...

"Well actually, on my way back. Honami, she confessed. We're dating now," I explained as succinctly as I could.

I really wasn't sure if I was making a mistake, it's my first girlfriend. I didn't know what the protocol was. I didn't even ask Honami if we're supposed to tell anyone or anything, I'm not embarrassed I have nothing to hide. Still for some reason I felt like it was the sort of thing I was supposed to ask about but didn't realize at the time.

Karuizawa gave a whoop and the girls were blushing and excitedly gossiping amongst themselves. Karuizawa and I started out friendly with each other in the beginning when we first started but ever since she started dating Hirata we stopped hanging out as much. She was the one who was most interested in developments between Honami and I and now I was beginning to smell something.

"Pay up! Shinohara, the pool money's mine I called it! I told you guys you were wrong, I knew it!" Karuizawa exclaimed with glee.

"Pool money?" I repeated in confusion.

Horikita had come over to me during the disturbance, I noticed a foul look on Kushida's face but it was gone in a moment. The exam must have been really getting to her.

"The girls had a pool on who you'd end up dating, Karuizawa was the only one who called you and Ichinose-san. I didn't participate, it's all stupid. The first and second highest choices were beyond ridiculous." Horikita explained.

It was the first time I'd seen her up close since we got here and I noticed she looked far paler than usual. Frowning with concern, I took her face in my hands before feeling her neck and forehead to check her. She had a slightly elevated pulse and she was quite feverish.

Suddenly, Horikita's face went completely red and she got even hotter. Whatever it was, it was getting worse right now.

"You're sick?" I frowned.

I felt a little bad, Horikita and I are friends now. I was so caught up on everything going on that I hadn't even checked in with her very often. She slapped my hands away and averted her eyes.

"I am fine, I'm recovering well. Koenji-kun has removed me from my responsibilities and asked me to prioritize my recovery. So long as I take it easy, I should have recovered by tomorrow or the day after." Horikita explained quietly.

"If you need anything from me just ask," I offered.

Horikita nodded, and Kushida stayed quiet. Kushida had the ever present smile that she always had but for some reason it didn't reach her eyes like it normally does. Apparently she was still annoyed at me missing the roll call.

"Kiyotaka, I'm beginning to get annoyed that you continually forget that I am STILL ON YOUR BACK!" Arisu exclaimed in annoyance.

I scrambled to help her down quickly. This is ridiculous, so much is happening at once why was I being cursed like this?

"You were saying something about a betting pool?" I tried to bring it back to the topic at hand.

"The girls had a betting pool on who you'd end up dating and how long it would take," Kushida explained. "Karuizawa-san was the only one who guessed Ichinose-san while we were on the cruise trip. She technically lost because it happened during the exam and we're not on the shi-"

"Ahh mou! That's not fair," Karuizawa suddenly cut in. "None of us knew we'd have a special exam, you can't rob me on a technicality!"

"Who had the highest odds?" I asked, suddenly curious. As if on queue most of the girls blushed and averted their gazes.

"Matsuo-kun," Horikita answered.

Disgusting. These women were filthy.

"Second highest?" I asked a little bit more fearfully.

"Sakayanagi-san,"

What the hell was wrong with these women? My MALE best friend first then my sister second. These girls were beyond complete degenerates, what the hell was wrong with them. Eiichiro was just as shocked, suddenly looking around at the girls with a look of pure disgust on his face. They at least had the decency to look a little embarrassed.

"You people are sick," I deadpanned.

"Things like that are common today, stop being so judgemental," Satou tried to brush off. It didn't take a genius to figure out who she had her money on.

"Really? My sister?"

"Actually, it's not technically incest. No blood, that kind of thing," Shinohara said quietly with a blush.

Animals, the lot of them.

"We're getting off track here!" Yamauchi yelled, trying to get everyone's attention. "The point is that we lost five points with you not coming to roll call. That's half a meal set for all of us while we've been eating fish, corn and berries like animals!"

"Alright, we get the point," Eiichiro said, rubbing his temples.

"No, you don't. You're always covering for Ayanokouji, this is bullshit!

While Yamauchi did have somewhat of a point in that it was a little unfair of me to miss roll call while we were all budgeting for points, I couldn't help but scoff at the hypocrisy. If he were the one getting a confession from someone he'd give up all our points, our leader and his dignity for it. Something I couldn't resist pointing out even though I was in the wrong.

"Didn't you just say a little over a month ago that you'd give an inch off your dick just to sit and have lunch with her? You're saying that that's worth less than five class points?"

At the crass alleged proclamation, the girls suddenly turned and looked at Yamauchi like he was pond scum. The same girls that were advocating for incest and a homosexual romance not even five minutes ago. I was surrounded by hypocrites.

"You're disgusting,"

"Pervert,"

"I didn't say t-," Yamauchi tried to defend.

"You did say it, it was the same day that Karuizawa decked you," I reminded him.

At the memory suddenly Karuizawa went bright red and I saw her subconsciously clenching her fist. I still don't know what he said to her but apparently it was bad enough to get a reaction from her even now.

He did have a point if I was to be fair. I wasn't going to admit it out loud but he did have a point. I didn't regret it and I wouldn't go back on my decision but I knew what I was getting into when I agreed to miss the roll call. Still, this was Yamauchi. If it was Koenji or Eiichiro getting angry I'd accept it. Not from this idiot.

I'd spent so many weeks manipu- encouraging Honami to this point, five points was a small sacrifice to me. I was being selfish, I did what I could to get the leisure set on Class A's tab just so that we wouldn't spend our own only to miss the roll call on the same day.

Still, you've seen my girlfriend. You'd do the same, wouldn't you?

"Koenji, you're the leader for this exam, say something!" Yamauchi tried to get someone else on his side.

Koenji looked up at everyone from his spot lying next to the river. He looked really bored, it was like looking at my own reflection while I was in classes. I wasn't sure whether or not it was because of the current situation or being on the island itself but he didn't look like he was enjoying himself at all.

"I have said nothing because I simply do not care. I have fulfilled my obligations to the group, I have implemented a strategy and it is unfolding flawlessly. This is an issue for Matsuo-boy to attend to, I care naught for this situation." Koenji explained, boredom dripping from his tone.

Yamauchi looked like he was going to say something again but Eiichiro cut in as if Koenji passed him a baton. Koenji looked as though he was really doing all he could not to go back to the ship already, if he was ready to sacrifice thirty points for that, five points for missing a roll call was nothing.

"Kiyotaka, please don't miss another. Everyone has been accepting of your conditions, I'm really happy you and Ichinose-san are a couple now but please don't let this happen again.

"As a penalty, Kiyotaka will be paying everyone a thousand points. That's two months worth of the five points we all would have got. Nineteen thousand five hundred each month total." Eiichiro instructed.

"That's bullshit, he should have to pay it every month. Class points are recurring, it's not a one off thing," Yamauchi complained.

Forget the finger, I should break the arm.

"Fuck off Yamauchi," Eiichiro spat. "It's five points, we could lose it just as well in the first month. If we only end up with twenty thousand points next month, that's all of Kiyotaka's allowance. Two months is fine, you wanted me to penalize him and I am."

Eiichiro you beautiful bastard. He knew I had points, this amount was pocket change for me. In order to not reveal that, he spread it out as though I was going to be living in poverty to pay it. This would have been enough but after this I was forced to witness something that made me want to wash my eyes out with acid.

"Yamauchi-kun," Arisu called sweetly. She motioned for him to come closer and took one of his hands in both of her own.

"Please forgive my brother. He isn't as handsome or charming as you are. Please understand, this is probably the only confession he will ever have." Arisu said sadly with teary eyes.

Good lord I wanted to vomit. Not only because she was lying as easy as she could breathe but that she was doing this to Yamauchi. Hell, I don't want to see her do this with any boy let alone this idiot.

"I-I..." Yamauchi was red all the way up to his ears.

"Ichinose-san is a little clouded with her judgment at the moment. Things with her class aren't going so well, it's the only reason why she would confess to Kiyotaka. After all, why would anyone confess to him when you're here too, right?" Arisu gushed with faux praise.

"Right," Yamauchi agreed with confidence.

"Also, he's a little tired. He's not strong like you and he's been struggling to carry me around. I'm sure if he was as strong as you are, he would be able to make it back on time every roll call," Arisu batted her eyes at him.

Please, make it stop.

"I think we can let it go, just this once," Yamauchi nodded slowly with understanding. Dear God, he was puffing out his chest with pride.

"Thank you so much, Yamauchi-kun. You're so kind," Arisu smiled gratefully at him.

Yamauchi ducked his head bashfully while Eiichiro looked on in pure horror. I was feeling the exact same way, I was ready to throw this idiot straight into the river and drown him. Yamauchi suddenly walked over to the fire where he stared at it bashfully poking it with a stick.

"You owe me for this," Arisu hissed at me.

I couldn't say anything, I was horrified. Watching my baby sister flir- I think I just threw up a bit in my mouth.

"As interesting as that was, there's something else I'd like to bring up," Kushida said suddenly.

"We're in the middle of a special exam, I understand that you and Ichinose-san are dating now. She's my friend too but she's still in Class B. We have to protect the identity of our leader, I don't think it's a good idea to continue to allow her to come into our camp."

Apparently this was a sentiment that the majority of the group agreed on. The only ones who didn't seem to agree were Hirata, Karuizawa, Horikita and Eiichiro. Arisu remained silent, this was a class discussion and so far she hadn't interjected on anything to do with the exam. She was very aware that she was a guest here and hadn't overstepped even once.

I know she more than likely had her own opinion on this, she was also incredibly capable of separating feelings from having to achieve a goal as long as I wasn't involved. I was actually curious about what she thought about this, regardless of if she sided with Kushida.

"What's your opinion on this, Arisu?" I asked suddenly.

Kushida was about to cut in and say something but Eiichiro beat her to the punch.

"Actually, I'd like to know as well if you wouldn't mind Ah-chan,"

Arisu's eyes twitched at the nickname. She hated it and I was wondering why she hadn't hit him already. She never had an issue of very loudly rebuking him for the nickname in the past and he'd been throwing it around constantly. He hadn't even called her by her name once since we got to school, she was probably mentally keeping tally to give him his retribution in one go.

"It's not my place to say," Arisu said firmly.

"It's just for argument's sake, don't worry about it." Eiichiro tried to reassure her.

"No, Eiichiro. It is not my place to say, I am a guest here. I can not intervene here in any capacity. Kushida-san has brought up a concern, as a leader it is your responsibility to address it by your own judgment. My opinion should hold no gravitas." Arisu said firmly.

Kushida smiled gratefully at Arisu before looking expectantly at Eiichiro. He seemed to be torn, on the one hand it was a valid concern even if Kushida wasn't being sincere with her reasoning. On the other hand, Honami helped more than anyone in Class D with Sudo's case even if it ended in failure.

Still, regardless of how she had been good to the group this was still a special exam. He needed to set aside his personal bias and feelings in order to achieve the goal. I understood that, even if I wouldn't like what the outcome could be. Eiichiro was finding his identity as a leader and I had to respect his decision no matter what it was. I committed myself that I'd support him on this journey.

"Are there others who agree with her?" Eiichiro asked the group.

Most of them stayed silent, averting their eyes not wanting to get involved. It's so funny, I'm always chastised for being lazy and not contributing but the rest of them were the same. Why was I singled out when they were all just like me? Throwing me under the bus so that they could continue on without scrutiny.

"Matsushita-san? What do you think?" Kushida asked with kindness, moving to her side and looping her arms around one of hers.

"I..." Matsushita struggled to say anything.

"Don't you agree that it's a bad idea for Ichinose-san to be around the camp right now?" Kushida pressed.

"I...I think that it's a valid concern. At least while we're on the island..." Matsushita finally got out.

Kushida smiled proudly at her, was there something I'm missing here? Matsushita had been acting strange since before the trip, even more strangely the last two nights specifically. I wanted to talk to her to find out what's wrong only for her to quickly find an excuse to leave as quickly as possible whenever I entered the area.

"Ichinose has been really good to us, she's helped us a lot," Eiichiro frowned.

"It's your decision, but I think she will understand if we explain the reasons to her personally," Horikita offered. She didn't look good, perhaps she was forcing herself when the topic of my girlfriend came up.

"Kiyotaka, if it's okay with you I'll tell her. I don't want to cause a fight between the two of you when you just started dating..." Eiichiro really looked like he didn't want to do this.

"There won't be a fight, I can do it if you like," I said, brushing away his concerns.

"Thank you for understanding, Ayanokouji-kun," Kushida beamed at me.

"There's nothing for me to not understand, it's fine. We can just hang out outside the camp, there's plenty of places. The beach, the forested area or even up in the mountainous section. Plenty of places where we can be alone, where no one can hear us..." I trailed off.

Kushida glared at me but it was gone in a second. Spare me, she really thinks I'm stupid and that I don't know what's going on.

The day that Horikita was getting expelled I texted Manabu to get the points to get her off. What Horikita never asked me was how I knew that Kushida was the one who did it. The moment I sent the text, I sat sideways looking at the occupants of the room with my peripheral vision.

My seat was at the front of the room and it was easy to be inconspicuous. I've always felt something off about Kushida, I always condescendingly referred to her as the angel. Lucifer was once an angel after all.

While the rest of the class looked indifferent, Kushida at one point looked at Horikita with a vicious smile on her face. At times there are small cracks in her mask that I noticed when I prodded her but this time it was there for far longer.

I was specifically looking at Kushida, I suspected her when she questioned me asking if I thought anyone would mind if Horikita was expelled. At the time Horikita and I were at odds so I didn't think anything of it. When the expulsion was actually happening, I made sure to focus on her to see if she would give herself up. There was also the backhanded way that she hinted at me giving her the points.

This bullshit facade wasn't fooling me, Kushida wasn't interested in the slightest in dating me. She was just trying to either get me to help expel Horikita or at the very least trying to make sure I don't intervene. It just happened she was willing to seduce me and more than likely use sex to get what she wanted out of me.

I'm pretty sure the training videos that keep getting posted on the school boards are making it an easier pill for her to swallow.

Whatever it was that Horikita had done to her it was bad enough for her to go to great lengths for it. That she'd be willing to give up her body for it was something else entirely, she must be getting desperate. Before it was just flirting to get me onside, now she looked irate whenever Honami was around me. As though she was a hindrance to her plan on trying to use me.

I was willing to let her go about her business, Manabu told me not to intervene when it came to Horikita. That she needed to handle these things herself. When she said she knew who did it, I left it up to her. If Kushida starts screwing with me specifically though I was going to needle her with these jabs until I found a weakness. Not to do anything right away, just to file away in case of an emergency.

As long as she left me alone, I would leave her alone.

"I don't think that's a very good idea either," Kushida countered earnestly.

"We can't dictate who Ayanokouji-kun can or can't spend time with," Horikita defended me. "He's free to associate with whomever he wishes."

"Horikita is right, if she can't come to the camp he's free to spend as much time with her outside as he wants outside his normal duties." Eiichiro said firmly. "I'll stay with Ah-chan while you're out,"

Arisu again twitched at the nickname and didn't say anything. With that we all ended up going to bed, it was getting late. Arisu assured me that I was fine to leave her with Eiichiro for a couple hours to spend time with Honami, she was pleased that we were finally together. We were so tired that we didn't talk about it much and we both fell dead asleep not long after. Arisu didn't even need to leave the tent once that night.

I understood the situation but I wasn't happy with it. Honami wasn't going to find our leader, I was positive. Koenji's plan was solid and none of us even knew who it was and we spent all of our time together. How was she going to find out in the small amount of time she was at the camp? Hell, I didn't even know who the leader was and if I couldn't figure it out there was no way she could. Still, the decision was out of my hands and I understood the position Eiichiro was in.

He couldn't continually give me everything I wanted, eventually people would start pushing back against him if he was too biased. He handled the situation well, mediated everyone and gave a healthy compromise. Slowly he was coming into his own, I always did tell him that he had to hold everyone accountable.

Arisu and I were walking back after the morning roll call was over, we both slept like logs. We hadn't spoken much yet at that point, she hadn't had any coffee or tea yet so she was still pretty comatose on the journey there. Now that she was awake, I could ask her what she thought about everything that happened last night. I had tried everything to forget... that but I was cursing my memory, it wouldn't go away.

"You know Yamauchi is going to be relentless now, you're probably the only girl who's ever been nice to him let alone..." I was going to throw up again.

"Good. I'm hoping he oversteps slightly so that you'll take me up on my suggestion and break something," Arisu smirked.

"You're evil, just ask me to do it. Don't make me witness... that,"

"Spare me, I have to watch you and Ichinose making doe eyes at each other all the time. You think that's any better?"

"I think it is," I affirmed with a nod.

Arisu laughed and hugged me while we continued to walk. We were getting to the halfway point of the exam and I was hoping it would be over, I've done far more than I ever wanted to. This trip was fun in the beginning and the longer it was dragging on the more I was wishing it was over already. The only thing that was the saving grace was Arisu being with us, if not for her being here I'd probably retire already.

"Your class is an interesting group of strange people with weird fetishes, I've never been more disgusted before," Arisu said, revolted.

"You never thought about it?" I teased her.

"You and Eiichiro? Of course not, that's filthy," Arisu sputtered.

"I meant me and you. Like Shinohara said, there's no blood," If I was forced to be disgusted over what I saw then I'd take this chance to tease her too.

Arisu went quiet for a bit as though the thought never occurred to her. We continued to walk in silence as she seemingly thought the question over in her head. It was something I'd never considered either, it never even crossed my mind. Arisu was always my little sister, seeing her romantically was never a consideration.

"I think that if you and I were never siblings, I'd be attracted to you. It's not worth considering as a possibility though, you and I will never see each other that way." Arisu said after a while.

I just nodded and continued to walk deep in my thoughts, this trip had been interesting. There was a lot of food for thought and with very little to do it allowed for me to think these things through. Not the hypothetical that we were going through alone but everything else too.

"Still, it would have been a bad idea on my part," Arisu ripped me from my thoughts.

"Why's that? Is it because Yamauchi is far more handsome and stronger than I am?" I teased her.

"Oh no that's not the reason, Onii-chan," Arisu chuckled. "I am but a frail young maiden, we bathed together when we were children. I've seen that monster, you'll break me in half."

Forget washing my eyes out with acid, I wanted to swallow it.

"Also, from tonight we'll sleep back to back. I forgot that you were a cuddler and I don't need that thing poking me in the back in the mornings anymore. Maybe it's you who has the fetish after all."

This devil, the only one who always keeps me on my toes. Here I thought I was the one teasing her.

Chapter 24

I had done my regular trip back and forth, and on the way back I was stopped by Honami who was beaming with happiness. It was infectious and I found myself a little bit happier with myself especially with the way things were going for me right now. I was incessantly teased by Arisu, which was becoming a regular occurrence now. She really had changed and started to loosen up a bit now that we had come to school. The old Arisu would have never made jokes like she did and I was happy for it.

Sure the jokes were at my expense, but Arisu was never like this before. Class D had their issues without a doubt. I'm sure everyone looked at the group of defects and probably disliked most of them, but they were the perfect class for me. Compared to the others, they were normal. It was the high school experience I wanted and I was fond of them in a strange way. They had their quirks and we had our dramas but this was as close to a regular high school experience as I was going to get at this place.

People were changing around me and I was fortunate enough to see the growth. It was interesting to see and I was cherishing the experience. Class Points, special exams, leadership and all these mind games were boring for me. If I really wanted to compete in these arenas we'd be Class A already; that didn't interest me. To foster and witness the growth of the people around me, now that was interesting. Whether it was Honami, Arisu or any of the others in our class, growth was growth, and it was intriguing.

I wanted to give people a chance and Horikita was a prime example of someone who grew a lot and someone I was glad to have given a chance. If I only knew her as the hard headed and arrogant person that I saw her as when we were first interacting, I wouldn't have been able to see her as she is now. It isn't a stretch to say that the awkward encounter where she asked me to be her first friend was a life changing one, I found a close friend in her that I had come to cherish.

She was very different now, surprisingly humble. Horikita even went out of her way to look out for Arisu and since the island exam started the two bonded more. It was genuine too; Horikita wasn't doing this to get into my good graces because she was already there. She seemed to have a very real respect and admiration for Arisu and I wouldn't have had the chance to see that if I was prejudiced and allowed her to get expelled because I didn't like her. She was still Manabu's sister, regardless of whether or not I disliked her at the time. Now I have another friend.

The other person who I was fortunate to see growth in was Honami. If you looked at her with rose tinted glasses you would think she wasn't someone who needed to grow. Aflawlessly beautiful and genuinely kind person who would do anything for anyone. Selflessness was her downfall. She was perceptive and capable but had a seemingly unwavering sense of justice. She had no issues whatsoever in sacrificing herself for the people around her, regardless of how close to them she was.

She had an incredibly strong moral compass as well, one that meant she would never resort to hurtfully deceitful tactics. It was admirable, but it made her predictable and the losses would have taken its toll. Especially with people like Ryuen, who very much loved a good underhanded strategy, and took pleasure in breaking people.

Through my influence, she started to love herself a little bit more. I know my flaws, I'm not deluded. I'm not a very good influence and I have bad tendencies. I'm just glad that some of my better traits rubbed off on her. She even took some of my negatives on herself just enough for it to be beneficial, in comparison to myself, who went overboard to the point of self destructiveness.

When I went to pick Arisu up after the roll call, she gravely told me that she would be staying with Class A until the next day. Katsuragi assured me that she would be cared for and that if I was needed he would send someone to get me immediately but I was very apprehensive. I have a bit of an unhealthy obsession with making sure Arisu is okay. I can admit it.

I fully intended to have Arisu with me at all times for the duration of the trip. In our short time together, I have become attached to Arisu again and was feeling a bit of anxiety at the prospect of her being away from me. As if sensing my discomfort, Arisu assured me that she would be fine, that we'd be reunited again soon and not to worry. Katsuragi told me that I was welcome to come into the base to see her if I was concerned throughout the day. Whatever it was that happened, it was big enough that he was willing to risk a leak now.

It was one of the reasons that pushed me to agree with allowing Arisu to stay without me. Katsuragi was someone who was unbelievably cautious. Even if he seemed to be willing to facilitate Arisu staying with Class D, he never once allowed me past the treeline near the cave. For him to suddenly change tune and allow me into their base, meant that it must be something serious.

So I went back to the river without Arisu, feeling a little dejected and sad. I may grumble about having to do work but it was worth it to spend so much time with her after we have been separated for quite some time. A lot of it was my fault for the things I did to her and as the time went by it became easier and easier to deal with. Now that we spent time together again, I realized what I missed and didn't want to leave her but agreed.

I was walking back to the river when I spotted Honami leaning against a tree waiting for me. She was standing there absentmindedly, inspecting the tips of her hair, when she heard me coming and her face split into a beaming smile. She looked so happy to see me but the look changed to one of confusion when she noticed that Arisu was absent and the hammock was wrapped around me hanging loosely without the now familiar occupant.

"Is everything okay? Where's Sakayanagi-san?" Honami asked worriedly.

"She's staying with Class A for the day, I'll pick her up tomorrow." I explained with a slight frown.

Honami's bright mood was slightly downcast for barely a moment before she instantly tried to cheer me up.

Giving me a hug and burying her face into my chest, I realized that I needed it but also that I really liked it. I've said it countless times but Honami is my first girlfriend. I don't really know what I'm doing aside from the basic research I've done on the internet. All of these experiences were new to me, I wasn't really sure what I was supposed to do or how to act, all of it was instinct.

Having a girlfriend was one of those new experiences I had wanted when starting up at ANHS. I wasn't as zealous about my pursuit as Yamauchi and I carefully considered who I was going to pursue before deciding on Honami but it was something that I wanted. In almost every way by comparison she was the perfect choice.

I'm not an easy person to be with, there aren't many girls who would be willing to deal with my personality. Asahina-senpai was older than me, probably more experienced. She would have had certain expectations of me that I wouldn't have been willing to fulfill.

Kushida was just as messed up as I was, perhaps even more. I don't know the circumstances to which she is how she is but I know that of everyone in the school she'd be my last choice. I enjoy playful push and pulls, I don't want to spend my days constantly reading into every interaction. There's also the fact that she was friends with everyone, dating her would have meant so many expectations on so many levels. Hard pass.

Matsushita was an odd case because there was a chance at some point that I would have considered her but she always gave up too easily. I had a feeling that I would constantly have to guess at what I would need to do and gauge reactions to see whether it was what she wanted or not. Doing things needlessly wasn't something I was interested in and the fact that I would have to constantly chase after her felt draining before it even began.

Honami was different, she gave me everything I wanted without expecting anything in return. For someone who's unbelievably unmotivated, there really couldn't be any better option than Ichinose Honami.

It also helped that she was hot with a killer body but that was a fringe benefit. Still, it was a great one. I'm not a pervert or anything. Those thighs though...

"Come on, I have a surprise for you," Honami coaxed me playfully.

Honami eagerly dragged me to a nearby fallen tree before sitting me down before she pulled out a meal set and a thermos. She quickly shoved the meal set into my hands with the biggest grin on her face before taking a seat next to me and eagerly looking up at me while I looked at the items confused.

"You want me to feed you breakfast?" I asked in confusion.

"No, I'm going to watch you eat breakfast," Honami smiled before opening the thermos.

She poured herself some coffee into the lid before taking a sip, nodding in approval and handing it over to me, urging me to drink. I hadn't had any coffee for the last few days, I really wanted it but my senses were in overdrive. Too much niceness, too much energy and way too much excitement.

"...What's going on here?" I asked suspiciously.

Honami looked confused for a moment and it looked like she was wondering what she did wrong.

"You guys haven't been eating properly and I kept my meal set for you. Did I do something wrong?" Honami asked, a little dejected.

"No, nothing like that of course not. This is your dinner though, you didn't eat. You take it." This girl was too sweet for her own good.

"I ate snacks, it's fine. Just eat, I saved it for you. We're not playing 'no you eat it' so just take it." Honami encouraged me.

Maybe I was wrong to be suspicious, apparently this was just a thing that couples did for each other. It wasn't so different to me doing paperwork while she was tired, maybe I was already acting like a boyfriend even when we were just friends. I shouldn't be paranoid, it was just kindness. I could get used to this, it was nice.

I took a sip of the coffee and sighed gratefully, before picking up the chopsticks and taking a bite of the rice and chicken. Good lord, you really do appreciate the little things when you're on an island eating food off a fire like a caveman, even if this food was cold now.

"Is it good?" Honami asked expectantly.

"So good, I missed normal food," I wanted to cry with happiness, we're only on our third day but it felt like an eternity.

"Don't you think you should give me something in return to show your appreciation?" Honami asked innocently.

...I knew it was too good to be true. It wasn't fair to do this to me, I was vulnerable at the moment. I was being forced to live like a nomad, eating foraged food just so the class could save points. I was carrying Arisu around like a slave all because I was too weak to let my little sister stay on the ship alone, and my best friend needed my support.

This was not the treatment that I was expecting from Honami, who had always indulged my nature. I let my guard down because I trusted her only to be betrayed and I found myself wondering if I made a mistake in my choice of companion for roughly half a second. Still, I'd fallen for this trap, I needed to take responsibility.

"Okay, what do you want?" I sighed with resignation.

Honami didn't say anything but her cheeks tinged pink before she tapped her lips with her index finger, looking at me expectantly.

Okay maybe this food trap wasn't such a bad one to fall into after all.

I pecked her on the lips with a thank you, going back to my food while Honami just looked at me enjoying the food with an even bigger smile. Who would have thought that Ichinose Honami would be so needy? She just sat there as I enjoyed the meal in silence, her elbow resting on her knee with her chin on her hand.

"You know something Kiyotaka?" Honami started as I continued to eat.

"I don't know how to explain it, but it's as though even though we've known each other for a while... It's almost like I'm meeting you for the first time all over again. It's really hard to explain, things feel different now."

"Different how?" I was eating the meal like I was a starving prisoner who was getting his last meal. It was all I could squeeze out.

"I don't know, I just feel different. More confident, happier. Like I could take on the world. Like everything looks a little brighter, colors a little more vibrant," Honami started kicking her legs as she spoke like she were a child.

"Is that so?" I asked with a bit of a chuckle.

I stood up with the coffee, the food all gone in a matter of moments. It really hit the spot and I was quick to put it away just in case the class was out foraging for food. I felt a little guilty that I got to eat but that only lasted when I saw the food. Once I started eating I lost all care, if any of them tried to take any from me I would have bitten off their finger.

Honami got to her feet, bouncing again. She closed her hands into fists before getting into a fighting stance that looked like she just vaguely saw it on TV. Her fists were all wrong with her thumbs inside her palm and she bounced up and down like a child pretending to be a boxer.

"I don't know, I just have so much energy right now," She exclaimed, jumping to her feet.

She started shadowboxing, it was horrible form. I couldn't help but laugh. It was really cute. She telegraphed with her shoulders with every punch, no one was going to be fooled with that. She would have done more damage to people if she was slapping at them, no twist in the body or snap, nothing. All it did was just make everything bounce.

Honami was really getting into the act because she let one fly, hitting me in the gut with the punch. It was like I got tapped but to Honami it was full force and suddenly her eyes started to water and she held her hand. She must have hurt her thumb with it being inside her hand.

"You okay there, Saitama?" I laughed jokingly.

"It hurts," Honami whined, holding her hand.

"Such an idiot," I continued to laugh, holding the hand and inspecting for damage. There wouldn't be any but at least it was an effort to show some concern.

After a few minutes of sulking she finally stopped. I was sure it stopped hurting after about three seconds but she faked like it still hurt to keep my inspection going longer, insisting that she may have broken something. Even now the game was going on, just a different one that was just as much fun.

"Almost everyone from Class D seems to be accepting of us," I told Honami after a while of sitting in comfortable silence.

"You told them?" Honami asked shyly, scratching her cheek in embarrassment.

"Was I not supposed to?"

It was one of the things I forgot to confirm with her, I wasn't sure whether we were supposed to keep it a secret or not. I'm not embarrassed, I have nothing to hide. I didn't consider that Honami may have had thoughts about it until after I'd already let them know.

"No, it's fine. I'm glad that you did," Honami shook her head and continued pretending to nurse her hand. Rolling my eyes, I nudged her with my shoulder, getting her attention again.

"If you want something from me just ask. Pretending your hand hurts to get me to hold it, food traps for kisses. You know you can just ask for those things or do it if you want right? There's no need for all of this,"

Honami's eyes went wide and she flushed with embarrassment, fidgeting and looking at her hands in silence for a while. Just like I was, I could tell that she was fumbling with this situation too. It's one thing to have feelings for someone and to want to confess but it's another thing entirely when it becomes a reality.

I knew what she meant about it being like we've met again for the first time, I could relate in some small way. The boundaries that we had before seemed to melt away and it was difficult to navigate what was acceptable and what wasn't. At least as friends we both knew how to act and what to do, this was completely different.

"It's still difficult for me, you know? Just doing the things that I want to do for myself. I'm getting better but it's still hard. I still worry about whether my actions will hurt people," Honami explained, hugging her knees to her chest.

"There's nothing wrong with putting yourself first."

"I know and I'm trying, it's just a difficult habit to break. Even now I'm watching my class and I know we're going down the wrong path. If the decision wasn't made for me, I'd still be leading Class B right now.

"I look at everything happening around me and I want to just go in and fix everything. I'm struggling with myself, I'm happy with how things turned out but I hate that it's at the expense of everyone in Class B..." Honami trailed off sadly.

I stayed quiet and let her get it off her chest. I knew that this wasn't going to be an easy thing for her to go through, things that seem easy for you doesn't necessarily mean that it's easy for everyone else.

Allowing people that you care about to make mistakes knowing that it was going to turn out badly in the short term but good for them in the long term was hard. I went through it when things were happening with Sudo. I wanted to end their suffering quickly and at times even wondered if I should step in and fix it for them. In the end I'm confident that my choice was best for everyone.

Even now I wanted to jump in and fix things for Honami, it would be relatively simple to achieve. If there was going to be lasting change in her though I had to let her go through this struggle, watch from the sidelines and mitigate any lasting damage. It was the only way to allow her to grow.

Old habits die hard, if I were a betting man I'd say that Honami would probably retake the leadership of Class B eventually. If they continued to fail past this point and they suffered, Honami would feel obligated to protect them. It was in her nature to do so.

If she did that I'd have to accept it. It didn't mean that I was going to just let it happen without trying to push her in the right direction.

"Last night, Himeno-san confronted me about my commitment to the class. I stood up for myself, I made a selfish decision and I was happy about it. Then there are moments where I feel guilty, it's like I don't even know who or what I am at the moment."

"I met her yesterday, it seems strange that she would do that to you. I didn't get the confrontational vibe from her when I met her," I said with a frown.

"I was surprised too, I don't know what I did to make her hate me so much," Honami said a little downcast. "She wasn't like this before, it's a complete change from what she used to be when we first met."

My ears perked up a bit at this but I stopped myself from letting it show. There was something that smelled about this whole situation, I couldn't quite put my finger on it. When I met her with Ryuen she seemed to just sit back, the only time she seemed to bite in the beginning was when Ryuen called her by her first name. She stayed quiet for the most part letting him take the lead until I provoked Kanzaki and she told him to leave, protecting him from continuing to get baited.

For the most part she just confirmed details, sitting back and analyzing almost like she was just gathering information. What was the point in trying to provoke Honami?

"What was she like before?" I asked nonchalantly.

Honami was about to speak but caught herself before looking at me with a suspicious look. I was her boyfriend but I was still a member of another class. Any information on this special exam was valuable, she still wanted to beat me. This school really did bring out strange dynamics in people. Arisu loves me but wants to beat me, now Honami is the same.

"Trying to gather information on the competition, are we Vice President Ayanokouji Kiyotaka?" Honami asked mischievously.

"What competition?" I jabbed at her.

Honami's eyes narrowed for just a moment before pointing her finger in my face. It's funny, yesterday Yamauchi had done the same and I wanted to break it. This time all I could think of was that this defiance was cute and endearing from Ichinose Honami.

"I told you to stop underestimating us, especially me. If you keep poking me like that, I'll have to show you why." Honami threatened playfully.

"Can't a guy just be interested in the people around his girlfriend?" I asked innocently.

Honami's previous fire went out instantly like I doused it. From defiant and annoyed she instantly went meek with a blush. Apparently the word girlfriend was a bit of a weakness for her at the moment, I'd have to file that away and use it while it was still effective.

"What's wrong Honami? You've gone red," I asked, moving closer. Her blush deepened and she tried to distance herself a bit and move closer at the same time resulting in her moving back and forth slowly.

"N-nothing, I'm fine," Honami sputtered, trying to speak with confidence.

"Are you? You seem a little flushed, are you sure you're okay?" I continued moving closer to her slowly.

Honami's breath hitched and her eyes closed, resigning herself and expectantly moving forward. I moved back to my previous sitting position and after a moment her eyes opened again and she looked confused. Realizing what I'd done, her eyes narrowed and she glared at me.

"That wasn't nice," Honami puffed out her cheeks.

"Do something about it," I challenged her with a shrug. "If you want something, take it."

I could see her clenching and opening her fists as though mustering the courage to just go for it. I was patient, even if I wanted to kiss her I could hold myself back. This whole conversation had taken a turn to Himeno but the underlying issue that needed to be addressed was her reluctance to act in her own interest. There were moments where she had fire but then others where she just suffered in silence. This situation with Class B was damaging her self confidence and her previous ability to simply take action.

"I'm really trying..." Honami said softly.

Putting an arm around her and hugging her to my side she leaned against me as if she was trying to draw some strength.

"How's Himeno different?" I asked again.

Honami frowned and thought about it as if trying to put the observations into words. She continued to mull it over before taking my hand and tracing her fingers over it absentmindedly.

"She used to be really disinterested in everything, she never voiced a single complaint or concern. I worried about her because she always seemed to distance herself from everyone so I tried to include her as much as possible. Of all the people she'd be the last person who I thought would want to lead us.

"All of this is such a surprise, maybe I'm not as perceptive as I thought," Honami observed pensively.

From what Honami told me, she went from happy last night, a ton of energy and confidence a moment ago and now doubting herself and her choices all in a period of hours. There was a problem here and one that needed to be addressed quickly. She was capable and there was no reason to doubt herself but it was like she was talking herself into believing that she was inferior now.

Honami needed an example of acting in her own self interest regardless of the consequences and I'd give it to her. It was time for the kid gloves to come off and throw Honami into the fire and either watch her burn or see her come out of it a new person.

"Come with me," I told her with authority, taking her hand and leading her to the river.

She looked confused but allowed herself to be pulled along at the pace I set. Honami had a choice to make, upset people or suffer in silence. I could have very well stopped the group from not allowing Honami to come to the camp but chose not to. At the time it was out of respect for Koenji and Eiichiro even if they didn't care about her being there. They were making sacrifices for the group so I did the same out of respect but it wouldn't upset them either way. I owed the rest of the group nothing and if anything they owed me even if they didn't know about it.

"Yesterday after I missed roll call and told them about your confession, the group came to a decision that you shouldn't be allowed to come to our base camp," I explained.

"What?" Honami was baffled. "Why? It wasn't a problem before, why now?"

"Kushida said it was because we needed to protect the leader. She only had this concern after I told her that you and I are a couple now,"

"Did she now," Honami confirmed with a frown.

"She's your friend isn't she? Does a friend do that to someone they care about?"

Honami listened with her full attention, I had her. There was a class of thirty nine that was separating her from me, I wasn't going to do anything about it. The ball was in her court, either she was going to do something about it or I was going to play hardball and not see her until the exam ended. It was cruel and it was going to be difficult for me too but it was necessary. Either Honami was going to fight for what she wanted or she would be kept out of the camp.

"Are you going to take that from her? From the rest of Class D? The same people that sat back and watched while you worked so hard to stop one of their own from getting potentially expelled?"

The pep talk was working, I could see her starting to get fired up again. She was starting to see that she was being taken advantage of, only used when it was convenient and discarded when she wasn't needed anymore. Honami was capable and people were using her kindness and unwillingness to hurt people against her.

We got to the camp not long after and I confidently strode in with Honami. Eiichiro wasn't there, more than likely out with the foraging group. Koenji was once again lying on the riverbank looking bored but his eyes perked up at seeing me enter with Honami. Upon noticing he sat up and watched with interest.

Letting Honami's hand go I saw her look about the group that was still present in the camp. None of them said anything, only watched her confused and wondering why I brought her. Karuizawa and Hirata didn't have a problem, when they noticed her they smiled and waved which she returned even if it was forced.

There was no way for her to know that they weren't among the group that supported her being allowed to come to the camp, I didn't tell her anything about who didn't want her there aside from Kushida.

Honami was quick on her feet, compared to the group she was a capable person and thought of a plan on the fly. She confidently walked to the leisure set and picked up the chess set before coming back and pulling me over to Koenji.

"Good morning Koenji-kun," Honami greeted him warmly.

"Hello Ichinose-girl, I'm surprised to see you have decided to join us this morning,"

"Is that a problem?"

"Absolutely not, I have made clear that I am not concerned with your presence. If you wish to bask in my perfection then it would be remiss of me to deny you such an opportunity," Koenji said proudly.

"Wonderful," Honami acknowledged with a smile. "Kiyotaka and I are going to play, would you give me some pointers?"

Koenji nodded but excused himself to get something to drink. I wasn't sure where she was going with this and decided to ask the question.

"What was that about?" I asked.

"Koenji-kun told me where to find you on the first day, you said he's taking the lead on the exam. He's a strong personality, if he had a problem with me being here I would have started with him.

"Since he doesn't have a problem with me being here, we're going to play and he's going to watch. Then when anyone comes to say anything I'll deal with it when it happens." Honami explained.

"I think even you have started to underestimate me, don't think I didn't know what you were doing. If you want to see me act selfishly then I'll show you that I can. Be careful what you wish for Kiyotaka, you may end up finding yourself doing paperwork while I'm lying on our couch reading Bojo's Excellent Adventures," Honami finished, glaring at me with narrowed eyes.

Honami was downright sexy right now, I didn't even think to correct her that the title was completely wrong.

A/N: A big thank you to@jjoemajameson who read this before I uploaded it and gave some very valuable insight and made corrections. There's a lot that goes into writing this but I think it's harder to read and give good feedback so when people do it for me I'm very appreciative.

Chapter 25

The chess matches were underwhelming. If I can be frank, aside from the rules, Honami can't tell her ass from a hole in the ground when it comes to chess strategy. It didn't really say anything about her as a person, some people just aren't into the game and I could see that Honami was one of those people. The kind of person that didn't take this kind of thing too seriously and played the game as it unfolded and just decided in the moment.

To be fair, I could tell she was barely paying any attention to the match. It was a little unnerving but her focus was almost solely on me. She would barely glance at the board before making a move before looking at me curiously with every move. On more than one occasion she would glance at the board, decide on a move and move the piece while staring directly into my face. As though she were making certain moves to see how I would react and trying to get a read on me.

Koenji clued in on what Honami wanted immediately, he didn't even bother coming back after going to get his supposed drink. Instead he was lazing on the hammock, staring up at the sky with complete boredom. He was bored, just like the rest of us. Unlike myself who had been given a bit of an energy boost with being able to eat a meal set just a couple of hours ago, the rest of them were no doubt begging to get off this stupid island.

The novelty of this special test had worn off for me long ago. I had originally been excited to camp for the first time but once the excitement of doing something different for a change wore off I just wanted to go back to civilization. This kind of thing just wasn't for me, I learned I don't particularly enjoy roughing it as they call it.

By the time we got to the fourth game I was a little surprised. The first three games were so bad that I thought she was just moving and looking at me out of fondness. I find myself looking at Honami a lot, it was part of having feelings for someone. Sometimes you just want to see them. This time it was a little different though, she was still losing but it was as though she knew my moves to some degree. Like she had a read on me and didn't know what she was doing but still reacting with some foresight.

"You're going to move your queen to D5," Honami said as I was about to reach for a piece.

I stared blankly at her. My hand was midway to reaching for the aforementioned queen before I suddenly stopped in surprise. How the hell did she know?

"Surprised?" Honami asked with an amused smirk.

"A little bit," I admitted wearily. "How did you know?"

Honami smiled a little triumphantly, joy and pride oozing from her. I think with everything that was going on with her in her life at the moment, Honami didn't really have a lot of moments like this where she got to experience small victories like this.

"I noticed you make a decision on a move almost straight away. Then you analyze the board to double check your decision. Afterward, you always frown as though you wasted time with the analysis. It's cute." Honami gloated, putting her chin on her hand with her elbow resting on her knee.

"It's a lot more difficult playing against a novice," I said with a frown.

I was a little surprised and quite frankly a little nervous at the observation. I couldn't tell whether I was getting soft and easier to read or if Honami really cared about me to the point that she analyzed me to such a degree. It was likely a combination of both, I let my guard down a lot around her.

It was a bit of a frightening thought, I don't think that there are many people who could have made that observation. Eiichiro definitely couldn't have, if Arisu had ever made that connection she never said anything. Arisu wasn't one to give up tactical advantages so if this was a habit of mine she would just file it away for future use.

Honami threw that information out to me as though she were trying to impress me. It was as though she were a new employee trying to justify that she was the right choice.

It wasn't like she was winning, the observation was meaningless. Even if she knew how I would move, she didn't have the tactical skill to use that information. She knew that though and suddenly I didn't want to play anymore, Ichinose Honami was slowly starting to be able to read me. I wasn't sure if I liked that.

"I don't want to play anymore," I said suddenly. I didn't notice, but before I even said anything Honami was putting the pieces away with a knowing smile.

"Who would have guessed?" Honami said with a smug grin.

"You're getting incredibly cocky. You don't think you actually have me figured out, do you?" I scoffed irritably.

"Who knows," Honami mused.

Women, honestly.

Before I could quip anything back, Kushida and some of the others were coming back from gathering food for the day. The corn stockpile was starting to go down but they had managed to find other vegetables on the island and other foods.

One of the benefits of having Class C and B going with a zero point strategy meant that there was more of an abundance of food on the island for us to take. It was blatantly obvious that this island was specifically cultivated and maintained for tests such as this and food was planted around in order for the camps to take. The amount of food was rather scarce if all classes were foraging. If we were all using similar strategies, we'd have to buy meal sets without a doubt.

It seemed like we were the only ones going about the test in a traditional sense though. As a result of that, the food that would have been stretched out between four classes was basically ours to have if we were able to find it. The bag had come in handy once again as it was now filled to the top with cabbages. No doubt they weren't able to get all of it and they were probably on the way to go back to collect more.

"Guys, we found some cabbages and we found potatoes too if anyone wants to co-" Kushida called out happily before she saw Honami with me. She suddenly stopped and for a brief moment I saw her glare at her before the friendly smile came back a microsecond later.

Honami noticed and leaned back on her hands, spreading out and relaxing. She raised a hand and gave a welcoming wave to Kushida but it almost looked as though she were gloating. Teasing her that even though it was decided that she shouldn't be allowed to enter our camp that she was there.

Kushida's friendly smile turned a little strained and she made her way over to us with a confident stride. Suddenly I wished I could be anywhere but here, how troublesome. I just want to go back to my couch and my manga as quickly as possible right now.

"Ayanokouji-kun, did you forget to tell Ichinose-san what we decided as a group yesterday?" Kushida asked.

"He didn't, I just chose to ignore him," Honami smiled at Kushida.

Finishing packing up the chess set, she got up to put it away with a bit of a skip in her step. Kushida looked at me with her hands on her hips with disappointment all over her face.

"Ayanokouji-kun, this is incredibly selfish. We're in a special exam and everyone is doing their best, it's not fair."

"You try telling her that she can't do something, stubborn woman. I can't make her do anything, what do you want me to do?" I shrugged.

"Well, if it isn't too much effort," Kushida forced out. "Perhaps you can be a little more assertive and tell your girlfriend that you can't see her until the exam is over."

Before I could say anything else, Honami had returned and was hugging Kushida from behind. Kushida stiffened for a moment before turning her head to Honami who was grinning at her before cuddling her tighter.

Their faces were so close... Oh God, I'm becoming a pervert.

"Kushida-san, we're all friends here. How many times have we eaten and gone shopping together? There's nothing to worry about right?" Honami asked innocently.

"Ichinose-san, be reasonable. We have to protect the identity of our leader..." Kushida tried to argue.

"No one knows who it is, I've already tried. Class D is so mysterious," Honami teased jokingly.

Kushida pulled out of Honami's embrace before turning around with her hands on her hips. Honami just continued to smile kindly at her.

"So you admit that you're here to try and find our leader?"

"Not originally but Kiyotaka challenged me, saying that I wouldn't be able to find them even if I tried." Honami shrugged.

Why did I suddenly feel like I was in danger? I could feel the camp turn cold as almost every eye in the camp turned to me with a glare. I was innocent in this, why the hell is Honami throwing me under the bus?

"There's no reason why I shouldn't be allowed to see Kiyotaka during the exam, is there? It's not as though my friend is trying to use this as an opportunity to try to take him from me, right?" Honami asked challengingly.

That was the moment when Eiichiro decided it would be a good time to rejoin the camp. I was a little hopeful that he would side with me but instead he took one glance at Honami, looked at me and glared angrily.

Apparently, today was not my day.

The class turned to look at him as though asking him to do something about this, I could tell he was annoyed. He didn't have an issue with Honami being there but he was tasked with leading the class. They made a decision as a group to not allow Honami to come to our camp until the exam was over, realistically it was only a few more days.

Regardless, I knew what I was doing when I baited Honami into forcing her way onto the camp. I knew that he wouldn't be happy with my disobedience, I always told him that if he wanted to be a leader he had to keep everyone accountable. That included me. So I wasn't surprised when he determinedly made his way in my direction intent on telling me off.

Before he could reach me though, Honami skillfully moved between us with a smile on her face.

"Is everything alright, Matsuo-kun?" Honami asked kindly.

"No, it isn't. Ichinose-san, we are grateful for everything you've done for us. While I personally don't have a problem with you being here-"

"That's wonderful Matsuo-kun," Honami gushed, clapping her hands together and cutting him off. "So there's no problem here then,"

As though the case was closed, Honami turned to me and took my hand ready to lead us to the riverbank. Before we could get far Eiichiro's cut in, stopping our escape.

"Actually, there is Ichinose-san. We operate on a majority rules basis, the class agreed that you shouldn't be here until the exam is over. I don't want to, but I have to ask you to leave." Eiichiro said firmly.

Honami turned to him, letting my hand go with the smile never leaving her face. Unlike Kushida who wore a mask, hers was always genuine. Honami wears her emotions on her sleeve, she definitely wasn't faking it. The smile was a little condescending though, it was like she looked at Eiichiro like her child throwing a tantrum.

"Matsuo-kun, have you forgotten the sacrifices I've made for Class D?"

"I haven't and we're grateful. This was still a decision made by the group," Eiichiro said firmly.

"Then you're aware of what it ended up costing me with Class B then?" Honami continued. "I have nothing to lose here, if Kiyotaka wants me to be here, then I will be here.

"The rules state that if a base is owned by another class, a different class can not enter it without permission. While you can't force me out physically, if you complain to Chabashira-sensei she can penalize Class B fifty points for every infraction."

Honami walked to him with a grin and patted him on the shoulder. Eiichiro and the rest of the class just looked at her, wondering where she was going with this.

"Class B has no points left, we've spent them all. Hoshinomiya-sensei confirmed that you can't go into minus with class points. You can penalize us all you like, I have no reason to be concerned.

"I don't even need to go back for the roll call. I'm free to spend as much time here as I wish without any repercussions. However, if I am physically forced out, Class D could be disqualified for physically attacking another student." Honami explained.

"Like hell you can," Yamauchi said loudly.

Honami looked at him a little confused at where the outburst came from.

"Yamauchi-kun, I'm surprised that you would want to keep Kiyotaka and I apart. Haven't you started seeing Manabe-san from Class C? She was talking about how she met you and spent time with you while you were foraging for food. I thought you'd be more understanding," Honami said disappointedly.

I wasn't the only one who was hearing about this for the first time, the rest of us all turned to look at Yamauchi in shock. He blushed bright red at being found out but it did little to hamper his bravado. Not even Karuizawa or Satou heard about this and the both of them may as well be connected to the gossip lines with ethernet cables.

"Even if I am spending time with Manabe-chan, she doesn't come to the camp. Ayanokouji has been bringing Class A and B into our camp like this isn't even an exam at all. It's like he doesn't even care if we don't get any points every month." Yamauchi tried to deflect.

I don't but that's besides the point.

Realizing he was outmatched, Eiichiro turned to me and looked at me to throw him a lifeline. What the hell was I supposed to do?

"Kiyotaka, do something about this," Eiichiro pleaded with me.

"Like I said to Kushida, what do you want me to do? I've tried telling her to do stuff before, now you see what I deal with. I can't tell this stubborn woman anything, she just does what she wants," I shrugged with a sigh.

"A match made in heaven," Horikita muttered in exasperation. She looked like she recovered, she really looked a lot better than she did last night.

Looking defeated, the rest of the class's arguments all died in their throats. Honami wasn't going to budge and she skillfully told them as such. They seemed to have forgotten that she got into the Student Council on her own merits. That she was once the leader of Class B and was capable of standing her ground if necessary. They may not like it but they were outmatched, they couldn't argue her points or do anything about it.

Honami smiled victoriously as she watched them all cave with resignation. I could see Kushida was looking at Honami with a bit of annoyance. As the exam went on Kushida was struggling more and more with keeping up the bubbly attitude. Just like everyone else, Honami no doubt recognized Kushida's interest in me and seemed to be a little possessive.

Before anyone could say anything, Honami walked over to me and kissed me on the cheek before giving me a hug. Karuizawa looked elated.

"I'm going back to our camp now but I'll be back later. I'm so glad we could clear up that misunderstanding." Honami smiled at me

She turned to leave but her eyes met Kushida and they stared at each other for a few moments. Eventually, Honami smiled at her once more before leaving the camp with a bounce in her step. What a troublesome woman, she causes this and then leaves me to fight off the wolves on my own. Thanks a lot.

As if sensing my thoughts just before she disappeared into the trees, Honami turned over her shoulder and blew me a kiss with a wink. What a pain in the ass.

"Sometimes I wonder if you're just doing this to make my life more difficult," Eiichiro sighed in frustration, rubbing his temples.

The rest of the class begrudgingly went back to what they were doing before the confrontation. Hirata looked at me with a bit of sympathy for a moment while Karuizawa was beaming like a fan girl. I wondered how many points she got from the pool and whether or not I should ask for a split.

Kushida looked at me with disappointment again before she left with Matsushita who hadn't said a word the entire time. I noticed that the two of them seemed to be spending more time together, Matsushita rarely spent any time with Karuizawa and Satou for a number of days now. She was still avoiding me for whatever reason.

"You continually make problems for me, why can't you just make my life a little bit easier? If you were going to bring her here anyway, what was the point of all of that?" Eiichiro pointed out frustratedly.

"What do you want me to do? I already told you she doesn't listen to me," I shrugged.

"I have a feeling that if you really intended to keep her from the camp you would have found a way,"

"You make out like I'm some sort of mastermind with a plan for everything," I rolled my eyes.

"That's exactly what I'm trying to say," Eiichiro narrowed his eyes at me.

It was the problem with being me. I do have a plan a lot of the time but it's mainly small ones. The issue was that even when I didn't have a plan or when I wasn't doing anything, everyone always assumed that it was all part of some kind of grand scheme.

A good example was the situation with Arisu. All I knew was that I wanted her to be with us on the island, there was no plan other than that. As long as I kept that objective in mind, all the other small plans just fell into place. The toilet, the meal situation or even the sleeping arrangements. As long as there is a greater goal, I just deal with smaller objectives in hopes that it leads to the outcome I want and implement contingencies as I go along.

In Eiichiro's eyes, it was all an elaborate scheme to teach him a lesson and temper expectations. In Honami's eyes, it was a situation where I gave her an opportunity to have her act selfishly. While some of that may be facts, the truth is somewhere in the middle. The reality is, it was too much effort to fight the group on this and it was easier to make Honami do it for me.

I really am a horrible person, now I'm making my girlfriend fight my battles for me.

I like to keep people guessing around me, even you, it's fun. I like playing dense and being unreliable, keeping people on their toes. I like speaking in riddles, I enjoy a little white lie here and there, it adds to the spice of life. If I was just honest all the time or if I didn't play with people like this, things would get boring.

"You asked me to tell her not to come to the camp and I did. She didn't listen to me and she's right. Unless you want to force her out physically, there really isn't anything we can do about it."

I left out the fact that I did tell her that only to bait her into fighting for me but those are just minor details.

With that I just left to go into my one person tent to have a nap. I've spent a lot of time in this tent but I always had Arisu with me, with everything going on I still hadn't forgotten that she wasn't here.

I missed her but at the same time I respected Katsuragi. He'd done a lot for us out of good will and I didn't understand why he agreed to giving us more than the bare minimum but he did and he had my respect for it.

Now that everything with that was settled though, I was left to enjoy my solitude for a while. The class ended up spending a few more points now that they had found cabbages and potatoes. We ended up buying cast iron cookware and a few other cooking utensils and spices which ended up costing us another five points.

The girls made some kind of a fish soup of sorts which actually didn't taste too bad. Compared to the charcoal fish and burnt corn it was a welcome meal. Between that and the meal set Honami gave me earlier I was content.

I couldn't shake the uneasiness of being away from Arisu though. Honami hadn't returned, apparently her saying she would was just a way to assert dominance or something. I was glad that she didn't because I didn't really want company at the moment. I just relished in the silence of finally having a few moments alone.

The feeling didn't leave me for the rest of the night though, I couldn't get a lot of sleep. I kept on tossing and turning on my mattress, vaguely wondering if it was just because I was used to having Arisu sleep next to me now.

I was interrupted in the middle of the night for the boys to do their routine of going in one by one to reset the base while hiding the identity of the leader. Aside from that though, I was left alone. The longer I spent alone the more the anxiety that something was wrong with Arisu continued to build.

Not long after the guys left from resetting the base, I was interrupted from attempting to fall asleep again at the sound of someone opening the tent. Thinking that Koenji must have forgotten something, I tuned it out only to feel a body lay down next to me. I turned to the person and saw Kushida.

She smiled at me as she grabbed at my arm and lay down with her head on my shoulder before draping one of her arms and legs over me. I know I'm not exactly a connoisseur at being in a relationship, but as far as I knew this was not an appropriate position to be in when you have a girlfriend.

"Are you lost? This isn't your tent," I asked in confusion.

"I'm not lost, Ayanokouji-kun. I'm exactly where I want to be right now," Kushida winked at me.

This was brazen, even for her. Was she taking the challenge with Honami earlier as a slight? Kushida has never been one to shy away from physical displays of affection or flirting with me but it was always harmless, never this forward. Not knowing what to do, I just froze where I was and made sure not to move or let my hands wander anywhere.

"I'm hurt and disappointed in you, Ayanokouji-kun. I thought we had something special, I thought we were supposed to be friends. Perhaps on the way to something more. Then Ichinose Honami comes into your life and suddenly you've forgotten all about me," Kushida said sadly.

I suddenly remembered when Kushida told me that she was a possessive person. At the time she told me that Honami was only my secretary for now and that she was only concerned with my spending time with Horikita. It seemed like now Honami had escalated to another threat in her eyes.

"This is rather bold of you, I never would have picked you to take such a risk. To sneak into my tent at night, people will talk if you're found out." I pointed out.

I didn't want rumors to spread and really wanted her to get off me, at the same time it was a delicate situation. One wrong move or perhaps a scream and I would be the one in hot water.

Kushida was well liked by everyone, I wouldn't be winning in a battle of reasoning. No matter who pointed out that Kushida was the one in my tent, I was positive that she would be able to spin it in a way that painted her in a positive light.

"Desperate times, desperate measures," Kushida shrugged nonchalantly. "I've asked you not to spend time alone with Horikita and yet you've befriended her. I've shown my willingness and loyalty to you and yet you avoid me.

"Now you're rebelling against me by bringing Ichinose-san into our camp against our wishes. That's not a very nice thing to do to your friend, is it now Ayanokouji-kun?"

This exam must have really been taking a toll on her psychologically, she was never this reckless before. Now she was talking about me rebelling against her like she was my master or something.

I normally don't like taking direct approaches like this, I like to be as inconspicuous as possible. That doesn't mean that I just roll over whenever I'm challenged directly, Kushida was starting to act out of pocket. It was time to remind her of her place.

"Kushida, in order for me to rebel against you, I'd have to be indebted to you in some way or in your control. Choose how you speak to me carefully," I warned her.

Kushida giggled lightly before she sat on my stomach straddling my midsection. She leaned down next to my ear and whispered.

"There's no need to be so defensive, Ayanokouji-kun. I'm just saying that perhaps you made a mistake. There's no reason to choose Ichinose-san when there are better options who would do anything for you. Someone who doesn't want much in return. Someone who's willing to do almost anything to make you happy." She whispered seductively.

"I saw so much potential in you right from the start. I put so much work into building our friendship, we used to help each other. I don't like to see you slipping between my fingers when we used to be so close. You helped us with the two million points and I helped you rebuild your standing with the class. I just thought we could continue to help each other." Kushida explained.

"Like helping you with expelling Horikita?" I asked bluntly.

Kushida snapped back to a sitting position suddenly and jumped off me like she was burnt. Her eyes suddenly turned feral and she glared at me in confusion. No doubt she was wondering how I figured it out.

"I'm warning you Kushida. Leave me alone. As long as you stay out of my business and keep out of my way, I'll leave you alone. Test me and I'll make sure that you regret it.

"You're my friend, but so is Horikita. I'll only tell you once, stop trying to get her expelled. Whatever is going on between the two of you is your business. I don't know and I don't care. If you insist on dragging me into whatever game you're playing though, I can promise you that you won't like the results." I informed her coldly.

Kushida stared at me, this likely wasn't how she thought this rendezvous was going to go. Likely she thought that I would be like everyone else, excited to have her in my bed. I was tired of this game with her though, it was boring. There was no reason to keep up the act anymore.

She was likely wondering where she went wrong, Kushida was more than likely certain that she had an ally in me. Before everything happened the way that it did, I wouldn't have cared if Horikita was expelled but we were friends now. There is one thing about me that is different now that I'm out of that place. I'm very protective of my friends.

I'm also vindictive and while I have never had to experience betrayal before, I'm self aware enough to know that I wouldn't take it lightly. Kushida needed to understand that now while she still had the chance.

"Ayanokouji-kun, I think that you're making a mistake here," Kushida warned me carefully. "I'm not someone that you want as your enemy."

I said nothing at first, just continued to stare at her standing in my tent. I knew that I was probably making a mistake by showing my cards but I was tired and annoyed with this island and it was making me behave uncharacteristically. All I wanted was for her to get out of my tent before a misunderstanding could happen.

"Then I'm fortunate that I have you as my friend, aren't I Kushida?"

Kushida continued to look at me for a few more moments before she quietly left my tent and returned to her own. This trip was causing me far more problems than I had ever had to deal with back at the school. I could only hope that things could start to look up again for the remainder of the trip.

I sighed in frustration and sat up with my head in my hands, pulling at my hair. All of this was so annoying, why couldn't people just leave me alone? Why did it matter who I was or wasn't dating? Why am I being dragged into these petty squabbles?

I'm beginning to tire of the hypocrisy of our class. Yamauchi was seeing someone from class C now, no one was giving him the third degree for dating someone outside our class. Yet everyone seemed to have an opinion on what I did with my life. I was a bit of a hermit, nothing that I did with my time was all that interesting. Yamauchi was loud and boisterous and yet he was just given the approval to do what he wished with no interest whatsoever. It wasn't fair.

As far as everyone was concerned I was lazy and unimpressive. Why did it matter what I did with my time and who I spent it with? No one cares what Yamauchi does, I just want the same. Leave me alone to watch my anime, read my light novels and do whatever I want with Honami in my spare time. I don't really care what anyone else does, no one should care about what I do. Everyone should just worry about themselves a little more instead of concerning themselves with what other people were and weren't doing.

I just want to do whatever I want without being bothered. Is that too much to ask?

My tent opened again and I was ready to give whoever it was a piece of my mind. My tent was not a hang out for people to come and go whenever they pleased and I was starting to get pissed off. Whatever I was going to say died in my throat when I saw the worried face of Horikita poking in.

"I'm sorry, Ayanokouji-kun. May I enter?" Horikita asked politely.

I nodded and moved to one side in a sitting position while Horikita shakily sat down quietly. She nervously played with her hands as though she was trying to figure out how to put what she was thinking into words.

"I saw Kushida leaving our tent and I was concerned. I didn't mean to eavesdrop but I heard what you said. Thank you for defending me," Horikita said humbly.

"You should be careful around her, she isn't going to stop,"

"So should you, when we were in mid-"

"Horikita," I interjected kindly. "I meant what I said, I don't want to know. Everyone has a past and everyone has the right to keep it a secret if they don't want it out. You shouldn't tell anyone and you should reassure her that you won't either. It may go a long way to putting all of this to rest,"

Horikita just nodded sagely and looked at her hands deep in thought. She really looked like she had been recovering well, she must have been taking care of herself diligently. I wondered if the old Horikita would have been so cooperative.

"You look much better, I'm happy for you but I really need to try and get some sleep. It's really late and I have to pick Arisu up after the roll call." I explained.

Horikita just nodded in reply before quietly exiting my tent. She looked like she had something else she wanted to say but she stayed quiet and made her way back to her tent. I laid back down again attempting to try and sleep but a lot happened in such a short amount of time. I also couldn't shake this feeling of worry that I had of Arisu.

I'm getting soft, that's the only explanation.

I must have only got a couple of hours sleep because I remember blinking and seeing daylight trying to fight its way through the zipper of the tent. Birds were chirping outside and I got out early seeing no one else up yet.

Chabashira-sensei was there, sitting on the fallen log looking pensive. A few times she glanced at me a little nervously but didn't say anything. I was wondering what was wrong, the feeling of foreboding just wouldn't go away for some reason.

When the rest of the class got up and we had our roll call, I was just about to go get the hammock before Chabashira-sensei stopped me.

"Ayanokouji, I'd like to speak with you in private please." Chabashira requested, not leaving any room for negotiation.

Still, I'm a pain in the ass and I wanted to go get Arisu as quickly as possible. I didn't have time for this, whatever it was could wait.

"Chabashira-sensei, I need to pick Arisu up. I'll come back and see you as soon as I'm back," I promised.

Chabashira-sensei stiffened at the mention of Arisu and suddenly I felt my heart stop.

...Arisu was fine. She was just at the Class A camp. They wouldn't do anything to her...

"That's what I need to talk to you about, please come with me." Chabashira said cautiously.

She led me into the trees before gesturing to a tree stump.

"Please have a seat, Ayanokouji," Chabashira asked softly.

"I'll stand, what is going on?" I asked impatiently.

I was worried.

Chabashira-sensei didn't react, she just looked at me sadly and I felt fear creeping up again. Chabashira would never allow an outburst like that without reprimanding me, why was she making concessions now?

"Sakayanagi got sick. From what was discussed during the staff meeting this morning, she originally thought it was just a cold and was recovering. From what Katsuragi has explained, she wanted to try and recover overnight at Class A's camp, thinking that you would take her immediately to the ship and not wanting you to drop out of the test.

"Last night her watch informed us that her vitals were getting low. She was taken by staff back to the ship and diagnosed. They've taken her back to the school." Chabashira informed me carefully.

"Your father has been notified and has explicitly instructed you not to drop out of the exam. He sends his assurances that Sakayanagi will be fine and that he will be with her to care for her."

The foreboding feeling I had since last night was because of this.

"Fuck him and fuck you. I want to go back immediately." I spat angrily.

"What will that achieve, Ayanokouji? You're brilliant but you are not a doctor. There is nothing that you can do for her, leaving will achieve nothing." Chabashira calmly reasoned with me.

"At least I will be there, none of this shit matters."

"Stop being a child for a moment and think rationally. If your father thought that this was life threatening he would be sending you back immediately!" Chabashira admonished me.

"You may not care about these exams or this school. You may have your future already set for you but you have classmates who need you here. Sakayanagi will be fine. This situation is out of your hands.

"Just for once, stop being so selfish and think of the others. In life, situations like this happen. You will be forced to make difficult decisions between what you want and your responsibilities. You can't do anything for Sakayanagi at the moment but you can at the very least do something for people here with your presence.

"Forget the points and the exam. There are few moments in your life that you will get to experience things like this exam. It was important enough for Sakayanagi to try and recover to stay here with you. Do not let her efforts go to waste." Chabashira implored me.

It took me a moment but I realized that all of this was my fault. I dragged her about this island, I've been stubborn and unreasonable. She did this knowing what I would do and if I never took her here and allowed her to stay on the ship then none of this would have happened.

This wasn't easy for her and I dragged her about like she was luggage. I forced her to stay here and I didn't give her a choice. She probably caught it from Horikita but it wasn't her fault, it was mine. If Arisu had never been forced to stay with us this wouldn't have happened. All because of my selfishness.

I must have had the guilt all over my face because despite my rudeness, Chabashira-sensei gave me a hug. This woman had tried to use me in the past, threatening to reveal my secret by hinting at it. Lately though, she had been different. I suppose it must have been frustrating on her part. Having to be the homeroom teacher for a group of insubordinate defects couldn't have been easy.

I didn't feel like I deserved the comfort though so I shrugged off the hug and stared at my feet. I felt numb, everything was my fault.

"You shouldn't blame yourself Ayanokouji, Sakayanagi wanted to spend time with you too. She was enjoying herself here, I could see it." Chabashira-sensei tried to comfort me again.

It was like I saw the past few days flashing before my eyes. Seeing Arisu interacting with Class D, teasing me, her happiness at finding out that Honami and I got together, the way her face lit up when I agreed to play chess with her.

Now all that I could think about was the fact that Arisu was sick, all because of me.

Chabashira-sensei stayed with me quietly trying to comfort me by patting me on the shoulder and trying to sooth me with kind words of how it wasn't my fault.

I didn't want it though, I just wanted to feel all the guilt and shame that I deserved. So I said nothing and just continued to stare blankly at the ground.

A/N: I've been suffering from an insane writer's block and I've rewritten and scrapped so many versions of this chapter. I really tried hard and even if I'm not completely happy with this chapter it will have to do, it's the best I can come up with at the moment.

Jjoemajameson helped a lot with this and gave a lot of valuable suggestions to help salvage the crap that I originally had for this chapter so a big thank you goes to him.

I'll do my best trying to get out of this hole though. I don't want this to go on hiatus so I'll give it my best shot.

SS my time to shine

A/N: I'm so sorry that this was so hard to read, I went through a lot for this. I had to write this on wordpad and then go through and make it even worse. You'll understand what I mean when you read it. This is a one off but I couldn't stop laughing... I know I did him dirty but it's important for the plot. Try and suffer through it.

Im getting sick of these people. Everyone treats me like im some sort of an idiot, im really sick of Ayanokouji. Ikemen bastard. Theyre all blind, theres not even a big difference between me and him.

Atleast his sister can recognise wats wat. She pointed out exactly wat ive been saying all this time. Y would Ichinose choose to go out with him wen im here? Ayanokoujis sister is alrite, shes not bad looking but shes flat and shes got no ass. I can do much better than her for sure.

Ive been working my ass off on this island since the start. I managed to get more berrys than a third of the girls and all that bastard had to do was put up a couple of tents. I could have done it in my sleep but that asshole gets away with everything. Everyone lets him off with doing nothing wile i have been single handedly carrying everyone in this exam. People think Koenji has been doing a great job but all he does is run in the morning and do nothing for the rest of the day. He managed to keep the leader a secret but i should know hu it is at least.

Sakayanagi pointing out the obvious did something tho, now the other girls are starting to see. Mayb it changed something with me but i kept a secret from the rest of the group. Wile I was picking berrys i met a girl hu flirted with me. She didnt even look at Ike, she was interested in me from the begining. She isnt that hot but im sure that i can mayb get Sakura-chan to panic wen she sees that playing hard to get is going to make her miss her chance.

Her name is Manabe Shiho. Shes from class c and shes alrite but she isnt as good as Sakura-chan, Kushida-chan or Ichinose. Ichinose is a bit of a dumass tho, I dont noe y but shes dating that idiot. And shes stupid too, y would she say anything about Manabe-chan. The too situations arent even the same.

Now we find out that Sakayanagi is sick and that asshole looks like a zombie. I herd from Manabe-chan that the rumor is that she has newmonia, i dont noe wat it is but it cant be that bad. I could recover from it in a few hours but they sent her back to the skool.

Manabe: its not fair that yu have to do all the work wile Ayanokouji doesnt hav to do anything. hes so annoying.

Me: Thats wat ive been saying this hole time. That asshole has been getting away with everything, he didnt even tell Ichinose that she wasnt allowed to come to the camp.

Manabe: I dont even noe y shes with him anyway, hes not even that smart. Ryuen always talks about how hes a lazy idiot, class d would be so much better off if you were leading them. I bet shes just a gold digging bitch, i noe hes the directors son but hes an idiot. I guess were lucky that youre not leading class d or youd probably be in class a already and id never have my chance.

I couldnt help but stick my chest out proudly. Finally, someone with a brain in this skool. I wish i could be in class c, atleast then id have people hu werent stupid. Im sure that Ryuen guy would be happy to let me tell him how we should run things.

Theres a reason y he went after Sudo instead of me, those class c guys were lucky. If it was me instead of Sudo they were fiting, im sure they would be dead instead. Then wen the skool wanted me to go on trial, I wouldnt need to have Ichinose try to help me. Id let her stay, just so she could see how much better i am then Ayanokouji.

Manabe: it isnt even rite that theyre keeping it a secret from you about hu the leader is. Ryuen trusts us, we all noe that Yamada is the leader of class c. You have to pick the strongest person in the class, i bet its you.

Me: i just noe its one of the guys. We all have to go in to reset the base every 8 hours 1 by 1. Its bullshit, Ayanokouji gets a one person tent to himself wile we all have to share. Bastard.

I was angry about it too, Matsuo always plays favorites. He lets Ayanokouji get away with everything but makes us all do stuff. Sure he helped me wen everyone was mad at me for stopping them from buying information on the s-system, but i wasnt the only one hu didnt want to spend the points. It was the smart thing to do even if it didnt work out for us.

Manabe: Wat an idiot, they should give the one person tent to you. Youre the best in the class, y him?

Im confident and atleast i noe how to read the situation. Manabe has been flirting with me like this for days now, she talks about how strong and smart i am all the time. Im not a pussy like Ayanokouji, if i was with Ichinose id be having sex with her at least 4 times a day. I grabbed Manabe on the ass and gave it a squeeze. She turned her face away, so shy, but i new she liked it. She looked disgusted, i hope she didnt step on my poop. I had to go earlier and the camp was too far away.

Manabe: You noe, Ryuen wants the best from all classes to join us in class c. Class d doesnt even realize how great you are. Im pretty sure that Ryuen wants to recruit you, wed be willing to work and pool our points to bring you to class c if you want.

Me: Hed really do that? Its a lot of points, im pretty sure i heard its twenty million points to move classes.

I frowned thinking about the number. I was barely able to buy anything, we still havent had any allowance points, now because of Ayanokouji we probably werent going to get points again this month. Bastard. If Kushida-chan didnt get the points for us after the first month we would have been screwed, now were about to be broke again.

I wasnt about to start working. BUDDY came out and at first it seemed like a great idea, Hondo and Sotomura were working all the time. They were losers tho, they spent all their money on weeb stuff. I didnt have time for work, i was a pretty busy guy trying to find a girlfriend. Now that i have one i didnt have time to waste on a job.

Manabe: Of course, class c works for the strong. To bring you over, all the losers would work their asses off and wed pool the points together. We could bring you to class c next month, you wouldnt need to worry about not having points again. Think about it, Yamauchi-kun. We could spend so much time together, id like it if my boyfriend was in the same class as me. Its okay now, were in a special exam were we can see each other a lot. Wen we go back to skool tho, i dont noe if things will be the same. Maybe i wont be as interested as i am now wen we dont spend a lot of time together.

Thinking of losing my first girlfriend so soon wen i didnt even get to go to second base i got worried. I noe that she wouldnt lose interest in me, im the best that shed ever get. Still sometimes women make stupid choices so she may break up with me and then realize too late that it was a mistake. It wasnt worth the risk, i dont really care about class d anyway. If they were at least willing to see that i should be leading the group then id think about it. Maybe theyll miss me wen im gone.

It wasnt even a hard choice. Go to class c with my girlfriend hu noes treats me the way i should be treated, or stay with class d with all the dumasses. If i went to class c, i could go against Matsuo and Ayanokouji and show them the difference between us. Theyd realize too late and beg me to come back wen i lead class c to class a. Sakayanagi would cry to Ayanokouji about getting downgraded, itd be the perfect revenge. Lets see how that lazy bastard enjoys that, he looked broken wen she cried in the class before, now he was even worse wen he found out she was sick. Sis-con. Wat a pussy.

Now that i new the lengths that Manabe-chan and class c would go to recruit me i had a bit more confidence than usual. I moved closer to her, today i have my first kiss. She moved back playing hard to get but her back hit the tree behind her. Before my lips could touch hers, she put a finger to my lips.

Manabe: Not yet. Thats a reward, if you want to come to class c you have to do something first. Ryuen thinks that anyone in a class can get the name of the leader from the teacher. If you ask Chabashira-sensei she has to tell you no matter wat Koenji or Ayanokouji say. Class b and a are willing to pay private points for the information. We can use that to bring you to class c. If you give me the name, ill be able to sell it to get points. If you do that, theres no telling wat ill do for you to show how much i appreciate it...

She smiled at me and after a moment of hesitating she rapped her arms around my neck and batted her eyes at me. Of course shed want proof of my greatness, a kiss that was easy wasnt worth it. Manabe-chan had standards unlike Ichinose, of course she wanted to confirm she made the rite choice.

I walked back to the camp with one pocket full of berrys. I needed to ask Sae-chan-sensei in private so the rest of the class didnt noe wat i was doing. The fewer people that noe the better, this way theyd blame Koenji for having a bad plan. I could leak the information and no one would noe it was me.

Looking around the camp i could see that everyone was a little bit down, they all seemed to feel bad for Sakayanagi. Idiots, she isnt even part of our class. Its good for us, now class a has 30 less points and we dont have to have Ayanokouji walking back and forth and he can do stuff. It hasnt really done anything tho, the guys a zombie at the moment.

Matsuo tried talking to him a few times and he just stared at the ground in silence. The girls all took turns and tried to talk to him but he just stares blankly into space. They even talked about asking Ichinose to come and talk to him but she hasnt shown up since yesterday wen she told everyone that she could come and go as she pleased. Maybe she realizes that Ayanokouji is a pussy wen he made her fite off the group alone.

Even Sae-chan-sensei looked worried about him, wat the fuck was with these people. Hu gives a shit, y does everyone give a fuck about Ayanokouji.

I walked over to Ike hu was fishing at the river by himself. Even he looked like he felt bad for Ayanokouji for some reason.

Ike: Hey youre back. How was it with Manabe-chan?

Me: Good, i kissed her for the first time. She loved it, im sure im going to get to third base before we get back to the ship

Ike: Lucky bastard, you noe you owe us now. We had a deal, first one to get a girlfriend has to give us her cooking for a week. Sudo will be happy, hes probably bored just staying at his dorm.

Me: Come on, none of us were actually going to go thru with that.

Ike: Your just saying that because youre the one hu got a girlfriend first! Stingy bastard, a deal is a deal.

I didnt want to fite about it, ill just tell him wat he wants to hear and eat it myself. Im not giving up Manabe-chans bentos for anyone. If this dumass wants a bento he can get his own girlfriend. Maybe if he was as cool as i was hed be able to find someone but hes a bit of a pussy too.If he wasnt such a skinny runt, hed probably be able to get a girlfriend like Shinohara or something. An uggo with no standards. He wouldnt even think to try and use it to make someone better like Sakura-chan or Kushida-chan jealous. I guess some losers are just a lost cause.

Ike: It sucks about Sakayanagi tho, i like her shes nice.

Me: Dont be stupid, shes not even in our class. She may seem like shes nice because shes here with Ayanokouji. If it was a special exam were she was leading Class A ill bet shes a ruthless bitch.

Ike shrugged but didnt seem to talk about it anymore. After a few minutes of silence he looked over at Ayanokouji hu kept on staring at the ground sitting on a tree stump.

Ike: Ayanokouji looks broken tho, i feel bad for them.

Me: Not you too

Ike: He doesnt really bother anyone, he keeps to himself. I cant blame him for wanting Ichinose to be able to come here, id want her to be allowed to come if she was my girlfriend.

Me: Stop being a simp, thats y you dont have a girlfriend.

Ike: Im not being a simp, you probably want Manabe-chan to come to the camp, y not bring her here?

I tried but she said she didnt want to come. I must have misheard her, i heard her saying something about embarasing to be seen with me. I think she was just shy, she did seem really mad wen i told her Ichinose mentioned us seeing each other. She said she didnt tell her. Ichinose must have heard from one of the other girls. Manabe-chan told me that theyre sharing a camp together, i think its a stupid plan but i guess thats y Ryuen wants me to come to class c. I can turn them around.

I saw Sae-chan-sensei sitting on a log looking at her tablet and reading over something. She didnt really talk to us much during the test, she really only said anything during roll call. Aside from that she pretty much left us alone. She must be bored since i havent talked to her since we left the skool, shed be happy to see me im sure. Im pretty sure that if i wasnt a student shed be all over me. She likes wen i call her Sae-chan-sensei.

Me: Sae-chan-sensei, i need to ask you something.

Sae-chan-sensei: Wat is it Yamauchi?

She looked annoyed wen i spoke to her. Maybe shes finally starting to get pissed off with Ayanokoujis attitude. I noe that i would be if i had to deal with his shit all the time.

Me: If i asked you hu the leader for class d is, you have to tell me dont you.

Sae-chan-sensei looked a little scared. I was right, it sucks to be smart. I should probably hide my intelligence a bit, sensei probably didnt even realise that i could come up with this. It was too hi level even for her. She was probably waiting for someone to figure it out and come and ask her.

Sae-chan-sensei: If asked, i have to reveal that information, yes. I think itd be best if you didnt ask me tho.

Again with this bullshit, playing favorites for Ayanokouji. If he asked she would be excited, just like the time wen we first came here and he said he had a question. No matter wat he does, Ayanokouji always gets treated better than the rest of us. This is my time to shine, i wont let Sae-chan-sensei ruin this one for me. Ill leave this shithole with these ungrateful idiots and make them realized wat the missed wen i lead class c to class a.

Me: Hu is the leader for class d?

Her eyes went wide, she must have been impressed. She suddenly hung her head and sighed, she must have been relieved that someone had the brains to finally just ask her. Looking defeated, i could hear her mutter to herself.

Sae-chan-sensei: It seems I really am doomed to have all of my classes graduate as class d.

Sae-chan-sensei ran her hands thru her hair and pulled at the roots. I guess i really was a genius, the rest of the idiots didnt even think to ask.

Sae-chan-sensei: The leader for class d is...

SS There's no such thing as loyalty

A/N: God this writers block just won't go away, I've been working on this pretty much since that garbage fire Yamauchi SS.

A huge thank you to UAM-19 who designed and made our new cover art for the book. Thank you for offering to do it and making it.

This arc is pretty much finishing up, hopefully the next one will be easier to write. Losing that doc really killed me :'( Regardless, I know you guys have been waiting so I won't keep you any longer. Hopefully the next chapter will be done earlier but then again, Who Knows.

It started with just thinking he was kind of hot, bit of a sarcastic sense of humor and didn't really care about much of anything. That kind of thing is hot for girls, guys like Yamauchi who go panting after you all the time are sickening, girls like the chase just as much as guys do. I intended to be everyone's friend so he was on the list of people to get to know, but it wasn't as much of a chore as it was with the rest, I actually wanted to be close to him.

Then we went to the pool and holy shit he's ripped. I can stare, I'm a girl, it isn't perverted for me, it's appreciation. There are rules that apply to boys that don't apply to girls, things that we get a pass for much like the Ikemen Rankings. If a girl does it it's okay, it's just harmless fun and girl chat. If a guy does it... well that's disgusting, they should just die. Well, unless they're hot then I guess it's kind of okay?

God this island is destroying my mind. I haven't had any form of release for the whole time we've been here. Everyone is always around me, I just want them all the back the hell off. I have to keep up the act though so I keep on smiling, listening to all of them complain about the exam and how stressful it is and I give them cheers to hang in there and do their best. My mind is slipping though, more than once I have done things that are beyond risky that I normally wouldn't do if I was at equilibrium.

Just about everyone in Class D is losing their minds, the effects of being in a challenging environment are really starting to show. It isn't as though it has been thoroughly unbearable, we've been pretty frugal with our points. The biggest problem is the food, while we have had enough to eat we aren't exactly eating our fill. The boys have been doing their best to catch fish but we barely have enough to go around for meals. Lately our diet has consisted almost completely of berries, corn, cabbages and potatoes. We've been making do but good lord I want some meat. Something bloody... oh God I want rice too. Maybe some cake or ice cream... Shit, I hate this floating rock.

I've kept in touch with my friends from other classes and I can't help but feel envious of them. Class B and C are really comfortable, they've spent all their points and have been able to eat and play to their heart's content; a real summer vacation. Class A has been getting regular meal sets as well, they're balancing the test and their well-being well from what I could see. In our class the only one who seems to be doing well is Koenji, he's bored and he's a narcissistic bastard but I have to give credit where it's due, the guy is a machine. It's probably the only miscalculation he's made so far, most of the members of Class D don't have the mental fortitude to only keep with minor comforts even if it is only temporary.

I don't really have time to be concerned with the rest of these sheep though, I'm scared. Ayanokouji-kun has somehow figured me out. I want to believe him that he doesn't know anything but he's become friends with that bitch Horikita and God only knows what she's told him. I don't want to have to get him expelled, but I will if I have to.

I was one of the people who bet on the pool that he would end up with Matsuo-kun. It wasn't as bad of a bet as you'd think, I've been trying to screw him for weeks now and he's continually rebuffed me. At the time the only logical thing that could come to my mind is that he's gay, I'm not stupid. I know that guys want me and I know that there are plenty of boys who'd kill to be in his position. I'm pretty sure there are dirty socks or tissues being thrown away every night that I'm responsible for. Disgusting. It's not the same for boys and girls but I can explain later.

I was never threatened by Ichinose Honami, she's incredibly kind to everyone and a genuinely good person. It makes me sick, I pull my hair out and vomit trying to be nice to these damn morons but to her it's effortless, just a part of who she is. She's by far the prettiest girl in our year, probably even the school with the best body too. She's reasonably smart and it pisses me off just looking at her, she has everything I want. While I have to work and torture myself to keep this mask on, to her it's as easy as breathing with no repercussions. Bitch. I always thought she was too innocent to ever want to get into a relationship.

I was so wrong.

Not only has she managed to get closer with him, she's dating him now. Now I'm disappointed in Ayanokouji-kun, she's so simple and dull. She's boring. Everything is 'let's all be nice to each other', 'yay the power of friendship'. Makes me sick. There's no use in any of this if someone doesn't get something out of it. For some it's happiness, for others it's favors but for me it's leverage. A single secret is like a loose thread on a knitted sweater, just one pull and it can unravel the entire thing leaving it in a ruined mess. That's why I can't allow Horikita or even Ayanokouji-kun to ever let my secret get out.

No matter how hot he is or how badly I want him.

I'm not even trying to be subtle about it. Nice guys are boring. I pity these simple bitches who keep fawning over Hirata. They don't realize it yet but I can see that the relationship between him and Karuizawa is a sham. I'm pretty sure that he bats for the other team but then again I could be wrong. I have been before.

It's the negatives about him that make him interesting, that keeps things interesting in this dull and boring school life. That crippled prissy bitch has tried everything to get him to do something and he just ignores her. He adores her, if she can't make him do shit the rest of them haven't got a chance. When I found out that he was adopted into a wealthy family, that made him even more appealing.

Then he handed over two million points to share with the class like it was pocket change. My eyes lit up and I jokingly told him I was falling in love with him. It was a ruse, I love myself and I could give a shit about the rest. I was interested in the points, how the hell did he get so many in such a short amount of time? That showed that he was resourceful and he could be a resource for me. Being friends with so many people is costly, I've had to give up on more than a few opportunities to build my network simply for having to be frugal. If I had someone like him bankrolling me though, that's a different story.

It was that resourcefulness that deepened my interest in him and I wanted him to help me expel Horikita. She was behaving like an arrogant cow from day one and I was elated. No one would care to save her and most would just be happy to be rid of her.

When I was with Yamauchi and Ike, the damn perverts weren't even studying when I was tutoring them. It wasn't like they were studying much before, they kept on trying to get me to help them only to try and peek down my shirt to see my tits. This time though they kept on exchanging knowing grins, eventually I got it out of them that Matsuo-kun gave them the answers for their tests. It didn't take much to convince them to give them to me and it was even easier to slip it into Horikita's bag. One anonymous phone call and it seemed my first goal in the school was finally fulfilled.

So I thought at least. Someone saved her and at first I didn't know who it was. Then I saw her change and she seemed to look up to Ayanokouji-kun, the same person she constantly berated and belittled just days before and that's when I knew it was him. I couldn't blame him though, he wasn't in on it and he was close to her brother. If only I could have endeared myself to him sooner, the plan would have gone off without a hitch. I doubted that he had the twenty million to save her, he couldn't have that much. He must have texted her brother and he pulled some strings somehow.

Even if what he's telling me is true and he doesn't know what happened, the fact that he knows that I'm trying to get her expelled and warned me to leave her alone is an issue. It's a small one but it exists nonetheless. He's still salvageable, I can make him see the light. He's actually responsible for helping me even if he doesn't know it, all I need is to break him and Ichinose up and I can finally have what I want.

One day I cornered him after he left the bathroom, I hugged him close and my God... He's definitely far better than I anticipated. The guy wears baggy clothes, most of them pretty shitty and bland if I'm honest. The guy has no style whatsoever and I don't think he particularly cares for it. Still, he's definitely something I can work with to make me shine.

I'm getting distracted again, screw this island. As I was saying after hugging him that day he was all I could think about. I've already tried seducing him but that was just a tease, it was just a way to make him follow along with what I wanted, something to use to keep him on side. I wasn't actually going to go through with anything, I wasn't that kind of girl at the time. All I needed to do was give him the impression that it was possible and he'd be chasing after me.

That night, another one of the girls had posted up on our private chat groups. It was one we had solely for photo's of Ayanokouji-kun that they managed to get while he trained in the morning.

Again, it's not perverted. We're girls, we're allowed to do this. Keep that in mind, unwritten rule.

I'm stalling because I don't want to admit this. Even if it was unknown to him, that bastard's the reason I've figured a way to get out my frustrations but at the same time it's so embarrassing. Anyway, I saw the photo and something in me sort of just... changed? Before I knew it I was touching myself for the first time and the next thing I knew I had my first orgasm while I stared at that unmoving picture on my phone. That was the start of where everything leads now.

I realized something after that moment, it was just like when I would scream and kick into the void to let out my frustrations. If anything it was better, I had released all that pent up anger and frustration from keeping this mask glued to my face so that I could pretend to like people. So that I could be loved. It was a far better option too, alone in my room with no one to stumble upon me. I was starting to get anxious before about someone finding me during one of my tirades, maybe they see me screaming and kicking and cursing people out to release all my pent up rage. It was better than vomiting and pulling at my hair but it was still risky, this was safer and far more enjoyable.

It didn't take long before even that wasn't enough anymore. It started out as once a week, not long after it was once every three days and before I came to this island it escalated to twice a day. One time on a particularly bad day, I rubbed it for hours to the point where my bed was a mess and I wasn't much better. My own touch isn't enough anymore, I want Ayanokouji-kun. Whatever way he wants. I don't even care, I'll do whatever disgusting, perverted shit he comes up with.

This damn island is driving me insane. I'm never alone in the tent, it's been nearly a week without a single orgasm and I've been eating like shit. Furthermore, that stupid bitch confessed and now they're dating. Seeing Ayanokouji-kun look at that boring bitch with hearts in his eyes makes me want to vomit for different reasons. He should look at me like that, even if I don't care about him in a romantic way. It'd be easier to make him do what I need, he could do me until I can't walk and then do what I asked or I'd tell him I wouldn't give myself up. I'm sure I could hold out longer than he can, boys are simple like that.

"Kushida-chan, are you alright? You look really stressed out," Mii-chan asked in concern.

Mei-Yu Wang, another meek simpleton. The way she fawns over Hirata who probably doesn't even know her name is beyond pathetic.

"Of course, Mii-chan. I'm just a little hungry. We can't give up though, Mii-chan, everyone else is doing their best so we have to as well, okay?" I said excitedly, grabbing both of her hands.

"Right," Mii-chan said with determination.

God is this what life is like? A couple of sentences in a pep talk and I had this introverted lamb pretending to be a lion, how pathetic.

"I'm really worried about Hirata-kun. He looks stressed out, he isn't acting like himself." Mii-chan said worriedly.

"Matsuo-kun doesn't look much better," Mori-chan noted.

Matsushita-san just stared into space just like she usually had for the last few days. God this stupid princess really was deeply in love with Ayanokouji-kun, it was pathetic. Grow up good Lord, we're high school students. All it took was for him to start dating Ichinose and all of a sudden this stupid bitch was mute and destitute. What a simpleton.

"Matsushita-san, are you alright?" I asked kindly.

She snapped to attention at suddenly being addressed before shaking her head as if to clear it. As if there was anything in that pea brain to begin with unless he had brown hair and brown eyes with sarcasm dripping in every word.

I don't know where the hell this deep infatuation of hers comes from but the way she talks is incredibly vague. Recently from what she's confided in me, she can't seem to hang out with Karuizawa and Satou like she used to, they always talk about Ayanokouji and Ichinose since they're the flavor of gossip of the exam. Matsushita seems to be a little wary of me, but when you're lonely and you have no one to talk to, Kushida-chan is always there to be everyone's friend. Tee-hee.

Oh God I want to vomit, I'm starting to confuse my inner monologues with my outer persona. I can only pray that it never happens in reverse. Get me off this stupid floating rock.

"Sorry, what was that Kushida-san?" Matsushita asked confusedly.

"I asked if you're alright," I repeated with concern.

"Yes... yes, I'm fine." Matsushita trailed off.

"It's okay Matsushita-san," Mori-chan tried to cheer her up. "You know, we're still in high school and it's still early. They could always break up or..."

At the sight of Matsushita's crestfallen face she trailed off and quietly looked to us to help her out. Stupid bitch, I wasn't the one who brought this up. Don't drag me into this shitstorm of a mess you made.

"Am I really that obvious?" Matsushita asked quietly.

"Yep," "Yes," "Well..." We all said at the same time. The three of us looked at each other and we all fell silent.

Before the conversation could continue though, we were interrupted by fighting within the camp and the three of us looked up in confusion. Yamauchi looked furious and Koenji was standing up to him now just as pissed off. I was hoping for a fight, if only just to break up how bored I was of this entire exam. It wouldn't be much of a fight, it'd be like a quadraplegic going up against a silverback gorilla but I would welcome it. If only just to see that pervert left in a bloody mess on the ground to cure my insanity.

"What the hell, Koenji." Yamauchi spat. "What in the hell was the point of us faking resetting the camp every eight hours? We wasted all those chances at getting points from having the base!"

"I wouldn't expect an ingrate such as yourself to understand such a stratagem. Pray tell, how were you able to figure out the details?" Koenji asked condescendingly.

"I asked Chabashira-sensei who the leader was. I'm sick of everyone in this class treating me like I'm some sort of idiot, we all got put into Class D for a reason. None of you are any better than me and yet you treat me like I'm stupid trash-

"Well, as they say. If the shoe fits," Koenji spoke over him.

"-and yet I was the only one who thought to ask. So again, what the hell, Koenji? I know sure as shit we haven't been resetting the base and we've been giving up points since..." At this Yamauchi thrust a card in front of his face, Koenji looked like he was about to break his arm and I was at the edge of my seat in excitement. Finally, something interesting is happening in this shithole.

"Chabashira-sensei told me I was the leader. I haven't been resetting the base even though I know that I sure as hell have been going into that tent every eight hours."

Whatever I was expecting, this wasn't it. What the hell was going on? We haven't been getting points for resetting the base? What the hell was this idiot thinking? We've been wasting our time and giving up free points for no reason?

"So it was you. In the interest of transparency, I was vaguely curious as to who was assigned. Unlike you however, I possess the self-control to prevent myself from satiating such baser urges. How ill-fated that we were afforded the misfortune of having you selected." Koenji said pompously.

"Wait, you didn't know who our leader was?" Matsuo-kun asked in shock.

"Of course not. I have informed you all that our entire focus would be around mitigating risk. When a leader isn't selected on the first day one is selected at random. I requested that once the selection was made that Chabashira would hold our card. If no one knows who our leader is then no one can leak the information." Koenji explained.

"Then what the hell was the point in making us go into that tent every eight hours!" Yamauchi yelled out.

"A red herring." Koenji said simply. "A ruse in case there was a spy in our midst. I was informed that this was allowed, however it was also made clear that if anyone was to ask her for the information, she would be forced to comply. It's unfortunate that one of you was unable to follow the most basic of instructions."

"Pretty stupid idea, now look at us. We've missed out on twenty free points, great plan dumbass," Yamauchi spit back at in anger

"Do not insult my intelligence. Someone who is unable to spell the word shouldn't pretend to be enlightened. There is no possibility you would ask the question if you were not coerced." Koenji insulted him with narrowed eyes.

I wasn't sure what Koenji was trying to hint at but it was obvious that the accusation made Yamauchi fall silent. He looked around at everyone with a bit of fear in his eyes. What the hell is that about?

"I shall be retiring, I appear to have fallen ill," Koenji said while putting hand to his stomach.

"What? Koenji, please. We need to stick together, especially now," Matsuo-kun pleaded with him.

"Why would I? While this situation is salvageable, I made clear that should my authority be usurped then I shall be retiring immediately. This situation has soured me, I appear to have developed a stomach ailment from the poor diet we have been suffering from. I shall be retiring to the ship with haste to seek treatment, best of luck to the rest of you able bodied classmates of mine." Koenji said simply. After he was finished he quickly left without even another look back at us.

Screw this, I didn't want my efforts to go to waste because of some testosterone filled pissing contest. I sacrificed for this, I wanted points. Damn it all. Now we lost another thirty points.

I wanted someone to do something, anything to stop this shit from going on. I didn't spend the past days going through all of this shit only for it all to go down the toilet because things didn't go to his plan and he started throwing his toys. Koenji doesn't listen to anyone though, the only one who he does seem to listen to hasn't even looked up and continues to stare into space like a zombie.

We were interrupted suddenly by loud clapping coming from the edge of the trees. I turned with the rest to see Ryuen standing there with a victorious smirk as he condescendingly made his way into our camp. Great, this crafty bastard probably heard the whole thing, we're all screwed. What a waste of time.

"Looks like I caught the tail end of a bit of a show. Things aren't looking so good for you, are they Eiichiro?" Ryuen smirked tauntingly.

I heard rumors from some of my friends from Class C that Matsuo-kun had a run in with Ryuen at the end of Sudo's case. From what I could gather, Ryuen was pretty angry at the fact that Matsuo-kun seemed to taunt him saying that it was a meaningless victory for him since we had no points. It wouldn't be the case this time. If he heard who our leader was we were screwed. They didn't have any points either, what Ichinose-san said yesterday seemed to be a foreshadowed warning.

We couldn't kick him out unless we did it physically and we'd risk disqualification if he reported us, it didn't help that Chabashira-sensei was right there watching everything unfold.

"What do you want, Ryuen?" Matsuo-kun asked him tiredly. "Come to rub it in our faces? Yes, everything is going terribly. Congratulations. Please, just go away. We get it."

"Actually, I'm here to give you a gift. I can't have our favorite defective losers go down and miss out on being able to play with you." Ryuen said nonchalantly, picking dirt from his nails and blowing on them before inspecting them.

"Just like when you offered me food at the beach, I'd wonder if it was poisoned. Anything you want to offer us, we don't want."

Ryuen shot a curious glance at Ayanokouji-kun who still hadn't looked up from the ground. He was completely disconnected, like a robot without any charge in his battery. This was beginning to become pathetic, just do something! Matsuo-kun looked like he was going to piss himself just by breathing the same air as Ryuen and the rest of the boys were all just as intimidated by him. The only one who wouldn't have an issue standing up to him just started walking to the boat. Honestly, could this shit get any worse?

"I'm sure that you'll want this, you're struggling for points aren't you? I'm just here to give you the names of the leaders for Class A and B. I'm pretty sure the rest of your class would love that, it's pretty generous of me don't you think?" Ryuen revealed with his arms out confidently.

We all looked at him stunned, why the hell would he tell us that?

"What do you want in return?" Matsuo-kun asked cautiously.

At this, Ryuen tossed a camera at me. I couldn't help but look at it in confusion, what did this bastard want me to do with this? Take a photo of the river? Arrogant bastard.

"Kneel at my feet. Kushida will take a photo and I'll be on my way. Do that and I'll give you the names."

For the first time, I saw Ayanokouji-kun look up in his direction. Thank God. This time though, I was actually afraid of him, I've never seen pure anger in his eyes like I did just now. It was terrifying, the normally aloof and lazy guy that I wanted to bend me over a tree looked completely different. He looked ready to kill him, hell if looks could kill Ryuen would have been a bloody mess on the ground already. Holy shit, he's so hot. I was afraid and aroused at the same time, how the hell does that happen?

"Hurry up," Yamauchi said frantically, trying to shove Matsuo-kun forward.

"What do you mean, hurry up?" Matsuo-kun asked in confusion.

"If that's all it takes to get the names, get going and do it. We all sacrificed for this exam and it's all going to shit. If that's all you need to do so we can get points for the month, hurry up before he changes his mind!"

"You don't know Ryuen, he's devious. He'll get what he wants and then he'll just go. It's a game to him, this is just a powerplay." Matsuo-kun spat shoving Yamauchi away.

"Screw that, who cares! If there's a chance, just do it. Stop being so selfish, you're supposed to be our leader!" Yamauchi spat back, shoving him too.

Ayanokouji-kun stood up looking murderous at Yamauchi who seemed to shrink back at the sudden movement. I wasn't so sure that he wouldn't hit him or worse, it seemed like Ayanokouji-kun was unstable at the moment and would snap at any minute. The previous disappointment of seeing him near comatose was gone instantly and I was even more attracted to him than ever before. There was something dangerous about him right now and I should be shrinking away in fear like the rest of Class D, instead I just wanted to jump him here and now in front of everyone. I kept my composure though, even if it was hard.

Screw damn island and all these people around. I want to retire too, this is becoming a nightmare.

Ayanokouji-kun walked forward purposefully, even Ryuen seemed to be eyeing him with interest. He probably heard about what happened to that crippled bitch just like everyone else but Ryuen didn't taunt him. Instead he just studied him with calculating eyes, as though he were trying to get a read on him. Matsuo-kun was looking gratefully at him as though he were coming in to rescue him.

I've noticed that everyone seems to hold Ayanokouji-kun to an incredibly high standard. From Chabashira-sensei to Koenji and even that stupid bitch Horikita's older brother. From the details I had I could understand it to some degree but it seemed like there was something more about him that I was missing, something that I was sure that almost everyone was missing. Some sort of secret that I couldn't figure out.

I also noticed Matsushita-san looking at him with pure adoration in her eyes, as though she were waiting for him to step in on anything all this time. She knows something, she knows what they're all seeming to be hiding. Did she know him from middle school? Is that the reason she seemed to be so in love with him?

Ayanokouji-kun moved up to Matsuo-kun before taking him firmly by the shoulders and looking directly in his eyes, ignoring everyone.

"Do not get on your knees for anyone, not for any reason." He said coldly.

That was all he said or did. As soon as he was done, he left the camp and went into the forest. He just left. What the hell was that supposed to achieve? DO SOMETHING ABOUT THIS!

"Well that was boring, I guess he saw through it." Ryuen smirked.

"I'm not kneeling. Take your camera and fuck off," Matsuo-kun said firmly, taking the camera from me and putting it back in his hand. Ryuen grabbed onto his wrist and smiled viciously at him.

"You're starting to grow a backbone, good. I like my prey to have a bit of fight in them. Maybe after I'm done with you, he'll finally come out to play..."

With that he turned and started to walk back out of the camp before loudly talking over his shoulder with a dismissive wave. Arrogant bastard.

"Class A's leader is Totsuka Yahiko and Class B's leader is Ichinose Honami."

That left us speechless but he had to be lying. What did he gain by just giving us the names of the leaders for the other two classes? Wasn't he supposed to be working with Class B? Maybe if I wasn't going insane I could figure out the rationale behind it but right now all I was thinking about was the ache in my stomach and between my legs. Argh, this was so annoying.

"You can't trust him," Horikita said suddenly, moving to Matsuo-kun's side. "There's no reason for him to give us the names, he has to be lying."

"No, he wasn't," Matsuo-kun said, just as confused as the rest of us. "Kiyotaka and Koenji both found Class A's leader when they scouted the island and found the fishing rods. Koenji told me. He also told me that he found Ichinose out as the leader for Class B. He's not lying, why would he just tell us that?"

All of this was giving me a headache and pissing me off. I just wanted all of this to be over already.

It wasn't too long after that all of us ended up breaking off into their own cliques again. Matsuo-kun sat by himself, deep in thought while trying to go over everything that happened. As much as I'd worked with him in the past and supported him he was pretty underwhelming to say the least. He was trying but he was just normal. People like the cripple and that arrogant bastard were leagues above him, it was clear why they were in higher classes than him. Still at the moment he was the only one willing and able as much as I hated to admit it, our success was in his hands for now.

I moved next to Matsushita, studying her carefully. She looked like a puppy that just had the hose turned on her, looking crestfallen again as though she were disappointed. The curiosity was killing me, I had to know what she knew. If it was a big secret, this would be the only time I'd be able to get it out of her, while everyone's minds were fragile.

"Matsushita-san, let's go for a walk together. Maybe we can find something to eat for the rest of the group," I suggested while looping my arm around hers.

She looked reluctant but agreed and not long after we walked into the forest together in silence before I decided to break it.

"Are you sure you're alright, Matsushita-san?" I asked kindly.

"I don't know if I can go through with this, Kushida-san," Matsushita said apprehensively.

I was starting to get annoyed with this bitch, she really was spineless.

Not long after Ichinose and Ayanokouji-kun got together, we talked and she confided in me in tears. Crying that she lost her chance and how much it hurt her whenever she saw them together. It was pathetic really, I didn't really give a shit. Emotional people were easy to manipulate though, they weren't thinking rationally. It only took a couple of honeyed whispers to convince her to assist me.

"We agreed on this, didn't we? Ayanokouji-kun should date someone from Class D, not her. We said we'd help each other, we just have to break them up and then one of us can help him. Are you really going to give up?" I asked.

"Well, no... but... We can't do this to him, Kushida-san. This isn't right, he's happy with her." Matsushita struggled.

"He would be happier with one of us. Come on, Matsushita-san she isn't right for him, you know that. It should be one of us, we already talked about this. He's making a mistake and we have to help him, he's one of us. We have to protect him. Eventually he's going to have to make a choice between Class B and D and it'll cause problems for them, we have to help him see that before it's too late."

"No... Kushida-san it isn't right, he won't do that. He isn't like that, he doesn't even care about the rankings. Please Kushida-san, we have to stop this before it's too late. He's not stupid, he'll figure out what we're doing and he'll never forgive me." Matsushita pleaded with me.

"He won't figure anything out, trust me. This is for Ichinose-san as well, she's already gone through enough with Class B, she's suffered a lot. We have to help her too, she always helped us. We're doing her a favor," I tried to convince her.

"That's not why we're doing this and you know it," Matsushita said in frustration, pulling at her hair. "We can say we're doing it for any of those reasons but we're lying. Kushida-san we have to stop, please. I'm begging you, he's suffered enough in his life."

Suddenly she stopped talking and I saw her looking over my shoulder and tears started to well up in her eyes. Curiously, I looked over my shoulder to look at what she'd seen.

Ayanokouji-kun was sitting on a fallen tree hunched over while Ichinose was hugging his head to her chest while running her fingers through his hair and comforting him. He still looked just as bad as he did in the camp but he didn't push her away and seemed to lean into her. If I was being objective, they really did look like a picture perfect couple. Both good looking and they seemed to really like each other. Revolting.

"I can't do this anymore," Matsushita moaned painfully. "I can't see this anymore, I have to move on. I can't..."

"You can't give up, Matsushita-san. What if they never break up, what if they end up being one of those couples that end up staying together through high school and end up getting married? You'll regret it for the rest of your life,"

Matsushita wasn't even listening to me anymore, just sobbing to herself pitifully. God, get a grip already. I was sure that when Ayanokouji-kun and Ichinose broke up, he wasn't going to end up with her, she was too needy for someone like him. He was lazy, he didn't want to deal with any of this shit. Still, we agreed that we'd help each other and that if one of us ended up with him that we'd support it. I had no intention of doing that and I'm sure she was the same but we both lied to each other to get what we wanted. That was the nature of the school anyway.

"What do you mean he suffered enough? Did you know him before coming to the school?" I asked, suddenly remembering the tail end of what she said earlier.

Matsushita froze, no longer sobbing. She suddenly looked frazzled, her eyes darting around in fear at her slip up. I knew it, she knew something.

"No, of course not. None of my old middle school friends are here, I met him on the first day just like everyone else," Matsushita said a little panicked.

"You know something," I accused suspiciously.

I was right, all of her reactions as I said that were pointing to her hiding something. I spent a lot of time befriending people. I know people's physical cues and quirks when they're hiding something or when they want something. She knows.

"I don't know what you're talking about," Matsushita said suddenly, turning and trying to go back to the camp. I grabbed onto her wrist to stop her, this was my only chance.

"You can tell me, Matsushita-san. Come on, we've shared everything with each other. Everyone talks to me, you can trust me. I promise, I won't tell anyone." I urged her gently.

Please. Please let this work. Please let her be just fragile enough to crack, she was on the edge, I could feel it. I needed to know.

She looked like she was struggling, trying to make a decision but I couldn't figure out what it was. Maybe she promised Ayanokouji-kun she'd keep his secret, maybe it was something so bad that she felt guilty about sharing it. It was tearing her apart, more than likely she had been keeping it to herself this entire time and she was just waiting to talk about it to someone. Anyone. I knew the burden of keeping secrets, I knew what it did to me. Sometimes it was just too hard to bear and you just needed to let it out.

Whatever I thought it was, it definitely wasn't what she ended up telling me.

"Okay... I'll tell you. You have to promise me though, you can't tell anyone." Matsushita pleaded with me.

Yes. Finally...

"Don't worry, Matsushita-san. You can trust me."

Chapter 26

I've still barely spoken to anyone, everything has gone up in smoke around us and the rest of the class are miserable. With Koenji retiring, Eiichiro was forced to pick up the mantle and try whatever he could to the best of his ability with the information he had. It wasn't easy and I could have helped but I haven't been able to do much of anything since the talk with Chabashira-sensei.

It's not because of sadness or guilt anymore, it took a while but I came to terms with that. Anyone can get sick for whatever reason, it wasn't Horikita's fault and Arisu isn't exactly the picture of health. It could have just as easily happened to anyone in school or in any other part of life, it was pure happenstance that it occurred here.

The reason why I haven't been able to speak to anyone is because I'm trying to process how all of this came to happen. How have I become so weak? When did I start to miss things and miscalculate? Is what Chabashira-sensei's been saying all of this time true? Have I really wasted my potential?

In regards to wasting my potential I would have to disagree. What was there for me to learn in this school? The only thing that I have is the potential for a new experience, to foster the growth in the people around me. I don't believe I myself have very much growing to do in an academic or physical sense, the only way I have left to grow is in maturity and experience. Those things can't be achieved by coddling people.

Still, I would have to say that I have grown weak. I've begun to miss details and miscalculate, or rather I have seen them and just not considered to what extent the consequences of those miscalculations are.

Arisu's sickness only blew the door open to other things that I didn't consider, it was incredibly reckless and selfish of me to force her along. Any number of things could have happened that I didn't account for. What if the hammock broke and I dropped her? I wasn't at a risk of injury for carrying her about, my body is well trained and I'm confident that I wouldn't have been injured. But what if I tripped? I don't particularly care for my own or other people's well being too much but Arisu's health and safety is my top priority.

I've also given up a lot of my strengths in the interest of friendships and connection. There's power in operating from the shadows, you're able to do so much more. It allows you to pull the wool over people's eyes. While they're too busy focusing on identifying you, they miss the finer details and contingencies that they would normally be looking for.

Being objective, I'm confident that since my secret hadn't come out already it was very possible that I could have kept it indefinitely as long as I didn't draw attention to myself. There's strength and power in people not knowing who you are and what you are capable of. Instead, I drew attention to myself by coding BUDDY. I drew even more critique when I joined the student council. It's almost as though I'm begging for people to discover me by my actions, it's impossible to remain inconspicuous when you're constantly in the spotlight.

I did all of this in the interest of my friendship with Eiichiro, mostly to keep his dreams alive. I didn't have to do it this way but I chose to, why? I knew what it would do and I disregarded the consequences.

This mental battle has caused me to retreat into my own thoughts. I have a cursory understanding about what's going on around me but I haven't been paying attention. Even the time I spend with Honami has been met with almost agonizing silence. She hasn't commented on it or complained, she simply stays with me and talks. She continued to ask me questions and when I hadn't answered, she continued as though I did. It's as though she's trying to give me the chance to go back to normalcy but allows me to process what I'm thinking and feeling.

Maybe it was arrogance. I've always known that I'm far above my peers in almost every capacity, possibly even my teachers. It's led me to make stupid and lazy errors in planning and executing strategies. I'm lazy in my behavior, I've never been lazy or impatient when it comes to my execution. I even tried to get Arisu on side with a food trap of all things, what the hell is going on with me?

"We'll now be tallying the results. Please wait a moment. Feel free to use the rest area if you would like, or have a drink."

Almost everyone was in the rest area together. It seemed Arisu and a girl from Class C were the only ones that were missing. Despite people having friends in different classes, everyone seemed to keep within their class groups. A glance at Honami told more of a story about class B. While they were together as a group, Honami had no one with her speaking to her directly. Mako and Chihiro were both standing on the other side of the group by themselves with Mako looking in Honami's direction a little sadly.

Class A seemed to be on edge as well, notably Katsuragi. He kept looking warily at Ryuen from time to time. Totsuka was shooting glances at a girl from Class C who noticed after a while. She gave him a strained smile and a small wave of her hand but it looked... odd. There wasn't any warmth behind it, it was incredibly robotic and looked to be almost forced.

As for Class C, they were looking at all of us with an air of superiority. While Class B was chatting amongst themselves happily, Class C were looking at us like they owned us. They were all standing around Ryuen who was sitting in a chair with his legs crossed. Like they were protecting some sort of a king. He was really taking this dictator visage seriously, he seemed to relish in immersing himself in the role. He looked over to us on more than one occasion with a taunting smirk in Eiichiro's direction while Eiichiro did everything he could to look like he didn't notice.

Class D looked as divided as ever. Pretty much everyone was mad at someone else, they were all tired and hungry. Most of them didn't even care anymore what the results were, they were resigned to the fact that we had lost before we even knew it was the case. They looked like a defeated mess. Ryuen seemed to relish in their self pity.

It wasn't a coincidence that he was waiting outside of our camp when Yamauchi had the argument with Koenji, he orchestrated it. I was too busy with my own internal struggle to analyze it any further but it was obvious. Eiichiro was pulling his hair out trying to think of a way out of this situation but couldn't seem to come up with anything. He pointedly didn't ask me for any advice or guidance.

I overheard a conversation between Horikita and Eiichiro one day but kept my focus elsewhere so that they wouldn't know I was eavesdropping.

"Perhaps we should ask Ayanokouji-kun for some help, some fresh eyes could be useful." Horikita had asked.

"No, we should leave him out of this. I want to figure this out on my own, I can't have Kiyotaka solving my problems all the time," Eiichiro argued back.

Horikita frowned at him before picking up the manual again and scanning through it.

"Now isn't the time to be prideful, we have a crisis. If Ryuen really did hear who our leader is we have to take measures. It could be helpful for Ayanokouji-kun, he needs to take his mind off Sakayanagi-san."

"He doesn't need to get involved with this. Besides, we have thirty seven other students here that should be pulling their weight, I don't see any of them throwing their efforts behind figuring this out. Why does it have to be him?"

"I'm not stupid, Matsuo-kun," Horikita glared at him. "He is far more intelligent than he lets on. You can play this game with the others but I know first hand. He can figure out a way out of this, we're missing something and you are letting your personal feelings get in the way of finding a solution."

Eiichiro had glared at her angrily which Horikita returned with just as much fire. They continued to glare at each other, neither giving an inch before Eiichiro stood.

"Let's go talk to Hirata and speak with the others to try and figure something out. We're leaving Kiyotaka out of this, that's final."

"You are b-."

"I said that's final, Horikita!" Eiichiro spat angrily.

Since then, things with the two of them were tense. Everytime Horikita tried to come in my direction for any reason, Eiichiro would cut into her path. It would lead to the two of them arguing back and forth viciously but he kept her away. I didn't know any of the rules of the exam aside from the prices of things in the manual and what Chabashira-sensei had told us but Eiichiro seemed determined to try and dig us out of this, so I decided to dedicate this time to figuring things out instead.

Eiichiro was firm with his decision and I was proud. It would probably spell doom for this exam but he was growing. He was starting to act decisively and he was showing more confidence than ever before. This would be the true test. If Ryuen really did know our leader and if we failed in this exam, Class D would be in mutiny. It would take everything he's learned so far to keep them under wraps but I had faith in him. If push came to shove I'd have his back.

That was for later though, I was just praying that this would be over soon. I wanted the results to be announced already so I could get to the ship as quickly as possible. I needed to call my father and find out about Arisu's condition. He instructed me specifically to stay in the exam and so I obeyed. I've been far too disobedient and never had any issues with it before but this was my father. I owe everything to that man so if he told me to do something, I would listen.

So many times I wanted to just retire and go back to the ship so I could call. So many times I had been anxious, despite knowing that I would be told if something had happened. So many times I had run over Chabashira-sensei's words in my mind over and over. So many times I could hear Chabashira-sensei's words echoing until it was almost maddening:

Stop being a child.

I've been wondering a lot where this feeling of being rebellious has come from. Why I'm behaving the way that I am.

I couldn't be rebelling against the school, they've done nothing to me to make me feel this way. If anything they've been incredibly accommodating and understanding. That smirking bastard allowed me to have BUDDY even if it gave me an overwhelming advantage over the rest of the student populus. I've been given a position on the student council, Honami has been doing all of my duties and no one has been mistreating me.

I wasn't rebelling against the Government. They've gone above and beyond for me. Sure they weren't doing it simply out of the goodness of their hearts, they wanted something from me. Still, I was in and out of the public eye quickly and they didn't need to go so far for me when the public lost interest in the White Room. They didn't need to continue to fund my education, father had more than enough money to take care of that. They wanted me for my intellect and they were trying to ingratiate themselves with me based on my potential. It wasn't enough to be angry though.

It took a couple of days of deep introspective thought but I figured out where all this comes from.

I was rebelling against that piece of shit. That bastard who I share a name with, the one where my blood comes from. It was stupid, I was rebelling against the ideals of a man who wasn't even alive anymore to anger. A ghost of my past that doesn't even exist anymore. I don't even know when he started to take such a hold on my psyche, I haven't thought about that bastard for years.

How did I allow him to have such a hold on my life moving forward? He can't hurt me anymore, he can't take anything away from me that he hadn't already. Ghosts are fictitious and yet I continue to build him up as though he were real. He's a silhouette of my past, he means nothing. Even now he still continues to haunt me and I allow it.

Thinking of him makes me weary, I can't explain why. It's as though if I think of him too much he'll emerge from the ground in front of me. As though thoughts of him would breathe life into some form of Homunculus, allowing him to walk the earth once again. Piece of shit, I hope whatever hell he was sent to was a thousand times worse than that place.

I was torn from my thoughts by the click of a megaphone being turned on. Mashima-sensei appeared at the beach ready to make an announcement on the final tally of the outcome. I expected everyone to start running to him but instead everyone stayed put within their respective classes, Ryuen stayed seated looking smug at what was to be the incoming storm.

"Over this past week, your teachers and I have closely watched your efforts in this special test. Alliances were made, alliances were broken and while most of you took this examination seriously there was one clear winner that stood among the rest. Many things have happened however there was one class who has come out victorious out of all of you."

At this Class B and A both looked up in confusion. Our class seemed to already have resigned themselves. When Eiichiro seemed to realize there was nothing he could come up with, he spent our remaining points in order to try to raise everyone's spirits. While there were protests, they were too broken to argue. The comforts of the remainder of the exam were bittersweet, none of them enjoyed it. They were hoping for points only to be told that we would be once again getting none.

"I don't want to drag this out, so I'll get straight to the point. We will not accept any questions regarding the results, no exceptions. We would like you to accept the results you have been given, analyze them, and use them to help you for the next test. It is what it is. Carry yourselves with decorum and accept the situation, whatever it may be. You must accept reality, am I understood?"

Apparently Mashima-sensei knew that there was going to be pandemonium. He was bracing everyone. He was really trying to hammer home that we had to accept reality, mentioning it more than once. It only meant one outcome and I got to my feet to get prepared. If they turned on Honami and blamed her for this I would be stepping in to put that parasite's face straight into the sand.

Honami and the rest of Class B didn't seem to pick up on the 'Alliances were broken' part in Mashima-sensei's explanation. They were too caught up on the one clear winner fact.

"Now I will announce the rankings, Class A, B and D have all finished with zero points."

I was expecting Pandemonium, instead I only heard silence. Class A were in shock, they didn't understand how it could happen. Class D looked to just be defeated. Class B on the other hand looked completely confused, they could only stare in shock at Mashima-sensei as he continued on.

"Class C has come in first with 150 points. This concludes the announcement."

I saw Kanzaki cross straight to Ryuen, a few of the boys from Class B all desperately trying to stop him. I watched with barely any interest in Kanzaki, instead my eyes were on Himeno who didn't seem to react at all, she seemed confused on what to do. I've had my suspicions about her ever since Honami had been explaining her change in behavior but hadn't given it much thought.

"Ryuen! What is the meaning of this, we had a deal!" Kanzaki roared.

Before he could get close a large half-japanese and half-african american boy named Yamada stepped in his path and shoved a meaty hand into his chest, pushing him back. Another boy with dark green hair moved beside Yamada and blocked Kanzaki from attempting to get to Ryuen again.

I wasn't interested. Before anyone else had moved, I was making my way to the ship as fast as possible. I needed to get to a phone as quickly as I could. I was barely back aboard the ship before I saw Chabashira-sensei standing there waiting for me.

Before I could say anything she put her phone in my hand, already unlocked. I dialed the number to my father's phone instantly without a second thought or word.

"He-"

"Is she okay?" I cut him off worriedly.

I could hear him chuckle lightly over the phone.

"She's fine, I was wondering how long it would take. I half expected you to retire immediately once you heard." I heard him joke.

"Can I speak to her?"

"She's asleep now, it would be best to let her rest."

I felt relief wash over my entire body at what I heard and I felt like a weight was lifted from my shoulders instantly. I knew that she would be fine but I just had to hear it, I wasn't sure if they would have kept it from me to stop me from panicking but I doubted it. Not even Chabashira-sensei would be so cruel.

"What were the results?" Father asked curiously.

I suddenly felt a creep of dread, father had always been accommodating of me and had supported my laziness even when he caught me red handed sleeping in my office. Still, he told Arisu that he was sure that I would be ready to participate once the first special exam came, I wasn't sure how he would react.

"Class A, B and D all finished with zero while Class C finished with 150 points. A clear win for them, they did well."

"I see," Father said after a few moments of silence.

That was all he said and I was strangely nervous. I owe everything to this man, he is my father, not that piece of shit. I didn't want to embarass him and I also didn't want him to be angry with me. I wasn't sure what that meant, but I was also too anxious to break the silence.

For once I was stumped on what I should do, I've never second guessed myself. With everything that happened with Arisu I was strangely indecisive. This wasn't me, I have nothing to be afraid of.

"Well, enjoy the rest of the trip. Arisu will be cared for and she's recovering well. You don't need to concern yourself, she'll make a full recovery. If all goes well, she should be better by the time you return."

Again, I was surprised by my father's responses. He was very understanding when we met in the Student Council offices but this was different. I just threw an important exam and we got utterly destroyed. I was expecting to be chastised, possibly even yelled at. Instead, he just told me to enjoy the rest of my summer holidays.

"Kiyotaka? Are you still there?" I heard him call me.

"Yes, I'm still here." I nodded. Why was I nodding? He can't even see me.

"Good, I mean it. Enjoy yourself, this wasn't your fault. I was planning to have Arisu stay at the school, she originally wasn't even supposed to board the ship. I changed my mind and I knew you would take her with you.

"The school has a duty of care. You were allowed to have Arisu stay with you, you were permitted to take her back and forth between camps. This was not your fault, if anyone is to blame for Arisu's condition it is ours. I mean it, Kiyotaka. I don't want to hear that you've been brooding and blaming yourself."

I'm a coward, I didn't tell him that I had done exactly that.

"Why did you change your mind? Arisu could have been hurt, she got sick. It could have been far worse a-"

"Kiyotaka," He interrupted me. "I can't coddle the two of you, I've made that mistake with you already. One day you'll become a parent and you'll understand. Until then, take my word for it. Let it go, you can't live your life in fear of what may happen or you'll be sitting on the sidelines for the rest of your life."

I don't know why, but suddenly it felt like we weren't talking about Arisu or her condition anymore. It felt like he was giving me parental wisdom, that I shouldn't worry about what could happen once everything is revealed. I may be booksmart, but this situation has made me realize that while I'm intelligent, I'm not wise. I should be humble and take my father's advice, it was more than anything that piece of shit ever did for me.

"I understand, thank you father."

"I have to go, send my regards to Eiichiro and 'My Honami My Secretary Ichinose'." He teased.

"Chabashira-sensei wants her phone back." I said quickly, cutting the call.

Handing the phone back to her I thanked her graciously. She knew exactly what I wanted to do the moment I was back on the ship. She was treating me far better than she was at the beginning of the year, she was kind to me even when I was rude. I hadn't apologized yet and I wouldn't, it was one of the things that was incredibly difficult for me; a heartfelt apology.

Even still, she hadn't been eavesdropping on my conversation. The entire time she was staring at the wall beside us as though she were deep in thought. I wondered if that's what I looked like for the remainder of the exam. When I gave her the phone back, she snapped out of her thoughts before pocketing it.

The remainder of the students were back on the ship, many of them were still reeling from the results of the exam. There was a saving grace to all this in regards to the situation with Class B.

Honami couldn't be blamed for this, Ryuen had taken all of the spotlight. By turning in Class B's name at the end, she had been spared. Himeno's plan of making Honami lose credibility in Class B didn't work and it wouldn't now. Still, I couldn't shake the feeling that I was missing something with her, as though it wasn't her plan all along. It was Kanzaki who confronted Ryuen, he specifically said we had a deal. Now that my head was back where it was supposed to be, I was back to being analytical.

The fact that Kanzaki had vocally confronted Ryuen only added to covering for Honami. There was no way to spin it as though she had leaked the information.

It was a double edge sword and I had the sinking feeling that Honami would feel sorry for them. She'd sacrifice her happiness and she'd retake the lead of Class B, I was sure of it.I still held out hope that she wouldn't but it was more possible now than it was a few hours ago. Class B along with the rest of us had been thoroughly defeated by Class C, she was their best option. Himeno's plan had led to them being dragged down with the rest of us.

As selfish as it is though, it would have been better for me if Honami were blamed for the loss. It would have meant that they'd never ask Honami to retake the leadership role. She'd probably be ostracized for it and from what I could observe at the moment subconsciously the group had already begun to do just that. They didn't outright exclude her but they didn't congregate around her like I'm sure they used to when she was at the top.

My brilliant aspirations of lessening Honami's burdens with school so she could do anything I wanted were ruined. Great.

"Ayanokouji, if Class D continues to take losses like this there's no coming back. You realize that right?"

I tore my attention away from the rest of the first year students who were all boarding the ship again with mixed emotions between them. None of them were in high spirits aside from Class C who seemed to be relishing in their position. Idiots, this was all Ryuen but they acted as though they had something to do with it.

"I suppose it depends on what you're referring to when you say there's no coming back," I shrugged nonchalantly.

"I mean it'll be impossible to reach Class A if they take another substantial loss," Chabashira elaborated.

"Yes, I agree," I nodded. "It could have been worse though. Class C was the only one who gained anything in this exam, Class A isn't any further ahead than they were before this."

"But you haven't bridged the cap either. There won't be many opportunities to do so,"

I didn't say anything, there wasn't anything to say. I don't care about reaching Class A, it was irrelevant on how big that gap grew.

"At the beginning of the year, I did what I could to try to motivate you to get involved." Chabashira started while continuing to scan our surroundings. We were alone for now and I could see she was making sure no one was eavesdropping on our conversation.

"Don't you mean manipulate?"

"Very well, if you want me to speak completely candidly then yes. I was trying to manipulate you. I'm not proud of it, you've lived a difficult life but it's the truth. That's how much I want to have one of my classes reach Class A. To make up for my past mistakes, I'm willing to sell my soul to reach that goal if I have to."

Glancing up at her, I could see this was a difficult conversation for her. I've rarely had a chance to talk to Chabashira-sensei and it was a conversation I wanted to have. I wanted to see where this change of attitude towards us had come from. We hadn't made our way up from our zero class point position and there was no reason for her to look at us any differently from what I could see. I was intrigued.

"You backed off though, what made you change your approach?"

"There's talent in this group to reach Class A without you. The only issue is that it will take too long for them to reach that potential. By the time they're ready to compete against the others on their own, they'll already be too far behind.

"Matsuo has potential but he's learning from his mistakes. Normally that wouldn't be an issue but as time goes by those mistakes are becoming more costly. I was hoping for a better result, even if Class D wasn't the clear winner I would have been content with some form of progress. Instead they were demolished, Matsuo had no contingencies or the strategic capabilities to think of one.

"I was content to leave you alone to do as you wish. Antagonizing you would do little for me. I'd rather have you in Class D doing nothing than to make an enemy of you and have you transfer to another class with a vendetta against me." Chabashira explained.

It was concerning where this conversation was going, my gut was telling me that I wouldn't have much longer left in obscurity. I'd already been too careless, too many people were already suspicious of me. The fact that Chabashira-sensei was also seemingly beginning to get desperate, I wasn't so sure that she wouldn't go back to hinting that I was more than what I seemed again.

"So you're going to put pressure on me now that you feel like your back is against the wall? Does your heart feel lighter at the fact that you're telling me your reasons before you act?"

"What did I just tell you?" Chabashira sighed in frustration. "I said that I would rather have you in Class D doing nothing than to have you working against me. I've done my research, you're far more intelligent than I am. Do you think that's an easy thing to admit for an educator? I can teach you nothing, I have no leverage against you. How am I supposed to pressure you without any backlash?

"I'm humbling myself and asking you politely. I'm putting aside my pride and my dignity to seek the assistance of a child." Chabashira clenched her fists and grit her teeth. "Please, take up a more active role. Take over the class and get them to Class A. Just... Please, I'll do whatever you want."

I looked at the rest of Class D who were quietly sitting amongst themselves on the deck, the loss and mental fatigue of the exam and the loss weighing on them.

Horikita was glaring at the deck of the ship with so much hate she could have burned a hole through it. Eiichiro's eyes looked hollow, he wanted this win badly. More than anything though, he wanted to do it without my help. In the past he always consulted with me, with the Sudo situation, when we were figuring out the S-System and even with our mid-terms. This time he wanted to do it himself, to prove he learned something. He had, but he couldn't see that at the moment. The loss was so crippling that he couldn't see the positives or reflect on what he did wrong.

They were looking down in defeat, like a baby elephant chained to a tree stump. One that had only just begun its life chained and detained. The usual fire of confidence wasn't there with them, there were no begging rumbles from them. There wasn't any desire to be free anymore, it was as though they were already resigned. There wasn't any more fight for freedom anymore, no goal that seemed to be worth the struggle. They put their best foot forward, struggled and suffered only to be outmaneuvered and chained again to where it all began for them. With nothing.

If I didn't step in and help them, when they grew to adults they'd give up before even trying. They'd look at themselves as pathetic and worthless, not recognizing that they had grown strong enough to uproot the stump and attain the goals that were just within their grasp.

This wasn't a situation where I could just let them lick their wounds and they would be able to bounce back quick enough, I'd have to be a little more active in helping them review what went wrong and how to fix it moving forward. My little pity party had gone on long enough, I won't let it happen again. I was done rebelling against a memory and I was bored of sitting on the sidelines doing nothing now. I could play around in the shadows, it'll be fun.

I liked my class. They weren't so bad, they were decent people and I was fond of a number of them to a degree. For the most part, throughout the entire exam they had been nothing but kind and accommodating to Arisu. I wasn't about to start solo carrying them but I would throw them a bone, it'd be interesting.

I'll have to start scouting around the class to see if there was any potential in them, see if there were any untapped gems to assist in Eiichiro's future success. Before I do any of that though, I need to get my hands on the manual and find out the rules of the exam we just did. I can't exactly help Eiichiro review when I didn't even know what we were supposed to be doing.

There were other things that needed to be done as well but I could deal with those things as they come. For now, it was time to get to work. There was a lot of it that needed to be done.

"I'll be a little more active from now on. Just don't expect too much from me."

Chapter 27

It's been three days since the end of the special test on the island. While we were back to living in luxury, the mood on the cruise ship was rather somber for the most part. I've been busy analyzing what I know about each of the classes, cross referencing it with their OAA scores and coming up with strategies and counterstrategies that I was sure lent itself to Eiichiro's strengths.

There was work to do, no more playing around. While everyone else was wallowing and feeling sorry for themselves at the fact that we had all been clean swept by Class C, I needed to work. Just like when I coded BUDDY there was a time window that needed to be met, there wouldn't be an opportunity like this again. It would be easier to gather information while everyone else was still emotional, people tended to be more forthright when they were grieving.

Class A - 1004

Class B - 801

Class C - 742

Class D - 0

After reviewing the prices and formulating different strategies based on various contributing factors, in the ideal circumstances, I'm confident I could have had us finish in first place with our original two hundred and seventy points. It wouldn't have been very difficult to do in theory, the problem was in the execution. It would have been strenuous to do without people being even more suspicious of me but it was doable. It was important to review these things, to look at the best and worst case scenarios when planning and setting up contingencies. There was a silver lining here though, we learned valuable information about each of the classes, their tendencies, strengths and weaknesses.

A lot of it could be inferred but it was important to separate fact and fiction, I needed details to be confirmed in order to solidify my suspicions and right now was the ideal time to do it. While I'm still in relative obscurity in terms of people's perceptions of me.

Since meeting Honami I haven't been very social. I can be charismatic if I want to be and I have no issues with being outgoing and speaking to people, I don't get embarrassed. It was one of the things I learned once I left that place and came to live with my family. There was always a politician and their children who were trying to ingratiate themselves with me. Trying to build a future alliance with me based on my potential. There's something unassuming about a child, adults always seem to underestimate you regardless of what they know about you, it's human nature. While these people always seemed to think they were pulling the wool over my eyes, I played dumb and oblivious to their ploys.

It was easy for them to forget I was even in the room as I watched them socialize with each other, carefully noting which of them were skilled negotiators, who was good at bridging and networking relationships and who were skilled tacticians. From there it was relatively simple, I'd eavesdrop or blend in and watch as everything unfolded and file everything away for future reference. Listening to how phrasing would affect people, watching facial expressions and learning non verbal queues was a fascinating thing. When there's very little that you don't already know, it's always fascinating to learn a new skill and this was one of them.

It's one of the reasons I have so much affection for Eiichiro, people never understood why I was such good friends with him. Arisu looks at him like he's a buffoon and every other child I've met would look down on him. He's our butler's son, there's no future alliance to be made with him and there's nothing to gain from being friends with the help's child. The truth is that Eiichiro has been incredibly beneficial for me in many ways growing up.

When swimming in those circles there was one tried and true way to judge people's true intentions. Watch how they treat the help.

When offered a drink or food if they were polite, said please and thank you, greeted them, asked for their name and actually remembered it, it was the good start in judging whether a person was genuine or not. I've dealt with influential children all my life, they put on a facade in order to rub shoulders with those who can benefit them later. You could always tell what kind of people they were based on how they treated others that were beneath them on the socio-political scale.

Having Eiichiro around was like having a metal detector. Once they knew that he was my best friend they were kind and polite to him. Offering to have him join us, treating him with respect and wanting to be friends with him knowing full well that he wasn't one of them. It was a ruse, it was all for them to get on my good side. Those same children who were kind to his face, most likely on the orders of their parents, would mock and laugh at him for his poor upbringing behind his back.

It was a good way to practice hiding my anger at his treatment, an even better way at trying to gauge how good my judge of character was as well. I'd meet someone, make a judgment and then observe to see whether or not my gut was right. It wasn't easy, in the beginning when I just got out of that place I had no experience in being social and I was quite awkward. It took years, but it was a skill that I acquired that was well worth it. Not everything about people and relationships can be learned from a textbook.

I was reading over the manual, going over the known details I had in my head and trying to compile different reasons why Eiichiro had failed. Thinking about all of the opportunities he missed, the weaknesses in his approach and also his strengths. I couldn't just tear him down and belittle him, I needed to point out things he did well too so that I could help boost his confidence.

The way Honami was acting though, it was as though I never do anything. I've done paperwork three times already, it shouldn't be so unexpected that I was actually trying to contribute when I'd done three times more paperwork than I originally planned the last three months.

I was sharing a room with people I can't say I've interacted with very much throughout the year. It was a shame too, because these were my people. I really needed to socialize more, I've been staying within my bubble and waiting for people to approach me and ask me to go out to places. They were my kind of people, men of culture. Guys who kept to themselves and did what they needed to in class, worked using BUDDY in their spare time and spent their private points on things that really matter. Not girls or dates. Manga, Anime and Light Novels.

Well, at least that's what Sotomura and Hondo were like. Okitani was strange, I never spoke to him and as cruel as it is, I didn't even know what his name was until I heard Sotomura greet him.

While the rest of the class were all miserable at not getting any points because of the results of the exam, Sotomura and Hondo didn't care in the slightest. Those two had plenty of private points, they worked whenever they had time outside of lessons. This was the value of not having a girlfriend and responsibilities, it took too much time. I was envious of them...

Just as this thought crossed my mind, I spotted Honami who was lying on my bed flicking through one of Sotomura's light novels that he loaned her. Her white tank top was creeping up her stomach a little and her shorts were hiking up a little to reveal the creamy skin of her upper thigh as she laid on her side, trying to get more comfortable as she read. As she readjusted herself to a more comfortable position laying down, she pulled the leg of her shorts down before furrowing her brow in concentration while she read.

Yeah, nah. Maybe I'm not as envious of Sotomura as I thought.

The chair at the desk was getting uncomfortable and I was getting a little restless. I have a lot of self control but I'm a boy too. I have an inner beast just like any other and I have those teen urges too. Having Honami lying on my bed like that was difficult but I purposely sat at the desk when she claimed my bed like she owned it.

This woman, honestly. She really lets her guard down too easily, we've been dating for a week and we've been friends for a while now but come on.

"You know, Kiyotaka." Honami started as she continued to read. "I'm not sure if you're aware of this, but usually you're supposed to read that during a special test. It doesn't really help reading it three days after the exam is over."

"You don't review after a test? Maybe if you did, you'd be able to bring your Academic Ability OAA score up from a B-" I grunted as I was hit in the head with my pillow being thrown at me straight into my face. I was about to tell her off for throwing someone else's stuff but instantly clamped my mouth shut when I saw her lying on her side with her head held up in her hand, her leg crossed over the other and her other arm down her side.

How does a girl with the mind and personality of an angel have a body perfectly made for sin? I was becoming a degenerate.

"I don't want to hear that from you. I'd have more time to study if I wasn't doing all of your work and mine, genius boy."

"You knew what you were signing up for," I said with a shrug.

"Sometimes I wonder what I was thinking," Honami quipped, rolling her eyes.

I went back to reading the manual, just from the pricelist alone with the things that we were able to get there were abstract strategies that could have been used. In fact, it was almost as though the pricelist was where the real strategies could be made, the actual rules barely took up two pages. There were so many ways that Horikita and Eiichiro could have dug their way out of the Ryuen situation but they didn't.

I had a lot more work than I anticipated, strategically they were really far behind the other classes.

There was a lot of value in this loss though and I was hoping to show Eiichiro that. I also needed to teach him some of the finer details in strategy that he would have to understand. He's taken what I've said too literally and has used the little information I've given him as a bible, it's frustrating. I told him to give up in the Sudo situation, when you've lost, give up early so you don't give the opponent the satisfaction of seeing you crumble. That applied in that situation, not in this one.

He's afraid of Ryuen and it's obvious. He isn't a monster or a demon, he's just a human being. Eiichiro has built him up in his mind like he's an apparition or some kind of hannya. Like the harbinger of misfortune that looks in your direction and spells instant doom. If Ryuen comes for him, he folds and gives up like he already lost, it's weak. It isn't enough to pretend that you're not intimidated by him, he's like a shark that smells blood in the water. I'd actually be impressed with him under normal circumstances, if I were normal I'd probably find him to be a challenge.

Ryuen isn't a challenge though, he's thoroughly predictable and he has weaknesses that are easy to exploit. If only Eiichiro weren't terrified of him, he would be able to see that. Perhaps I need to be a little more direct and provoke Ryuen or at least belittle him in front of Eiichiro. Show him that he isn't someone that deserves to be built up like some sort of deity that he needs to show reverence to.

More work, why am I even doing this...

"To think that my boyfriend, the infamous Ayanokouji Kiyotaka would be reviewing the last special test..." Honami said teasingly as she took out her phone and snapped a photo of me with the manual in hand.

I was on my feet instantly trying to snatch the phone to delete the photo. Honami gave a shriek and tried to hide the phone between her body and the bed. It didn't take much to wrestle the phone out of her hands leaving her arms pinned above her head with one hand and holding the phone with the other. She tried to wriggle and fight her arms out of my grip to no avail.

"You're starting to get a little confident lately, constantly trying to push my buttons. You wanted my attention? Well okay, now you have it." I said nonchalantly as I looked at the photo she took.

We didn't have any photos of each other, it wasn't a bad one either. I decided to just leave it instead of deleting it before dropping it on the bed beside her and tightening my grip around her wrists.

"Alright, fine. I'm sorry, let me go please?" Honami asked sweetly while batting her eyes.

Not this time, woman.

With her pinned I slipped my free hand down and started tickling her ribs. She shrieked and thrashed trying to throw me off her while trying to wrestle her hands out of my grip. We were really loud, if someone was walking past in the hallway and opened the door it wouldn't look good with me holding a thrashing Honami down while straddling her and my hand in her shirt.

"STOP! STOP! OKAY, I'M SORRY! I'M GOING TO PEE!" Honami squealed, gasping for breath.

Well that made me stop quickly, I didn't want her to piss in my bed. Who knew Ichinose Honami was so ticklish?

After letting her go and laying down next to her on my back I waited for her to catch her breath before she turned on her side and glared at me in annoyance. There wasn't any hate and her face was pink either from laughing or embarrassment but regardless, it was cute.

Whenever she wasn't sleeping in her bed in her room she was with me. Not that I minded her company, but I was starting to get a little worried about her as well. Class B took a hit just like we did but to them it seemed like there was more than met the eye. I was still curious about this Himeno and Kanzaki dynamic, I was sure the information would help Eiichiro.

"Not that I mind but you've been spending almost all your free time with me. Aren't you bored?" I asked curiously.

"Why would I be bored?" Honami shrugged and cuddled into my side. "I spent almost all my free time with you before when we were back at the school, this isn't really any different."

It was very different. I had her in my bed and I wasn't about to remind her of that fact or she'd get up quickly. I'm still an opportunist even if I'm trying to change some parts of my personality right now.

"You're not really spending any time with Mako or Chihiro, I was just worried. Is everything alright?"

Honami sat up and started to look at me suspiciously. What did I say? If this was another one of those classroom rivalry things I was about to get annoyed. We didn't even have a special test at the moment, we can't even talk about random stuff like friends and stuff now?

"Since when do you call Mako-chan by her first name," Honami asked with her eyes narrowed. "I don't remember you speaking to her in the past and you only started calling me by my first name not long ago. Is there something you want to tell me, Vice President Ayanokouji?"

God, that's what this was about? I couldn't help but roll my eyes as I snaked an arm around her waist and dragged her back to laying down again. She let out a surprised eep before she toppled over, lying on my shoulder with her face going red again. Women, honestly.

"Relax, when I went to pick you up that day that I brought you to sleep on the couch she introduced herself. She told me to call her Mako-chan, I didn't think anything of it. There's a Chinese girl in our class that insists we all call her Mii-chan. Stop being so jealous."

"I seem to remember someone getting jealous when Kanzaki-kun was calling me by my first name," Honami huffed while she poked my cheek with her index finger.

"That's different, he's a dirty parasite." I let out a grunt as she slapped me on my chest at the jab.

"Stop doing that, you're on the student council. You shouldn't be bullying people, even if you don't like them," Honami scolded me.

I was about to roll my eyes but stopped myself when I saw Honami glaring at me intently, almost as if she expected the reaction.

Look, I swear I'm not whipped or anything. It's just because... ahh screw it, lately I've noticed myself just doing things because Honami tells me to or because I don't want to upset her.

I know it's hard to believe but I actually admire Honami to a degree. She has a lot of qualities as a person that I want to emulate and since my epiphany over the tailend of our tenure on the island, I've started to have a few regrets. The confrontation with Class D when they didn't want her to come to the base was uncharacteristic for her, she wasn't the kind of person to throw her weight around.

I wanted her to be a little more assertive, I didn't want her to start being needlessly selfish like I'd been. That situation showed me that she was capable of doing just about anything, she had the ability to bend rules and force her way in different scenarios. She just chose not to, she didn't enjoy bothering people or strong-arming them. She was a generous and giving person, one that was willing to go out of her way just to help people because it made her happy.

That's why I was relieved that she wasn't leading Class B anymore and I hoped it would last even if I was doubtful.

It was one of the things I found attractive about her and what led us to meet in the circumstances that we met in. She went out of her way to stay with Arisu just to make sure she was okay because she thought it was the right thing to do. She did our work without complaint in the student council. I like those things about her, I didn't want her to change.

I just didn't want people to take advantage of her, even if I'm guilty of doing exactly that.

"With Mako-chan and Chihiro-chan... It's a bit of a strange situation," Honami said delicately. I couldn't see her face as she purposely averted her eyes and picked at the lint on my shirt.

"Did something happen?"

"Mako-chan and Chihiro-chan are happy for us, really they are. It's just that... Well, Chihiro-chan is taking our relationship a little hard.

"Mako-chan's happy for me, she wishes us all the best and she's excited to meet you. It's just that... right now with Chihiro-chan... she's a little sad. Mako-chan's just prioritizing her while she's coming to terms with everything." Honami explained vaguely.

Even if she was trying to hide her face, I could see the tips of her ears were red with embarrassment. I couldn't believe that this was happening yet again.

Chihiro was quite introverted from what I could tell, I was shocked that she confessed to Nagumo of all people. Who the hell would be interested in that guy? His over inflated ego was all an act, he had a huge inferiority complex at being placed in Class B and seemed to have a bit of a vendetta against the school. He was overcompensating with the holier-than-thou act he was carrying himself with.

Apparently, all it took was one conversation with me trying to cheer her up for her to have a crush on me. I couldn't help but feel bad, all I was doing was trying to cheer her up from Nagumo's rejection and I've inadvertently caused a problem for Honami's friendship.

Good job Ayanokouji, you've gone from homeschooled isolation to lady killer in a few months. Dumbass.

"What about the rest of Class B? They seem to be alienating you," I asked with a frown.

"They're not," Honami laughed. "They're just like every other class, we all have our cliques. None of them are rude to me, I've been spending all my free time with you. I don't know... Ever since Himeno took over there really isn't much need for them to talk to me as much. I help where I can and I'm still on good speaking terms with everyone.

"There's nothing to worry about, relax. They're good people in Class B. I'm happy with my classmates. They even organized a surprise birthday party for me, almost everyone came. It was fun, you should have hung ou-..."

I have to be honest, I was completely deaf to what she was saying after I heard 'birthday party'.

Holy shit... When is Honami's birthday? I couldn't look now, it'd be too obvious. I couldn't have forgotten, I don't forget things like that. If I read it, I would have remembered it. I didn't know and I never asked, it made me realize how little I actually knew about Honami and how little she knew about me. We grew close and started dating and yet I had no idea about anything to do with Honami that wasn't based on personality or the student council.

I must have had panic written all over my face, Honami had stopped talking a while ago and I didn't even notice. She was staring at me with a smirk on her face that would make that bastard jealous. Honami looked like the cat that caught the canary or rather, I felt like I had been led straight into a trap that wouldn't be as enjoyable as the food trap that I fell into just days prior.

"What's wrong, Kiyotaka?" Honami continued to smirk knowingly.

"Nothing, absolutely nothing is wrong. I'm just enjoying spending quality time with you." A bead of sweat dripped down my forehead, why did it just happen to appear now? Honami's smirk widened, I didn't think it was possible. All of a sudden, I wanted to be anywhere but in this bed with my girlfriend.

"You don't know when my birthday is, do you? I was a little sad when I didn't see you, and I didn't get a present. I didn't realize you never looked it up." Honami laughed.

"Don't be ridiculous, of course I know when your birthday is," I scoffed dismissively. Fuck, think Kiyotaka. THINK. You must have read it somewhere.

"Mhmm," Honami hummed playfully. "When's my birthday?"

WORK BRAIN. WORK!

"May... Ju..." I was grasping at month's hoping I'd get the right one. The moment the syllable was leaving my lips, Honami's smile grew wider and wider letting me know that I was wrong. If I got one more month wrong, I was worried that her face may split permanently.

"Okay smartass, when's my birthday?" If you can't win with facts, turn it back on them.

"October 20th," Honami shot back instantly.

...Someone please help me. Someone save me. Please, I'm begging you. Look up what her birthday is and beam it straight to my brain. I need help, please.

"My birthday's on the 20th of July."

"Sorry I didn't know, you could have told me or at least hinted at it before,"

Honami just shrugged and hugged me closer, burying her face into my neck. Her hair was tickling my face, for the first time I noticed that the scent she wore was unique. She smelled of citrus, it suited her.

"It doesn't matter, the gift I got from you was a little late but it was the best one I've gotten so far,"

"I didn't get you anything though,"

"I was talking about you, try and read the mood a bit."

I'd need to get her a gift, birthdays were incredibly important to me. I hadn't been able to celebrate any of my own when I was in that place, the first present I'd ever gotten was from Arisu when I became a part of the family.

Since that day, birthdays were a big deal for me and I tended to go over the top when celebrating Arisu, Eiichiro and Tsubasa's birthdays. I felt bad that I missed hers, she was important to me, before all of this she was still my friend. Even if she hadn't confessed she was still precious to me.

I'd have to go big, maybe a heart shaped necklace or something. It was a little extravagant and probably a little much but I've been reading up on forums and such on what a good boyfriend should do and how to act properly in a relationship. From what the guys posted on there, girls love it when a guy gives them a heart shaped necklace, it was the ultimate get out of jail free card from what I understand.

"If you feel bad though, how about you do all our paperwork for a month?" Honami said teasingly.

"Please," I couldn't help but snort in dismissal. "I don't feel that bad."

With our playful banter, neither of us noticed that we were now facing each other. Alone. In my bed. Laying down.

The realization seemed to dawn on Honami and rather than get embarrassed and flustered like she had whenever we had our private moments of intimacy, she simply froze. Honami never wore any form of make up before but it was like she was starting to make an effort in a small way, she was wearing lip gloss for the first time since I've met her. They seemed to be flavored, her lips didn't just have a sheen to it but a little bit of color as well.

While I'd never seen it before, she wore eyeliner for once. The scent of citrus from earlier was either something I never noticed since I was never closer to her than I was now or something she just started since we came back to the ship. Upon realizing that I was paying close attention to those features, Honami seemed to finally build the courage she normally never had to make the first move and her eyes closed slowly as she started to move forward.

I was proud, finally some progress.

Moving to meet her and pulling her closer in my arms our lips were only millimeters from finally meeting...

"Kiyotaka! I nee- SHIT! I'm so sorry!" Eiichiro burst through the unlocked door ready to speak to me only to see Honami and I in a compromising position and quickly covered his eyes and turned his body away entirely.

Honami pulled away with a jerk and in my own surprise I let her go only for her to fly to her feet and quickly fix her disheveled appearance, completely red all the way to her ears in sheer mortification. I was glaring with pure hatred at the hunched over back of my best friend. Bastard, I'll get you for this. Hasn't anyone ever heard of knocking?

Once she had fixed herself up, she stared at the ground in complete shame. Eiichiro was still hunched over with his back turned, covering his eyes as if even if they weren't covered he'd still be able to see while facing the opposite direction. I still remained laying down on the bed for... reasons. I shouldn't stand at the moment, at least not for a few more seconds. Or at the very least until I could tuck something into my waistband to cut off circulation, the tried and true trick that all men instinctively knew.

"Matsuo-kun, you can turn around now. I'm so sorry... I'm so embarrassed," Honami stammered out hurriedly.

"No, no! I should have knocked. Um... I'll just go, it's err. Not urgent. I-"

"No it's fine, I've taken enough of Kiyotaka's time," Honami insisted, waving her hands in surrender at Eiichiro who was still facing the wall with his eyes covered.

"Do I get a say in this?" I asked, perplexed at the sheer ridiculousness of this situation. I was going to kiss her, not...

"I'm so sorry," Eiichiro said again quickly, turning around with his hands still covering his eyes and bowing over and over in Honami's general direction.

The fact that he was still covering his eyes didn't help at all, if anything it made it worse as Honami turned a shade of red that I was sure wasn't normal or healthy. Honami continued to say it's okay and apologize back, it was one of the most awkward experiences of my life.

"I'll just go, Kiyotaka. I have things to err... do. I'll, um... see you later?" Honami hurriedly forced out.

Honami and Eiichiro did an awkward dance of bowing to each other over and over and apologizing as they circled around the other, one to exit and one to enter, doing everything to stay as far away as possible. Once she was at the door, she fumbled with the door knob a couple of times trying to get it open before she exited as fast as humanly possible.

Eiichiro, thoroughly embarrassed, went into the room and snatched the manual that I was just studying before rolling it up and slapping me over the head with it. How the hell was this my fault? I should be smacking him with that...

"Idiot! Lock your door! Or put a tie or a sock on the door knob!"

"Why would I put a sock or a tie on the door knob?" I asked, genuinely confused.

"It's the universal code for 'I'm in here and busy with a girl, come back later'. Do I need to teach you everything about women?" Eiichiro threw his hands in the air in exasperation.

My mouth snapped shut, I wanted to give back a sarcastic rebuttal about someone not having the balls to confess to someone they've been in love with since they were kids but held my tongue. Eiichiro hadn't left his room since the loss, I was waiting for the right time to talk to him. This seemed like as good of a time as any and I was concerned about him. Hirata was rooming with him and was incredibly uneasy himself, making sure he ate and keeping him company.

I didn't think Eiichiro needed to be coddled or comforted, perhaps I was wrong but I gave him the treatment that I would want if I was in his position. Arisu and I are similar like that, when things are tough we like to be alone to process things. Maybe it was something Eiichiro needed, maybe it wasn't, the point is that he was here now and he seemed to be as close to normal as could be expected.

Looking down at the manual he just hit me with, his face turned sour and he clenched it so hard pages started to tear at the crease.

"So you read over this, did you??" Eiichiro asked, looking up at me.

I nodded once before taking a seat on the bed, gesturing for him to sit at the desk chair.

"How could I have done better?"

I sat there for a few minutes, observing him and wondering how brutally honest or gentle I needed to be. If this was the Eiichiro from before we came to this school, I'd need to be delicate. He had the tendency to panic and he lacked confidence but he was starting to come out of his shell. I was sure he could handle this.

"I'll start with everything you did wrong and then I'll move on to what you did right." I told him firmly.

"First thing, you missed the most important part of the examination, identifying the leaders."

"But you and Koenji fo-" Eiichiro tried to interrupt me. I raised my hand stopping him, we didn't have time for arguments and it wasn't how I was taught. When asking for tutelage, shut up and take what you're being told. Don't ask if you're going to argue.

"Eiichiro, you've wanted my help from the beginning. You know everything about me, don't argue with me. Do not interrupt me, you've asked me a question and I'm going to answer you. So before you start arguing with me, ask yourself something. Do you want my help or do you want me to blow smoke?

"If you want someone to tell you what you want to hear, go speak to someone else. Talk to Honami or Kushida who will be kind and tell you that everything is okay and you did your best. If you want someone who will make you feel better then they're your best options. You're my best friend, I will not tell you what you want to hear, I'll tell you what you need to hear." I said simply.

Maybe it was overly harsh but Eiichiro needed tough love. I've been incredibly soft with him and that was fine if he wanted to be a regular student. If he wanted to lead the class and if he wanted to compete in this competition then he needed the accelerated program, we didn't have time for me to be nurturing.

He also needed to understand how cutthroat this competition really was and the lengths that he needed to go to if this was really what he wanted. Eiichiro simply stared at me stunned, I've never spoken to him like this before. I was about to break the innocent bubble this little lamb had been holed up in and I hated it.

"You missed the most important part of the examination," I repeated as though the interruption never happened.

"You didn't prioritize identifying the leaders. It was complete luck that you knew the leaders for Class A and B, if Koenji and I didn't stumble upon Totsuka and if Honami wasn't visiting our camp we wouldn't have known. You also didn't identify her when she was in the camp, you didn't utilize the fact that she was there to your advantage."

Standing up from my seat on the bed, I moved to the desk and leaned against it. This was difficult for me, I wasn't enjoying belittling him. I vaguely wondered to myself if this is what I even wanted to do, just like I didn't want to change Honami into a selfish and ruthless person, I also wasn't sure if I wanted to take away Eiichiro's kindhearted innocence.

"Class B and C were sharing a camp, you could have attempted to get information on Class C's situation. Honami was openly upfront about the fact that she was trying to find our leader, you could have leveraged that. She was spending a lot of time at our camp, you didn't question why or what circumstances led to it either. If you had, you could have attempted to put pressure on her for information."

"Are you listening to yourself? That's your girlfriend, how could you even suggest that?" Eiichiro said, completely baffled.

I was feeling the beginning of a headache coming, this is why I didn't want anything to do with leading a class. You had to make choices between the goal and your desires, sometimes there wasn't a right answer.

"You asked me what you could do better, that's how you could have done it. Would I have liked it? No, but that's what being a leader is. I'm sure you wouldn't have liked it and the thought of it probably disgusts you, it's one of the reasons you're my friend. If you're going to take this seriously, you have to do things that you don't like doing, things that will make you hate yourself. All of it is a balancing act.

"If you want to get to Class A, that's what it takes Eiichiro. Everyone has a goal when coming to this school. For some it's a free education where they're given allowances by the government, for many it's to build future relationships with people who will be influential and for others it's to prove themselves against the elites. Where the competition is all that matters. Stop being so naive.

"If you're against Arisu, which you will be, she will not hesitate to leverage every advantage against you. She'll weaponize secrets that you have, knowledge on Tsubasa, your friendship with me. She'll use every single advantage that she has and she'll do it with absolutely no remorse. There is no room for friendship in these special tests, Eiichiro. If this is what you want, you have to get dirty, bend rules, test relationships. You'll even have to outright break rules and mitigate any risks of you getting caught.

"When you're going against people in this school there is no room for mercy. You'll have to destroy them, send a message that you're someone to be respected and feared. If they fear you, they'll make mistakes and they'll think twice about going against you. That's what a leader does, they show benevolence or aggression when it's required for the benefit of the people they lead. Sometimes a good leader has to do wicked things to achieve a goal for the greater good." I informed him harshly.

As if realizing exactly that, Eiichiro stared at the ground with a pensive look on his face.

"Eiichiro," I started carefully calming down a bit at his demeanor. "If all that matters to you is graduating from Class A, I promise you. I will have twenty million private points ready so that on the last day of graduation, I will move you to that class.

"But if you want to get there on your own merits, this is what it's going to take. Nothing in life comes without sacrifice, the bigger the prize the greater the forfeiture. If you want a career where you're going to be in a position of power, these are choices that you're going to have to face.

"You may make a close friend that you work with, that you share lunch with everyday and get along with. It may even be a girl that you become interested in. If they're not meeting their targets within that organization, you will be expected to whip them into shape or get rid of them. If you don't, it'll be you who they get rid of without hesitation." I explained, calmly as I could.

Eiichiro continued to listen carefully, not interrupting me. Maybe I dropped too much on him too soon but we were past the point of no return now. I couldn't take back anything I said and it wouldn't benefit him if I did, this was the turning point. If he was going to back out, the time was now. I doubted many would argue with him stepping down after the monumental loss.

"Let's look at some of the positives. You set clear goals for the class, distributed tasks and they listened. They took their duties seriously and they followed your lead for the most part. You initially set up a budgeted target for how many points you wanted to have left over and stuck to it.

"Setting the timetables and stockpiling food was a good choice. You recognized that Koenji would be a better fit to formulate the strategy and you took his advice on board. You have to get better at managing everyone's personalities though, you can't use one approach for everyone in the class. They're not motivated by the same things." I continued.

Eiichiro looked a little grateful at the change in direction that the conversation was heading, giving me his full attention with a determined look on his face. He may be trying to deny the truth that I battered him with earlier but his resolve to lead the class to the best of his abilities with his morals intact was as strong as ever.

I wasn't so sure that he was going to like the rest of my advice though. I'm fairly certain that I've spoken more in the last twenty minutes than I have in my entire time at the school.

"I could have done a much better job, I should have tried harder to convince Koenji to stay and I definitely should have intervened sooner with Yamauchi. How could I have handled those situations differently?" Eiichiro asked, full of curiosity.

"Koenji was going to retire no matter what," I waved my hand dismissively. "He didn't want to be there in the first place, you were right to let him go with little resistance. When it comes to Koenji, you should expect him to be unreliable and get what you can out of him. Leave him to me from now on, I'll get him to contribute more."

Eiichiro's eyes widened and his mouth dropped open in shock. Jesus christ, this was becoming a bit of a recurring joke. First Honami and now him, when Honami came in this morning and saw me reading the manual, she checked me for a temperature and asked if I was sick. When I said no in confusion, she actually tried to pull at the skin on my neck attempting to see if there was a mask as if I was some kind of imposter.

"You're going... to help?"

"Yes," I sighed tiredly, rubbing my temples. "From now on I will contribute, I won't be leading the class and I'm going to try to remain as inconspicuous as possible, but I'm going to help coach you through the exam's from now on. I'll help as much as I can without drawing too much attention."

I wasn't expecting Eiichiro to fly out of his chair and hug me. Bastard, I wanted to be doing this with Honami while lying in my bed. Not only that but this room was shared by other guys and I damn well didn't want another betting pool rumor starting up.

"Alright alright," I muttered trying to pry him off me. "Look, you have one significant advantage over every other leader in all classes, including Arisu. Something that on the surface looks like a negative, but is actually a huge positive.

"You don't have an ego, you're very aware of your negatives and you're not trying to prove your superiority. You recognized your shortcomings and you're aware of your inferiority. Look at history, wars and conflicts, negotiations in finance, psychology and the like. If our buying of the previous mid-term exams is anything to go by you may be able to buy information from upperclassmen on previous exams. Try whatever you can and be subtle about it.

"If you can't beat them in talent and latent abilities, beat them in being the most prepared. Borrow strategies wherever you can find them, mix them with others and make them your own. The school has a rich history and from what I can tell, almost every test is either recurring or is a slight variant of something they've done in the past. Look at our mid-terms for example.

"Build relationships and contacts within the other classes. Learn from Kushida, she's very knowledgeable on bridging relationships to other classes. Be careful though, don't give your trust to anyone too easily, don't be naive and you should expect to be betrayed by anyone." I warned him.

It was a lot to take in, I'd never drilled him like this before and I was happy to see that his focus never wavered. He may not like some of the things I was telling him, but he trusted my intelligence. He was one of the few students in the school who knew my history and knew what I was capable of. I just lectured him about not giving his trust to anyone wholeheartedly but he was someone that had mine unconditionally. He was my best friend and I'd always have his back no matter what.

"Alright then. Teach me everything you can, Kiyotaka. I'll be ready next time." Eiichiro said firmly, brimming with resolution.

Chapter 28

A/N: Twelve hour shifts at work lately because we're really busy so I haven't been able to write much atm. Probably shows in the quality, I have not received any peanuts for some time now.

Thank you to Inferno3054 for helping out once again with everything :)

Once work dies down I'll be able to write more :) Short one to start things off.

"Would you relax already?"

"When you said that you were going to help and that you were going to contribute, this was not what I had in mind," Eiichiro grumbled in annoyance.

"Well, expect the unexpected. Relaxation time is very important," I waved my hand dismissively as I closed my eyes, putting my intertwined hands behind my head and getting more comfortable. A bit redundant since I was wearing sunglasses while lying on a sunbed but still.

"You're always relaxing! We should be going over things, I thought you were going to teach me," Eiichiro whined.

"Then take my lesson and shut up. We're on a cruise ship on summer vacation. Go use the gym or something if you're not going to accept my tutelage."

I will admit I did bring him here under false pretenses, I did say that I was going to help him and as far as I was concerned I had so far. I spoke more strategy last week with him than I ever have before, it was progress. Come on, you can't expect me to change from hopelessly lazy to brimming with ambition in just a few days. These things take time, just like meat that needs to marinate in the refrigerator to build the flavors. Besides, there was plenty of time.

I also didn't get to spend a lot of time with Eiichiro, especially lately. He spent most of his time with Hirata now, the two of them fully dedicated to leading and helping the class. He even spent more time with Horikita than he did with me. It didn't help that I was almost exclusively hanging out with Honami lately, I wanted time with my best friend for a change.

"Look, it took them three months to give us our first special test. It just ended not long ago, everyone's fatigued. Right now tensions are high with everyone else and you're still beating yourself up over the fact that things didn't go the way you planned. If we stress ourselves and pour over all the details right now, is that going to change the results?" I reasoned with him.

"Well, no... it won't," Eiichiro conceded reluctantly.

"Exactly!" I exclaimed happily, sitting up on my sunbed. "We have three months to prepare for the next exam, we can go over all that boring stuff when we get back to the school. Have you ever been on a cruise ship before?"

"You know that I haven't," Eiichiro glared at me.

"So enjoy it, I know I am. Try to be a little more carefree, it's better for your leadership skills. No one wants to follow a leader who's always uptight and panicky. Everything is fine, just enjoy this while we can," I tried to reassure him, wagging my finger as though I were admonishing him.

"I hate when you do that," Eiichiro muttered angrily. "Everytime you say everything's fine, shit hits the fan. It's like you have some sort of bad juju."

"See, it's that negative attitude of yours that will ruin your summer vacation. Just think about it, the last three months have been hell. Class D has no points, you stressed out over the fact that we lost and then there's the Sudo thing. You're frustrated, you can't learn anything if you're stressed."

"Well... we are on a ship where we don't have to spend any points," Eiichiro admitted reluctantly with the smallest beginnings of a smile. "I suppose it's nice that we can eat good food without having to budget for once."

"Exactly!" I repeated with excitement. Finally, he was getting it. It's so easy to manipulate Eiichiro, you just need to know when to say the right things. "If anyone deserves a break it's you! You've been working really hard for Class D, everyone else is enjoying themselves. Why can't you do the same for once?"

"Right... You know what you're right!" Eiichiro said with vigor. "I worked really hard with the island, Sudo, the midterms. On top of that I've been studying my ass off, I really should have a break. We haven't had our anime sessions or caught up on any of the new volumes either."

"Well you haven't, I have." I muttered under my breath so he couldn't hear me.

"Besides it's not all bad, even if we didn't get any class points it doesn't mean we won't get any private points, you can just give us some more this month." Eiichiro mused in contentment before laying down on his own sunbed.

"Exact- wait what?" I was just about to lay back down when I stopped midway only to sit back up again.

"Points," Eiichiro repeated. "You know, private points. The things that we all use to buy our necessities and luxuries?"

"I know what private points are," I hissed as I quickly scanned around us to make sure that no one was listening. "I'm not giving another hand out, two million was enough. If they want points they can get a job, it's what I made the damn app for in the first place.

"Besides, you can't coddle them and give them handouts all the time. It didn't work the first time and it won't work this time either, let them struggle a bit. If they're hungry, they'll work harder. You have to be more concerned about yourself, stop worrying about the individuals."

Before I could continue on with the lesson, we were interrupted by an approaching duo. Come to think of it, Katsuragi did ask if he could speak to me after agreeing to purchase the leisure set but so many things happened that I hadn't had a chance to go back and see him.

He was surprisingly fairly well built, I vaguely wondered if he used baby oil on his head for a moment. If I wasn't wearing sunglasses I was sure that I'd be squinting at the moment so I was fortunate in that regard. Walking next to him was that idiot Totsuka who was surprisingly looking a little dejected. I suppose that it didn't help that a lot of the members around the pool were Class C students who were looking at him with a superior grin.

"Ayanokouji, Matsuo. Would you mind if we joined you?" Katsuragi asked politely.

I liked Katsuragi, he was a pretty good guy. This was a pretty good opportunity for Eiichiro as well who didn't interact with anyone outside of Class D from what I could tell. I was curious to see how he would do, he only really spoke to Honami and from what I could see, he seemed to be intimidated by Ryuen. I wondered how he would fare against Katsuragi, someone who I'm sure he perceived to be so far above him as a member of Class A.

"Sure, have a seat," I nodded while indicating the sunbed next to me.

Totsuka, who normally had an arrogant air to him, simply laid down in the sunbed on the other side of Katsuragi while staring blankly up at the sky. Katsuragi took a seat facing us, not bothering to lie down. It made me a little uncomfortable, I'm on vacation. This is not the time to talk business, I was here to be lazy.

"Matsuo, I've heard a lot about you from Sakayanagi. I wish I could say they were nice things but..." Katsuragi trailed off uncomfortably.

"Call her Ah-chan, she loves it," Eiichiro grinned.

"You need to stop that, you know she hates it." I cut in with a glare, not that he could see it with my sunglasses on.

Eiichiro waved off the warning nonchalantly, I knew he did it just to get under her skin. It was a childish game between the two, they used to get along so well. Now that they'd grown up a bit and the differences in their personalities were more obvious, they seemed to have a bit of disdain for each other, both doing their best to annoy the other. Eiichiro would call her by a nickname that she absolutely abhorred while she would continually chastise him as an idiot.

I hoped the island would put an end to it but no such luck.

"Well, I was hoping to use Ayanokouji as a bridge to get the chance to speak with you as the leader of Class D. Meeting you here was fortunate, I hope I'm not interrupting anything important."

"Nah, we were just enjoying some down time. What's wrong with him?" I asked while jutting my chin out at Totsuka.

"Well... I guess a little bit of heartbreak is probably the best way to describe it," Katsuragi answered a little quietly so that Totsuka wouldn't hear. He didn't succeed because he flinched but continued to stare at the sky.

"Oh? What happened?" Eiichiro asked curiously.

Katsuragi took a cursory glance around the pool, no doubt noticing that it was getting more and more crowded. This apparently wasn't a conversation that he wanted to be overheard.

"Could we take this somewhere more private? Would you be interested in a refill? We could go to the sky lounge," Katsuragi requested, indicating my near empty smoothie.

I gave Eiichiro a glance for approval to which he just shrugged and got to his feet with a groan. Following his lead, I got up as well only to see Katsuragi take the lead and walk away leaving Totsuka to continue to lay there staring at the sky deep in thought in complete silence. The usually snarky and upbeat guy looked pretty upset which was incredibly unusual.

As we walked, I gave Eiichiro a nudge with my arm to get his attention. When he looked at me, I pointed at my eyes before pointing at Katsuragi, letting him know that he should pay attention to everything. Seemingly understanding, he nodded back before visibly looking to be completely calculating.

Good, this was his first on the job training session.

I'd grilled him for the past week, Katsuragi wasn't really someone who would attack him too much and he was more than likely here to ask for something so it would be a good test. Out of all of the leaders for him to interact with at this current moment, Katsuragi was probably the least threatening and quite frankly the gentlest opponent.

I still haven't figured out the Himeno and Kanzaki dynamic even if I can smell a rat. There's an important detail there that no matter how hard I try, I can't figure it out without getting closer and I really need more information. Honami is a stonewall, despite the fact that she has feelings for me she's loyal to her class. I can't get anything out of her no matter how hard I try and if I push too hard she starts to clam up so instead I had to be patient.

Arisu would eat him alive, he was no match for her. I had some plans in mind to keep her at bay but the main one would be incredibly costly and would hurt me greatly to implement. It'd only work once too so I had to keep it as a trump card.

Ryuen was the one that I had to deal with immediately, he was the biggest threat as of right now. Eiichiro was terrified of him, something that needed to be addressed as quickly as possible. This meeting with Katsuragi was a gift that we had to accept graciously.

"The results of our last special test were quite surprising, have you heard from your sister yet?" Katsuragi asked as we sat down.

I took a cursory glance over the menu before reordering the same drink that I had earlier. Since leaving the island I've developed a bit of a gluttonous taste, I'll go back to counting calories when we're back at school.

"She's recovering, grumbling about it being my fault that she's not enjoying the ship and spending her summer vacation in a hospital bed. I'll be paying for it soon I'm willing to bet," I shrugged with a resigned sigh.

"Yes, well, we'll have to negotiate compensation. We used our points to facilitate you looking after her under the proviso that she wouldn't retire. Since she retired anyway, we'll have to talk about how you plan to make that right," Katsuragi stated nonchalantly while ordering a drink.

Eiichiro snorted before ordering his own and looking up at Katsuragi.

"You finished with zero points, I'm pretty sure that whatever you paid for us didn't break the bank. I thought Class A was supposed to be above everyone else, I didn't pick you for a penny pincher." Eiichiro returned strongly.

My eyes widened in surprise, well look at you Matsuo Eiichiro... He really had been paying attention, I was sure that this was going to take far more time. It seemed like he was capable when he wasn't so intimidated, if only I could get this kind of strength when he was against Ryuen. Perhaps if that were the case, I would be able to go back to lazy mode faster than I anticipated.

"Indeed, and yet you didn't fare any better. In regards to your slight, we will take advantage wherever we can. Even if it means pushing Class D down even further than they already are."

"So then why did you give me everything I asked for without setting any conditions beforehand?" I asked curiously.

I was supposed to let Eiichiro take the lead on this and not say anything, allow him to fill the shoes of a leader and let him stumble if necessary but I was curious. This question had been bugging me for quite some time and I wanted to know.

Katsuragi's eyes softened for a moment and they became unfocused for a while. It was like he wasn't even looking at me but through me, as though he were remembering something that he'd forgotten.

"I have a sister as well, a twin sister in fact,"

It shouldn't have happened, he was opening up and giving information that could be used later but I suddenly became momentarily distracted at the mental image of the bald man in front of me with a long haired wig. It must have shown on my face because he frowned at me before elaborating further.

"We're not identical," He said with annoyance.

"I didn't say anything," I replied quickly, too quickly. Now I looked guilty, good job.

Katsuragi continued to frown at me for a few more moments before turning to Eiichiro who was also looking unfocused at the wall behind Katsuragi and his frown deepened. Okay good, I wasn't the only one.

"Am I right in assuming that one of your classmate's had begun dating a member in Class C during the special test?" Katsuragi asked suddenly, changing the subject.

"How did you know?" Eiichiro asked in surprise.

Katsuragi didn't answer but stared at the table in front of us deep in thought. The dots connected in my mind at the reaction, Totsuka's sudden downtrodden demeanor, the strained wave at the beach with the girl before the test ended. Yamauchi wasn't someone to go asking questions for no reason, he wouldn't have thought to ask Chabashira for anything. Manabe coerced him, more than likely on Ryuen's orders.

I could tell Eiichiro about this later, I didn't need to say anything here and now.

"So that's how he did it..." Katsuragi said sagely to himself.

"That's how who did what?" Eiichiro asked in confusion.

"How many points did you have left over before the test ended?" Katsuragi ignored him completely, intent on extracting as much intel out of Eiichiro without giving anything up in return.

"I asked you a question too, what is this?" Eiichiro cut in angrily. "Don't think that you can just steamroll us and expect that we're going to fall over at your feet. Do you want information from us? Then you should be prepared to give us information too, we both have the same enemy at the moment."

"Both you and Ryuen are my enemies in this situation, he's just more of a threat than Class D." Katsuragi said simply with a raised eyebrow.

It was slightly better than what I expected but not very good. Eiichiro was losing his temper and he was talking too much, he should have been quieter. Ideally, he should have asked Katsuragi what he wanted and then stayed quiet. Let Katsuragi fill the silence, when it stretches for too long people tend to start talking again simply to fill the void. It was human nature, long stretches or uncomfortable silence tend to loosen lips.

Katsuragi was passive aggressively taunting him, revealing the reality of our situation that we were not allies despite the fact that we had ties to Arisu while simultaneously slighting Eiichiro that he wasn't impressive. It was clever, if Eiichiro wasn't already feeling insecure he wouldn't have fallen for it.

"However you do have a point, at this stage Ryuen has successfully managed to play us all. Yahiko was approached by a girl from Class C, Nishino Takeko. All of us thought that it was suspicious but she was incredibly patient. She happened to stumble on Yahiko, they had a little bit of an argument, she's incredibly headstrong and seemed like the type to speak her mind so we didn't really sense any deception from her.

"She continued to come back to see Yahiko, they argued another couple of times but eventually she admitted that she was taken by him and she didn't know why she kept on wanting to see him. Yahiko is not really the focus of the female populus of the school so he was easily swayed, one day she told Yahiko that she was taken by him and she was tired of Class C and Ryuen's control.

"She told us that Ichinose Honami was the leader of Class B as the trip was winding down. Yahiko was excited to tell me of the information but I was skeptical of the claim, I only took it seriously when towards the end of the exam she swore that she wasn't lying before handing me the ID Card for the leader of Class D, Yamauchi Haruki. She said that it was impossible for her to get Ichinose's card but swore that she wasn't lying." Katsuragi explained.

"She had Yamauchi's card?" Eiichiro repeated, completely dumbfounded.

Eiichiro turned to me with questioning eyes, no doubt silently asking if I thought that Yamauchi sold us out. In truth it wouldn't surprise me, he seemed like the selfish type to me. Koenji hinted at it, there was no way that he would have asked Chabashira who our leader was if he wasn't coerced, it had Ryuen all over it.

It didn't help that Yamauchi was belittled constantly by all the girls around him, it was deserved to a degree but they were also hypocrites. They ridiculed him for things that they themselves were guilty of doing as well, it wasn't fair but life was filled with double standards like this.

"Yes, she did. It was the proof that pushed us to submit both yours and Class B's names. Unfortunately, as soon as we were all on the ship, Nishino quite brutally told him that she was never interested in him. She bragged quite cruelly about how it was easy to get him to tell her that he was the leader too.

"At the moment he's being ostracized by the Class. I have tried to take the blame for myself but they're all pointing the fingers at him. It would seem he's more upset at his lost chances with Nishino than he is about the loss of the test. It's quite unfortunate really," Katsuragi finished with a frown.

"So, I'd like to ask you. Did Ryuen give you the name of our leader as well?" Katsuragi asked curiously.

Before Eiichiro could answer, I nodded before speaking, cutting him off.

"Yes, Ryuen told us the leaders of Class A and B. We were a little confused as to why he was telling us though, we couldn't figure out why he would willingly give us the leaders names. We have no idea what he was trying to accomplish." I said with frustration in my voice.

I pushed my foot down harder on top of Eiichiro's. There was nothing to gain from being boastful and giving Katsuragi more information on what we knew than was necessary to keep him talking. When people underestimate you, you have the advantage. I didn't care for pride, I was here to teach Eiichiro how to win, lying and subterfuge were important.

Katsuragi looked at me with disappointment, as though he expected more from me. Perhaps Arisu bragging about me and my position as the Vice President gave him some ideas about me being more than I appeared to be. As far as he knew right now, I was just an unimpressive guy who had an important father that got me my position through nepotism.

"Still, I really appreciate everything you did for Arisu and I so I'd like to return the favor. Would you happen to still be interested in joining the Student Council?" I asked curiously.

"Of course, I was incredibly disappointed and confused when I was rejected. I had planned to reapply once President Horikita had graduated, hoping that Nagumo-senpai would reconsider." Katsuragi confirmed with a nod.

"Well, if you'd be happy with a year representative position I'm willing to accept your application here and now,"

Katsuragi raised an eyebrow with intrigue, seemingly skeptical that I could even do that.

"Don't you need to ask permission first? That's not within your powers to do,"

"That smirking bastard Manabu will accept you if I tell him to," I shrugged with a nonchalant wave of my hand.

Katsuragi took a sip of his club soda as I was speaking and choked violently before coughing and sputtering, banging on his chest to make it stop. Eiichiro laughed at the reaction, he was used to this sort of thing happening around me.

"You actually call him that? Be careful he doesn't hear you,"

"I call him that to his face, it really gets under his sister's skin," I said with a grin. "Don't worry about it, I'll make it happen. It's the least I can do and you're a good guy, if you want the position it's yours."

Katsuragi nodded with a grateful smile before standing and offering his hand. I waited for Eiichiro to shake it first, before giving him a firm handshake of my own and waiting for him to go. Eiichiro was still our leader after all, I wouldn't undermine him in front of someone like Katsuragi.

After he left, looking around the cafe I spotted a few people of note but it was starting to fill up just like the pool area. I was surprised to see Hasabe give me an enthusiastic wave as she entered with Miyake who looked a little exasperated to be there. I'd barely ever spoken to Hasabe at all, only hearing her name a few times and seeing her sitting out at the pool when we first came to the school.

Confused, I gave an awkward shake of my hand in acknowledgement while wondering what that was about.

"This is bad, if Yamauchi sold us out then what do we do about it? What do you think about how I handled that interaction? How do y-" Eiichiro started rattling off frantic questions before I could even answer. Annoyed, I cut him off while pointing my spoon at him.

"What did I say before? Summer. Vacation. Relax, that was a once off interruption that I won't be allowing again. We're here to relax in complete and utter sheer laziness. I don't want to hear any business talk until we're back at the school, understand?" I admonished him seriously.

"We're wasting time! The others are so far ahead of me, I really need to learn as much as I can. You promised me!" Eiichiro whined in frustration.

"We're only in the first semester of our first year, would you relax?" I huffed in exasperation. "Everything is going to be fine, what could possibly happen between now and when we get back to the school anyway? Are you going to suddenly transform into Sun Tsu within the next week because I'm teaching you?"

"Who the hell is Sun Tsu?"

"I'll tell you all about that. When we get back to school, stop being such a killjoy. Everything's fi-"

"Attention," I was interrupted by the intercom on the ship suddenly turning on and the loud announcer voice cut through the chatter of the cafe. "This is an announcement to all students. All students should have received a message from the school, as indicated in the contact line. Please check your individual mobile devices and follow the instructions accordingly. In the event that you did not receive a message, we apologize for the inconvenience. Please go to the nearest faculty member for assistance. Because the contents of the message are extremely important. Please do not miss it, we repea-"

A glance at Eiichiro was all it took to realize he was mad. Not just mad, he was red with pure rage. I sheepishly took a sip of my drink before pulling out my phone, Eiichiro did the same without taking his eyes off me and I looked down at the message with slight apprehension.

A special test will begin soon. Please gather in the designated room at the designated time. Anyone who arrives later than ten minutes after start time may be penalized. Please gather in Room 204 on the second deck by 18:00 today. Because it takes about twenty minutes to reach the area, we ask that you please use the restrooms now if necessary. Either silence your phone or turn it off and make your way over.

I drank deeply from my straw, finishing my drink from half empty in one long gulp. I refused to look at Eiichiro for as long as I could before carefully glancing at him out of the corner of my eye. He hadn't read the message, he was continuing to glare at me in complete unadulterated fury, his phone in hand but not even with the screen turned on.

"What were you going to say, Kiyotaka? Everything's fine, right ?"

Chapter 29

A/N: The great CrimsonCelestial helped me with adding to this. It wasn't an easy one to write and I hope you guys like it.

Work is incredibly busy right now and I struggled through this while working 60 hours this week... it was tough so if it isn't very good please be kind :) There's every chance that the next update will take quite some time so I hope that this can keep you guys happy for now

Eiichiro was being a menace, he was panicking once again. I don't understand what he expects if I can be honest, it's not as though we could have made much progress in the short time that we had. I wasn't going to be able to prepare him for this exam in time but it wasn't like I was planning to just sit on the side and let him fail.

I completely understand that if he thought that that was what I was going to do then he is incredibly justified. I made a commitment that I was going to help and I will, the problem is that I don't even know where to begin and I have to work all of that out before I can get started on his curriculum.

This may be difficult to believe, but I can't do everything perfectly. People learn in different ways and I've never taught anyone before except for teaching Arisu chess. As much as I love my best friend and as highly as I think of him, he's not a genius. He's relatively intelligent for normal standards, but he isn't a genius.

It isn't easy to teach someone, it's why being an educator is such a fulfilling role for people. Teaching Arisu chess was simple. I showed her the pieces, I told her the parameters of the game and she figured it out on her own. Simple. I didn't need to reiterate details, I didn't need to sugarcoat strategy explanations and I certainly didn't have to correct her on anything. Teaching someone like Eiichiro isn't the same, there was so much prepwork that needed to be done before we could even start with the process. Those resources simply aren't available on the cruise ship.

Walking to the second deck I'm greeted by complete silence. As per my character, I looked down at my phone and could see the clock running down and at the very last minute, I knocked purposefully on the door.

"Enter," A cheerful female tone answered.

Stepping into the room, I'm greeted by quite the surprising lineup. I've heard a lot about Hoshinomiya-sensei from Honami but haven't had barely any interactions with her aside from classes. She's pretty quirky, she always looks like she's either drunk or hungover. Hoshinomiya-sensei's quite the attractive woman with a very well endowed figure, which makes me wonder why she's still single.

For some reason, when looking at Hosinomiya and Chabashira, I can't help but suddenly think of older versions of Kushida and Horikita. It's quite strange.

"Well, hello there handsome," Hoshinomiya smiled. "Vice President Ayanokouji Kiyotaka has finally joined us. Have a seat."

The other occupants in the room really were an odd group of people. Karuizawa, Sotomura and Yamauchi. As I entered and moved to take a seat, Karuizawa hurriedly moved over before patting the chair she was just sitting on. Yamauchi didn't even look up from staring at the ground. I heard that Manabe had very loudly and vocally broken things off with him, taunting him that he was a complete idiot.

Look, I know it's Yamauchi but it's still not a nice thing to be used by someone. I know that I'm guilty of doing it all the time but I digress. While I don't exactly feel sorry for him, I also didn't want to pour salt on the wound.

"Thank God you're here," Karuizawa whispered gratefully. "I think I would have gone insane if it was just these space cadets."

"They're not that bad..." I trailed off before looking at Yamauchi. "Well Sotomura isn't too bad,"

"Okay you two, that's enough," Hoshinomiya playfully chided us. "Honami-chan would be so upset if she could see you flirting with another girl, it hurts to learn that you're such a player."

"Karuizawa and I are friends, a fact that Honami is well aware of," I rolled my eyes in exasperation. Honami was right, Hoshinomiya-sensei apparently loved to tease people.

"Well, enough with that," Hoshinomiya waved off as though she wasn't the one who brought it up in the first place.

"Now," Hoshinomiya clapped her hands as she sat down on the desk while crossing her legs. While her skirt was long and flowed down her shapely legs, one side was wedged under the desk giving ample view all the way up her thigh. Sotomura adjusted his glasses carefully, I could no longer see his eyes.

A true man of culture, we should definitely hang out more.

Hoshinomiya picked up a page next to her before clearing her throat.

"In this special test, all the first-year students will be divided into twelve groups based on the signs of the zodiac," Hoshinomiya read clearly, scrunching her nose in distaste. "Everyone will participate within their respective groups. The purpose of this examination is to test your thinking.

Without warning, Hoshinomiya tossed the page back on the table.

"Tomonari-kun really is such a stickler, I can't believe he actually wrote me a script," Hoshinomiya scoffed before sticking out her tongue and pretending to put her finger into her mouth like she was trying to induce a vomit jokingly.

"Such a boring guy, but luckily for you all, Chie-chan is here," Hoshinomiya said in a cheery tone.

"In the last exam on the island, everything there was to test your teamwork. Unfortunately, if you look at the results; your teamwork really has left much to be desired. However, in this test, we're attempting to test your way of thinking in four different categories; your ability to think on the fly, your ability to problem solve, how you process information and if you're capable of creating opportunities."

"Can you explain that to me in Japanese?" Karuizawa murmured to me out of the corner of her mouth.

"How am I supposed to know what she's talking about?" I muttered back.

It was fairly obvious, but I still had appearances to keep.

"That's not very nice you know," Hoshinomiya pouted. "I'm one of the cool teachers, you could have just asked me."

"I think you're cool, Hoshinomiya-sensei," Sotomura chimed in, trying to score points.

"What a loser," Karuizawa snorted. Hoshinomiya gave Sotomura a strained smile.

"Thank you... young man." Hoshinomiya forced out with effort.

I was a little annoyed with how Karuizawa was treating Sotomura, he was a nice guy. It went to show the value of physical appearance, he was a little heavy set but if you looked at our hobbies we were pretty close to the same kind of people. He may not have the charisma or the qualities that I had, but he was similar to Hirata in terms of how he treated people politely.

Karuizawa seemed to sense my annoyance and stiffened a little bit for barely a moment before a thought occurred to her.

"Is this our group?" Karuizawa asked suddenly. "How do we change people? Can we use points to switch around the group? Ayanokouji-kun is fine, but what do we have to do to get rid of these two?"

Hoshinomiya gave me a pointed look before turning to Karuizawa with an angelic smile.

"Sadly, the groups are set as they are. You'll have to find a way to work together. In my class, Class B, teamwork is their specialty. You'll have to find a way to put aside your differences to work towards a goal." Hoshinomiya explained gently.

Karuizawa opened her mouth to ask another question but glanced at me before falling silent. Yamauchi was the wild card in this group, if he really sold us out to Class C then it was possible that he would be a liability here as well. Regardless of whether you liked someone or not, Hoshinomiya was right. I'd have to set aside my differences with him at least for now to make sure this exam went in our favor. I said I'd be active, I was already doing something that went against what I naturally wanted to do, which was nothing. I may as well go all the way.

"Yamauchi, do you have anything to add?" I asked as kindly as I could muster.

When asked his opinion, Yamauchi's gaze left the ground. It was obvious he wasn't listening the entire time and he looked to be surprised, if not a little grateful at being included.

"Ahh.. No. I..." Yamauchi looked between all of us before falling silent again.

Why was this happening to me? Is this karma?

"Why are you asking him?" Karuizawa scoffed and rolled her eyes.

I turned my gaze on her without saying anything. After a few moments, she averted her eyes and stayed quiet before I turned back to Hoshinomiya who was watching everything with a growing smile.

"Moving on," Hoshinomiya smiled. "All of the groups are separated into members from different classes. Your group assignment is the 'Rabbit'. This is a list of all of the members, but I need that back before you leave. Have a look at it and memorize it." Hoshinomiya continued before handing a postcard over to me.

Class A: Takemoto Shigeru, Machida Kouji, Morishige Takurou

Class B: Ichinose Honami, Amikura Mako, Hamaguchi Tetsuya

Class C: Yamu Nanami, Yamashita Saki, Ibuki Mio, Manabe Shiho

Class D: Ayanokouji Kiyotaka, Karuizawa Kei, Sotomura Hideo, Yamauchi Haruki

"For the test you're working together as the Rabbit group. Whether you pass or fail this test depends on each group. You'll have to put aside your differences to achieve a goal together as a team."

My heart sank, this was going to be far more difficult than it looked. All because of two names;

Yamauchi Haruki

Manabe Shiho

"I'll now give you all handouts to read, you can't take them with you though. No photos and no trying to sneak them out. I have my eye on you," Hoshinomiya winked at us. Well she winked at me, but it was in our vicinity and I couldn't help but notice Sotomura blushing deeply.

Unlike the island exam when I didn't even look at the manual unless I needed something. This time I... This ti-.

Sigh.

This time I read the entire hand out with as much scrutiny as that bastard did when I showed him BUDDY for the first time in my dorm and he was reading over the terms and conditions. I tuned the rest of them out as they asked their questions to Hoshinomiya-sensei as well as the usual bickering that came customary with Class D students.

Everything hinged on a "VIP" assigned to each group

At 0800 on the first day of the test, each student will simultaneously receive a message informing us whether or not we were the VIP.

0900 the following day the test begins and ends at 2100 on the fourth day.

Each group should gather twice during the day at a predetermined time in a predetermined room to talk for an hour. It was up to us whether or not we wanted to keep that information within the group.

After the test is over, the school will only accept answers during a thirty minute period between 2130 and 2200. During that time, each group must submit their answer on who they think the VIP is. Whoever sent in the answer first was the one answering for the group.

Even though I'm paraphrasing the rather detailed handout, I committed every word to memory. The devil's in the details, this kind of paraphrasing was... lazy. Still, there was a lot of unnecessary jargon in here that complicated thought processes for no apparent reason. I couldn't help but wonder if this was some form of sabotage, I doubted that any of my other Class D classmates would be able to even understand a third of this.

Horikita, Matsushita and Koenji would definitely be able to comprehend almost all the minutiae. The others though, maybe they would understand most of it? Who knows. After scanning over the rules one more time, I got to the part that was the most important.

Outcome #1: If the answer submitted by the group after 2130 on the final day is correct, every member of the group will receive private points, including those of the VIP's classmates who belong to the group.

Outcome #2: If a group fails to submit an answer between 2130 and 2200 on the final day, or if someone from the group other than the VIP and their classmates submits an incorrect answer, then the VIP will be awarded five hundred thousand points.

At noting the monstrous amount of points awarded to the VIP, I perked up. Okay, now you have my attention.

"How many points will each member receive if outcome #1 is achieved?" I asked suddenly looking up from the paper.

I realized I made an enormous blunder, the other members of the group were still reading along with Hoshinomiya-sensei about the second paragraph on the rule sheet. I was concentrating too hard and was only focused on my own knowledge on the test, trying to make up for the fact that my assistance was non-existent on the island. While the other members were struggling to understand the rule section, I was already nearly finished with reading and comprehending it all.

As though realizing my current situation and wanting to cover for me, Hoshinomiya covered up her mouth with the tips of her fingers and giggled.

"Ayanokouji-kun seems to be a little rushed today, did you miss the page with the rules?"

"There's a page on the rules before that, dummy," Karuizawa scolded playfully. "Here, go back to this one. We're in this section." As she turned my pages back to go back to the rules.

My eyes narrowed in suspicion at Hoshinomiya-sensei, a reaction that she noticed. She gave me a playful wink before continuing to go through the rules loudly but I tuned it out. Just like every other interaction with someone from Class B, I smelt something strange.

"Now," Hoshinomiya-sensei started. "As Ayanokouji-kun asked, if outcome #1 is achieved, every member of the rabbit group will receive five hundred thousand points except for the VIP who will receive one million points."

Doing another once over and formulating strategies in my mind, I tuned out the group again as I retreated into my mind to analyze the rules in more detail. This time making sure not to ask any questions suddenly to avoid suspicion. I got the answer I wanted, now to check over the outcomes to see which were possible and offered the most reward.

Outcome #3: This outcome is triggered when someone other than the VIP gives the correct answer to the school without waiting until 2130 on the final day of the exam. That student's class will gain fifty class points, and the person who submitted the correct answer will earn five hundred thousand private points. Also the VIP's class will lose fifty class points as a penalty. At that point, the group's testing period will come to an end. However, if one of the VIP's classmates is the person who submits the correct answer, this answer will not be counted and the test will continue.

Outcome #4: This outcome is triggered when someone other than the VIP gives an incorrect answer without waiting until 2130 on the final day of the exam. That student's class will lose fifty class points. The VIP will earn five hundred thousand private points and the VIP's class will earn fifty class points. The testing period will end for that group that submitted the incorrect answer.

Outcome #1 was never going to happen. None of the classes trusted each other, Class C made sure of that on the last special test. Outcome's #2, #3 and #4 were the most likely outcomes depending on the groups.

As for the rest of the groups, I was torn. I went through the possible routes and outcomes in my head with the knowledge that I had and I couldn't help but start to get a bit of a headache. We didn't have enough information yet, it was fairly useless to do this but I was attempting to get a head start by optimizing the choices beforehand. I was torn because I wasn't sure how much I wanted to help, how much I was willing to risk further exposing myself.

It was a double edged sword that Honami was in our group, she knew I was smart and with her newfound willingness to look out for herself and with how I taunted her that Class B wasn't a threat, her course of action was a little unpredictable. Would she be willing to expose me to achieve her end? This was the first time I would be going head to head with Honami, it would be an indicator on if our relationship could survive the strain of future special tests, especially now that I committed to being more active.

With some final details being ironed out, we were told that we could leave. As everyone started to make their way out, I was stopped by Hoshinomiya.

"Ayanokouji-kun, please stay behind. I'd like to get to know my Honami's boyfriend while I have the chance," Hoshinomiya called happily.

Karuizawa looked up in suspicion. Why would a teacher be interested in the relationships of students?

"Hirata's probably waiting for you, it's fine. You and Hoshinomiya-sensei both seem to have similarities, both of you love to gossip apparently," I joked playfully while poking her in the ribs.

"Hey!" Karuizawa huffed while swatting away at my hand. With a confirming nod, Karuizawa left the room and I was left alone in silence with Hoshinomiya who remained seated on the desk, swinging her feet as she waited for me to approach.

"Ayanokouji Kiyotaka... I've been dying to meet with you," Hoshinomiya smiled knowingly.

"I don't see why, I'm not very impres-"

"Please, let's not play games. We're alone, no one can hear us. We can speak freely. I've been waiting for this moment for so long, Kiyotaka-kun. I can call you Kiyotaka can't I?" Hoshinomiya asked as she stood, the skirt that was held on the desk fell and covered the thigh that was visible from earlier.

"I don't want Honami to get jealous, she may look at it as 'flirting'." I rebuffed with air quotes, using her own words against her.

Hoshinomiya giggled and walked towards me, motioning for me to take a seat before she stood behind me with her hands on my shoulders. Out of nowhere, she started to knead her fingers into my traps, digging at the knots that were always there. I fought with everything I had not to groan, she really knew what she was doing.

"It's not flirting, I would never get between you and Honami. I'm a teacher! That just wouldn't be appropriate now would it," Hoshinomiya chided me playfully.

"I'm pretty sure this isn't appropriate either,"

"Ah don't worry, I do this for Honami-chan all the time. She gets very tense, that girl. Especially in the shoulders." I could imagine why, too much... counterbalance in the front.

"I had to give up a lot to swap this explanation with Tomonari-kun. You know Mashima-sensei, don't you? Sae-chan is just so protective of you, she never lets me speak to you in private. It's as though she thinks I'm up to something," Hoshinomiya said with faux indignation.

I couldn't help but snort.

"You know, Kiyotaka-kun." Hoshinomiya started as she continued to knead at my shoulders. "Relationships are an incredibly difficult thing to manage at the best of times. The two of you are so young, I truly hope that the two of you will make this one last. Both of you are just so adorable."

"Since when do the personal affairs of students concern that of the homeroom teachers," I grunted as she dug her finger into the base of my neck, working out the knot.

"Kiyotaka-kun, I'm not like Sae-chan. I have a heart, you've had such a difficult life. One only needed to see those news stories, read the articles. Anyone in my position would be rooting for you two to make it through. You deserve happiness, don't you think so Kiyotaka-kun?

"That's why things are so unfair... If only you were in Class B, the two of you would be able to spend so much time together. The two of you wouldn't have to deal with the constant strain of interclass battles, life is just so cruel. It just makes me want to help you." Hoshinomiya finished sadly.

I should have seen this coming... I'll call it the massage trap.

"Well, if you'd like to help me I'd be incredibly grateful. Maybe you can give me some information on Class B that Honami seems to be so stubbornly guarding."

Hoshinomiya laughed with mirth as she let go of my shoulders before taking a seat next to me and patting my knee like I was a small child.

"Nice try, Kiyotaka-kun. Information like that is only meant to be kept within the class. If you'd like to know more, I'd be delighted to assist you with transferring to our class."

Shaking my head in exasperation, I put my head in my hands as I leaned my elbows against the table in front of me.

"Kiyotaka-kun, think about what you just saw in here. Karuizawa's treatment of her classmates, Yamauchi's ineptitude. Class D is an albatross around your neck, in Class B you could have everything... Just look. Look at poor Honami-chan and how much she does for you. If you were in Class B, none of that would change. Honami-chan would never try to force you to do anything, you would be free to do as little as your heart desires."

"Then why should I transfer," I huffed in frustration. "If I'm moving to do nothing anyway, why would I even change?"

"That's because, Kiyotaka-kun, if you decided that you wanted to start participating then Class B is perfect for you. Just look at the other classes, you'll understand exactly what I mean. Class A? Your sister will be furious. She would never allow you there and the class would be mutinous, they're already struggling to stabilize the leadership there. Class C? Do you really want to have to deal with Ryuen-kun day to day?

"What about your current Class D? Think about how much stress you've had to deal with," Hoshinomiya quieted her tone, she was speaking in barely a whisper now. Like the devil whispering sweet nothings into my ear, it was incredibly tempting. If Eiichiro wasn't in Class D, I would have succumbed already.

"Just look at how much work you have to do with them, they're disobedient and arrogant. Turning them around would take so much effort. Why should you have to do all of that for them? This meeting today was a microcosm of the rest of your future with them, turning them around is going to be an absolutely monumental task.

"In Class B they're compassionate, they work together and they want nothing more than to help. You'd have to do absolutely nothing. You wouldn't have to lift a finger, you wouldn't have to stress, you wouldn't have to suffer. You could be left alone to do whatever. you. wanted." Hoshinomiya punctuated persuasively, it was absolutely everything I wanted to hear. She knew exactly which points to stress just to really hammer her point home.

"It doesn't seem like that on the surface, they're isolating Honami."

"I can assure you that's not the case," Hoshinomiya said nonchalantly. "Not everything is as it seems on the surface, ask Honami-chan. They adore her, all of them would welcome you with open arms."

"Including Kanzaki?" I asked with a raised eyebrow.

For the first time, I saw Hoshinomiya's face turn exasperated. She gave a shake of her head before looking at me resolutely.

"I'll give you this one for free, only because you're cute." Hoshinomiya joked childishly. "Not everything is what it seems, sometimes desperate people resort to Hail Mary's when their goals are seemingly just out of reach." She finished cryptically.

How intriguing, what was she insinuating? I was just about to ask her what she meant before there was a quiet knock on the door, cutting through the serenity of the darkening room.

"Hoshinomiya-sensei? Kiyotaka?" Honami called as she opened the door carefully. "Am I interrupting? Karuizawa-san said that you wanted to talk to Kiyotaka, is everything okay?"

Hoshinomiya's face instantly changed to pure elation at the sight of Honami before excitedly waving her to come in. Honami entered with confusion before Hoshinomiya shoved her down in the seat next to me, massaging her shoulders just as she had done with me just moments ago.

"I was just curious about your new boyfriend, Honami-chan. Oh young love, it's such a wonderful thing. If only I could find one as handsome as this one... Everything you said about him was true, he's s-"

"Hoshinomiya-sensei!" Honami cut in frantically. Even with the room slowly getting darker and darker, I could see the flustered demeanor grip her, I wonder what she said about me?

Hoshinomiya laughed at her fluster before patting her on the shoulders, letting her go as she walked toward the door after collecting her things. As she was about to exit she turned back at us before playfully putting her hand on the light switch.

"Well, Kiyotaka-kun. It was a lovely chat, wouldn't you say? What do you think, lights on or off?" She said with a wink.

I couldn't help but notice the double entendre, she really was a playful one. Without waiting for my answer, she left before closing the door behind her firmly, leaving the lights off.

The two of us sat in silence for a while, Honami still embarrassed with Hoshinomiya's teasing. The room continued to darken and I could only just barely make out her silhouette now. After a few more moments of tense silence, I felt the small hand of Honami's take mine and she interlinked our fingers before rubbing her thumb over my hand soothingly.

"What was that about?" Honami asked curiously.

"Who knows," I shrugged in the dark. Honami swatted at my chest with her other hand.

"Tell me," Honami whined cutely.

"Why should I? You never tell me anything to do with your class stuff,"

"So it was class stuff," Honami countered triumphantly.

"Who knows,"

"I hate you."

"No you don't"

"Alright I don't, but tell me. Come on... Please?"

I didn't answer, I just remained silent. Hoshinomiya did bring up some good points, things that have never been discussed with Honami and I, it wasn't necessary before. We only started dating recently and we just experienced our first special test. If they continued to get harder, there was every possibility that it would strain us.

I was about to have my first serious conversation in my first relationship.

"Have you ever considered the possibility of transferring classes?" I asked.

The room was pitch black now, I wouldn't even be able to see my hand if I raised it in front of my face by now. Everything about this conversation would be based on the content of our words, I wouldn't be able to read her facial expressions or her physical reactions. It was poetic in a sense, just like how I was fumbling in the dark with my first girlfriend.

Honami didn't say much for a while, as though it were the first time she was considering it.

"...I can't. I can't leave them. Is that what she was asking you? She wanted to see if you would change classes to ours?"

Again I said nothing, just squeezed her hand gently in confirmation.

"I could have told her you wouldn't do it, you wouldn't leave Matsuo-kun. You wouldn't leave Class D for the same reasons I wouldn't leave Class B..."

The darkness must have given her strength, her face must have told a different story but the tremble in her voice was palpable.

"Are you having second thoughts?"

"Don't be ridiculous," I scoffed. "Still, after the island I promised Eiichiro that I would be more active. I'm going to start actively participating and I think it would be good if we discussed some things, maybe set some boundaries."

Honami silently listened, her grip on my hand loosened and it was trembling as she let it go.

"Honami, there's something I have to tell you about me." I said carefully.

"You don't know this because you've never seen me do anything, but when it comes to competition I'm not like you. I don't play fairly and I'm probably not the person you think I am. I'll lie, cheat, manipulate and everything in between because I'm a competitive person. When I decide to compete in any arena, winning is all that matters."

"Victory doesn't require you to resort to underhanded means," Honami tried to protest.

"No but assuring victory does. Look, I'm not going to go into a philosophical debate with you about this. I'm just telling you how I am. If we're going to do this and stay in our respective classes, you have to understand that about me.

"We have to promise each other, whatever happens in a special test stays in that arena. We don't allow anything that happens in a special test to affect our relationship, okay? No matter what, that's that and this is this," I said firmly.

Honami was so quiet I was worried that I was alone now in the darkness, I could barely even hear her breathing. I sat patiently waiting for her to come to an answer.

"You can't ask me to betray my class and I won't ask you to betray yours," Honami said finally.

"Okay, I can accept that."

"Neither of us are under any obligation to help or bail out the other class unless it's to our own classes' benefit."

"Deal,"

"Promise you won't do anything considered cheating on me," Honami added quietly.

"I promise,"

"If we can agree on that, I won't allow anything that happens in a special test to get between us," Honami agreed quietly.

I knew that she meant it in this moment and that she fully intended to keep her word, I could only hope I wouldn't have to resort to anything too bad. I didn't want to test the waters on how far I could push her before she broke.

"Just so you know," Honami added to cut the tension. "I plan on using underhanded methods of my own. I plan on using every advantage I have to distract you and foil all of your plans, you realize that right?

"Since when do you use underhanded tactics," I chuckled condescendingly. I'm pretty sure that my definition of underhanded was completely different. While I was thinking of extortion, threats and sabotage, Honami was more than likely thinking of hugs and kisses.

"Since I met you."

All of this was dirty, it was manipulation. I knew Honami wouldn't accept some of the things that I was willing to do to win, yet I made her promise to something ambiguous. All so that later down the road when she called me to the carpet, I'd have a conversation to reference so that I could hold her feet to the fire.

This was my girlfriend and yet I was doing this to her, just as I love Arisu and manipulate her. In times like this, I hate myself. I'm a horrible, selfish and calculating person. I can lie and manipulate the people I love without giving anything away.

I could feel the movement as Honami stood to her feet in the pitch black as she blindly felt for my hands. When she found them, she tugged at me to get me on my feet before feeling for my pinky and looping it with her own.

"We agreed, this is a promise. Special tests we do our best for our classes, we never let it affect our relationship. No matter what, okay?" Honami promised as she shook our intertwined pinkies.

I rolled my eyes, not that she could see it. Really? A pinky promise? What are we five?

"Honami," I said with a low tone. "If we're going to seal a promise as a couple, we should do it properly."

I let go of her hands and clutched at her hips firmly, purposely. Her sweet gasp popped in the bubble of darkness, the darkness that stole but a single sense to elevate all else. Touch and sound were ever so more tender and whole.

In the darkness Honami was emboldened as well. Her arms snaked up to loop around my neck slowly and purposefully. Her hands tugged gently at my hair as she pulled me down to meet her lips.

For just a mere microsecond, I debated whether or not I should tell her to pause so I could run to the door to put my tie on the outside door knob.

At first when our lips met, we merely brushed over each other with the barest of contact. This was the first time it'd ever been more than the barest of pecks. As though the two kisses we shared before were just childsplay, as though we were progressing. Gently wading in the waters and trying not to cause too many ripples that would result in a roaring tsunami.

Our lips brushed more, once, twice. It was then that I picked up that her breathing grew harsher, her breath was minty, and her skin that oozed with the scent of citrus that I remembered. The memory edged in my mind and trailed a fire: A fire that glowed with a radiating warmth that I wanted to share with her. I refused to prolong it anymore. None will, just this once, stop me from claiming my prize.

Making the final movement, I took Honami's lower lip between my own and the dance started. Both of us were careful, testing the waters of how far each of us would go, neither of us having any experience on what to do next. Only what we'd seen in movies and the like, trying to emulate it as though we were trying to learn what all the fuss was about. We continued to taste each other's lips tentatively, moving on instinct and continuing to progress through the steps.

Just as my sight had left me, so too did my sense of sound. There could have been a rolling roar of thunder crackling with might around me and I wouldn't have noticed. The only thing that mattered right now, in this moment, was touch.

On accident, I brushed my tongue over her bottom lip and I was surprised when not a moment after, her mouth opened and I felt her tongue enter my own. As though it were cell memory, as though our bodies instinctively knew exactly what we needed to do.

My hands trailed from her hips to the small of her back as she pulled me closer and our lips continued to dance against each other, our tongues fighting for dominance. Honami let out a moan of approval before the both of us stopped reluctantly. The human limitation known as oxygen that causes a reluctant end to the sweet moment of bliss.

"T-that was... Um." Honami stuttered.

"That was good," I said stupidly.

Great job masterpiece, that was all you could come up with?

"Did you like it?" Honami asked meekly.

Even now, she was still unsure of herself. As cute as it was there was no need for this lack of self-confidence, Honami was perfect for me. There was no reason to look for anyone else, I had the one who understood my nature and gave me everything I desire in this school right here in my arms.

"It was great, I could use more practice though. I feel like I could get better at it."

"...I agree, we should probably practice more," Honami said with a raspy voice as her breathing grew steadily heavier.

Honami's grip was hungry as she greedily pulled me back down to meet her lips once more. An effort that I was happy to oblige.

Chapter 30

A/N: I'm sick at the moment so I had to stay home from work and decided to write a short chapter.

There are a lot of people who have been commenting and voting on all of the chapters, including the earlier ones from way back when I started this story. I want to take the time to say thank you and I read all of them, replying to them all and replying to the replies is something that I'd love to do but have less time for lately. Especially considering my phone buzzes with notifications constantly from WattPad.

Please know that I really do read all of them, your efforts for voting and commenting really make all of this worth it. Especially when people notice some of the hidden plots that I try to hide within the bulk of the chapters. Your interest makes all of this worth it.

Thank you for taking the time to read this, I still remember when I first uploaded the prologue that I wasn't sure how far this would go. I still remember updating the page to see when I had my first reader. To think that now we're at almost 85k reads with almost 6.5k votes is very humbling.

Honami was virtually a ghost for the next day after our moment, Class B were determined. The placings in the examination were quite odd if I do say so myself, there were many notable aspects about the selection that seemed quite interesting.

Eiichiro was a little dejected to say the least. Being appointed to the monkey group was a huge blow to his pride. Once everyone was made aware of the groups, it was clear that the Dragon Group was the powerhouse. The leaders of every class were within that group. Eiichiro felt like he was pushed out of the role by Chabashira-sensei and there was nothing I could say to change his mind.

It was obvious why she did it, if it were a tradition to put all the leaders in the one group then she violated it. The reason was blatant, she wanted to win. She vocalized her concerns at us taking too many losses and this time she did something for the benefit of Class D, regardless of what history dictated; she kept Eiichiro away from Ryuen.

The thing is, Eiichiro was relieved beyond belief when he looked at the placements and saw that he wasn't in the same group as Ryuen. It was the very first thing he checked for and when he noticed he immediately vocalized his relief, thanking whatever deity existed for the good fortune. It wasn't until we actually saw who was in the Dragon Group and realized what it meant that Eiichiro's mood began to sour.

Being dejected didn't last long though. After explaining that it was actually a good thing that he was in the monkey group, Eiichiro was insulted. He felt slighted, he also thought I was only saying it to comfort him and with a vengeance, he left the room before looking for Chabashira-sensei to give her a piece of his mind.

Irrespective, I fully intend to do my own preparations on my own. There are things about this examination that have already stood out to me, why are they calling it the Zodiac Exam? If it's about identifying twelve groups why not just number them? It was for that reason that I contacted Horikita and asked her to meet with me.

The Ocean Cafe is a great place. I know that this is peak laziness but I've been here several times with Arisu and the Class D students but even still, I hadn't known the name of the place even though it was written on the menu until just now. Is this peak laziness? Have I attained a new level? Have I reached Enlightenment? Is this even my final form?

All questions that can be contemplated at a later time I suppose.

"Were you waiting long?" Horikita asked me as she took the seat next to me, quickly taking a sip of her coffee that she asked me to order for her.

"Yes, I've been waiting for ages and you're late."

"Etiquette dictates that you're supposed to say no, you just got here," Horikita frowned at me with disdain.

"I know, I just wanted to annoy you," I grinned mockingly.

Horikita bristled in frustration before taking out her phone and tapping away. A moment later, I got a notification that I received an email. Opening up my tablet, I could see the requested information. A prefilled table with all of the members of each of the groups in the Zodiac Examination.

"You do realize that it would have been easier for you to get that information yourself right? I'm not exactly cordial with everyone, it was quite annoying to have to speak to people that I'd prefer not to associate with," Horikita said curtly

"All the more reason why you were the perfect choice for the task. You need to socialize more." I replied nonchalantly while looking over the table.

"I don't need more friends, one is enough,"

"You've been locked up in your room moping longer than everyone else, it's about time you got out of there,"

"I hate the fact that Ryuen beat us," Horikita forced out with gritted teeth. "And I'm even more frustrated that your idiot friend stopped me from consulting with you."

"Just as I told him, there's no use in worrying about it now. The results are what they are and you learned a valuable lesson." I offered while only half paying attention to what I was saying.

"What lesson is that?"

"Don't lose,"

"Your insight is very innovative. The thought never would have occurred to me," Horikita huffed, dripping with sarcasm. "I suppose you had a solution that could have helped us?"

"Does it really matter anymore?" I looked up from playing around with the list on the tablet.

"Of course it matters!" Horikita spat in frustration. "There are lessons in failure."

"Something tells me you don't want a lesson, I have a feeling you want to know what the solution is so you can throw it in Eiichiro's face."

"That as well, the idiot cost us a win!"

"You sound like my sister," I couldn't help but roll my eyes, she really did sound like Arisu.

I really shouldn't have been egging her on, she was already angry as it was. I hadn't seen her like this since the beginning, back when she was calling for my head. All of them were angry and it was understandable, we'd been on the bottom since we came to the school and they were frustrated because they tried, they honestly did.

At the mention of Arisu, Horikita suddenly looked downcast and fell silent. Staring at her coffee in silence she stirred it thoughtfully before speaking.

"I apologize for that, it was my fault."

"No, it's mine. I brought her and forced her to stay, it was my responsibility." I admitted, shaking my head to refute her.

I didn't know what I expected but it wasn't for Horikita's anger from earlier to soften as she stared at me, taking in the surprising admission.

"You've really changed," Horikita said softly.

"I think everyone has," I said dismissively, the moment was getting too serious for me. Too sappy. I deal in sarcasm and laziness not in all of this heartfelt nonsense.

"You more than most. You've been adamant about not participating, I double checked the number when I saw your text. Are you really going to help this time? If you say who knows I'm going to stab you." Horikita threatened before picking up a fork from the table.

I wanted to, it was so tempting. Sarcasm and keeping people guessing was part of who I am, I seriously doubted that she was actually going to stab me but then again...

Horikita looked so dejected at the loss back then, Eiichiro was fired up and I was bored. I also wanted to put Honami in her place, she'd become too supercilious lately, too defiant. There would be nothing more satisfying than asserting dominance over her, even last night she was the one to pull me to her as though it were her idea in the first place.

I was bored, incredibly bored. As I fiddled with the list on the tablet in my hands my hypersensitive brain couldn't help but notice the patterns. Twelve groups, evenly distributed with class members and a school that pointedly made the rules fair while subliminally encouraging you to break them.

I carefully continued to look at the screen in focus, tapping at the color fill icon before choosing a color for each of the classes and assigning them according to the individual students, putting the colors into a key at the bottom for reference sake. It was different, I was focused. The other people in the cafe momentarily faded away as did Horikita, it was like I was in a trance. I could almost feel like I could see the individual pixels on the tablet. As I continued to work in silence, once the colors were filled in and the table was set, I sorted the columns in order of one to twelve according to the signs of the zodiac numerical order before tapping again to sort each column's contents by alphabetical order.

When I did, the answer was clear. Twelve names, three from each class in a straight diagonal line from the top left corner that stretched down to the bottom right.

"Ayanokouji-kun?" A voice tore me from my thoughts as I looked up from the tablet at the irate features of Horikita.

"Sorry, I was distracted,"

"I asked if you're going to help, what do we do now? What's the plan?"

Looking down at the screen again, while I was confident that I cracked the code, I'd need to know for sure. It was a simple problem, with simple clues and a simple solution. The perfect embodiment of the occam's razor, the law of parsimony.

"I don't know, there's nothing that can be done until we have our first meeting," I lied suavely. "I don't know how much assistance I can even be, I'll participate. Just don't expect too much from me."

"Just for once I wish you would speak plainly rather than shroud everything in ambiguity," Horikita snapped. "Will you give us your best effort?"

"I will help you as much as I possibly can,"

'Without risking revealing myself.'

"I promise you that I will give you my best effort,"

'As long as it doesn't negatively impact me.'

"You have my word,"

'The word of a liar.'

"Thank you," Horikita sighed gratefully. She relaxed for barely a moment before she stiffened as though a thought had just occurred to her.

"While I congratulate you on your newfound relationship, can I trust you to put the needs of our class first over your own?"

"Who's to say the interests differ?" I asked quizzically. "What do you mean by that?"

"I'm asking you if you will betray us," Horikita said bluntly. "You already put your own interests over the group by bringing Ichinose to our camp when we all agreed as a collective that she should not be allowed there. I did not agree with them either but it was a decision made by the group and you forced your way yet again."

"I told her and she came a-"

"Do not patronize me with your word play," Horikita finally had enough. "You did what you always do, manipulate the situation to suit yourself. Ichinose is probably the kindest soul in the first year if not the school, there is no possibility she would do that unless you coerced her to. You ALWAYS do this.

"You do it with Matsuo-kun, you do it with Sakayanagi-san and you do it with her. You are my only friend and I am not well versed in what that relationship entails but I will not be the friend who just agrees with everything you say and do. You were wrong. What you did was not right, it was selfish and you may not want to hear this but it may have cost us that examination."

She was right, there was no refuting that. I'm capable of acknowledging the facts, at the end of the day regardless of what I felt about Yamauchi, I was partially responsible. He was constantly belittled by those around him and I was shown blatant favoritism constantly. I wasn't about to vocally acknowledge that but it was still a fact.

"Ayanokouji-kun, I want to get to Class A. I want it desperately, there isn't anything that I want more than to reach that goal. I am willing to work as hard as I need to and fill whatever role I must to achieve that goal but I do not want my only friend to be sabotaging me every step of the way.

"Please, I'm begging you. If you will not help me in achieving my dreams, at the very least do not be the reason that I never have a chance in the first place." Horikita begged desperately.

While Horikita may think that I'm more intelligent than the rest of the Class D students, I wonder if she would be so lenient if she knew what I was truly capable of. Not one to look a gift horse in the mouth, I simply nodded. I wasn't about to have another hounding me to start carrying the load like Eiichiro was, the longer she was content to let me frolic untouched the better.

So rather than commit, I did what I always do. I kept expectations low.

"I will not betray the class and I will help. Jus-

"Just don't expect too much from you, I know," Horikita sighed in frustration.

I was having fun at the moment, particularly with this special test. The fun part wasn't about figuring out the test, that was boring. Sometimes I wonder if this school is actually a school for the elites of Japan or if I'm just so far above the competition that it's boring.

No... That's not the fun part. It would be easier to simply release the articles about me, Class D would believe everything I said and they'd just do it. We could win every special test from here on out and it would be easy. That's boring.

No... no no no no no. The fun part was winning when no one was none the wiser as to who, how or why. This was a game, I like games and I would make sure that I participated and had all the fun I'd been missing out on so far. The fact that Arisu wasn't here was a blessing, I'd be able to function without her constant meddling. She should be grateful that I'm even giving this much.

It would be done in true Ayanokouji Kiyotaka style as well, while doing as little as possible.

We continued to chat absentmindedly. I was surprised to find that Horikita had been texting with Arisu the entire time that we'd been back on the ship. They were closer than I anticipated, they had some common ground between them but I was concerned to hear that they were getting closer. Arisu is a sneaky, conniving and devious one. I love her but she's just as bad as I am when it comes to manipulation and darker means.

If push came to shove, I was positive that Arisu would have no issues whatsoever in trying to manipulate me through the people I'd grown close to. She'd relish at putting her foot on Eiichiro's throat, she'd thrive in socializing with Karuizawa and bribing her with her points and Horikita was inexperienced in dealing with people, it'd be childsplay for Arisu to influence her.

I wonder if she had boundaries though, it would be fascinating to see if she would cross the line and attempt at breaking Honami, how far was too far for Sakayanagi Arisu?

Moves needed to be made though, as I looked down at the list just before switching off my screen I had my targets to confirm. I needed to see if my hypothesis was correct.

Kushida Kikyo - Dragon

Matsuo Eiichiro - Monkey

Wang Mei-Yu - Pig

It would be simplest to find if our VIP's confirmed my list, it was fortunate that I was well acquainted with two of the three VIP's.

One of them was sulkily avoiding me and it was quite annoying. The other two were easier but an enormous headache considering one of them snuck in my tent and since then has been eyeing me hungrily like I'm some kind of dessert at every opportunity and the other is one of her close friends.

Fantastic. Coincidences sure are freaky, aren't they?

Kushida was starting to become a nuisance, I would be content to just be friends with her and leave it be. She's an incredibly valuable resource for Class D and as long as she stays in her little pocket then everything is fine with the world. The issue is I'm certain that she's not going to stop in her pursuit of expelling Horikita and despite the fact that Manabu told me not to interfere with anything from this point on I felt obligated.

I was curious about something, I never actually asked any questions to do with the S-System and quite frankly I wasn't very interested before. I've left my second phone back at the school and I don't even know how many points BUDDY has been generating. The ship didn't require any points to be spent and I still had over two million points left over from the OAA commission. Honestly I spend so little in the interest of staying hidden that I don't even know how many points are on that phone, I even stopped charging it.

BUDDY is still operational, I haven't heard anything about the service going down and I quickly lost interest in the statistics of the app. I have no need for the points right now so presently it functions similarly to a vault or a warchest that I can open when times get tough.

As long as it continued to function, there was no reason to even check on it. Unless it went down and I needed to fix it, I'd forgotten that it even existed.

After texting Chabashira and agreeing on a location for the both of us to meet, I made my way to the area near the bar where she indicated. I only had a few questions so I let her know that it'd be quick.

Upon arrival I was surprised to find her already there and waiting, she must have rushed out as quickly as possible, cigarette in hand and blowing plumes of smoke as she watched the ocean.

"Were you waiting long?"

"No, I just got here," Chabashira answered robotically. "I came as soon as you asked."

"You'd probably have a boyfriend if you weren't so eager," I joked as I walked over before leaning on the railing next to her.

"While I hold you in high regard, Ayanokouji, please keep in mind that I am still a teacher and you my student. There are limits to how you can speak to me, please have a little respect." Chabashira scolded me.

"Right, right. Maybe I should take Hoshinomiya-sensei up on her offer. With her I get massages, with you I get headaches."

That shut her up. Her body tensed in fear as if the possibility washed over her like the frigid breeze coming from the vast expanse in front of us.

"Matsuo came to see me, he's very irate. He thinks that I'm forcibly trying to enforce a leadership change and that I don't believe in him. I was very impressed, it would appear that he has grown." Chabashira attempted to change the subject

"Is that what you're trying to do?" I asked curiously.

Chabashira must have been incredibly stressed out with the mention of Hoshinomiya because before she even finished the cigarette in her hand she pulled out another, lighting it with the one she already had before tossing it overboard. Littering wasn't allowed on the ship, something she knew. It was a reflex brought on by stress.

"Of course not, while it is tradition to put all the leaders in the Dragon Group, Matsuo is intimidated by Ryuen. I told you before, I want to win. If it means violating that tradition then so be it." Chabashira said simply.

"So putting me in the Rabbit Group means that you've given up on forcing a representative role onto me then? I'm flattered by your generosity."

"I don't know how many times I must say it, Ayanokouji. I gain nothing by antagonizing you. I would rather you here in Class D doing nothing than provoking you and making you an enemy."

"Hoshinomiya-sensei said something similar, something about Class B being perfect for me." I mused absentmindedly.

It was really hurting her pride, I could see her visibly biting her tongue and forcing herself not to react to my provocations. I know that it's childish but I was being vindictive, I hadn't forgotten about the fact that she alluded to my secret multiple times, trying to manipulate me into doing her bidding.

"Is that what this is about? You wish to taunt me and threaten me to make me beg and plead for you to stay in Class D?" Chabashira asked with resignation.

"Would you?"

"If it means you stay then yes, I told you before that I would sell my soul to reach Class A. Debasing myself by begging is a small price to pay, is that what you want? If so then just say so and I'll do it now."

I wasn't enjoying this and it wasn't the purpose of why I asked to meet with her. Deciding to put her out of her misery I just waved my hand nonchalantly and leaned on the rail again.

"I'm not going anywhere, relax. I don't know why but I like our little band of misfits. I'm not leaving Eiichiro either, so you don't have to worry. I'll stay," I reassured her.

I could see the relief wash over her as her knees buckled slightly, fortunately she was leaning on the railing. It was as though my reassuring words radiated and warmed her in the frigid cold of the night.

"Then if you're done shaking my heart with threats then what am I here for? Do you need something from me?"

"I just have a few questions about the S-System that I wanted to ask you. I'm hoping that you will be able to answer them." I turned as I spoke to lean with my back on the rail instead before motioning to the cigarette in her hand.

"Do you mind if I have a puff? I'd like to give it a try," I asked as I motioned to the lit smoke.

I didn't really want to try it, I just wanted to see how far Chabashira would go to appease me. Contraband like smoking was an expellable offense, being given one by a teacher would mean instant dismissal for her too. If she offered it to me, that was all I needed to know. I wasn't surprised when instantly her hand reached out to me, holding the requested stick in her fingertips.

Taking it gingerly from her fingers, I placed it between my lips before taking the smallest testing drag. I regretted it immediately, coughing violently before handing the wretched thing back to her. I saw her smile and laugh at my reaction. It was the first time I'd ever heard her laugh, it was melodic and rich. It shook her shoulders as she held her stomach with one hand, laughing with her whole body with her eyes closed.

"It wasn't that funny," I muttered, still coughing and spitting, trying to get the disgusting taste out of my mouth.

Chabashira stared at me with a genuine smile on her face. It looked foreign on her, as though this were the first time that she'd smiled in a lifetime.

"Thank you, Ayanokouji. That was the first time that I have laughed like that in years," Chabashira said with tenderness.

"Why do you do that, it's disgusting!"

"It's an acquired taste, one I hope that you never take up." Chabashira continued to smile. "Now, what were the questions you wanted to ask me?"

She was standing at attention now, alert. One arm crossed under her voluptuous chest and the other holding the cigarette to her lips. All traces of the mirth and playfulness of her earlier laughter were gone but she wasn't stern. It was as though she was no longer spiteful, but a homeroom teacher that was ready to assist her student who had come to her requesting guidance. Deciding that the informalities were over with, I got right to the point.

"Can I pay points to have someone expelled outright? If so, how much would it cost me?"

SS The Bet

While the school is enjoying its Summer Vacation, many are spending their days relaxing and enjoying the well earned break. Under normal circumstances I would be too but I've always been somewhat of a workaholic. The school is rather empty at the moment while the first years are away on their cruise, it's bittersweet for me.

This will be the final time that I will get to experience a holiday like this, soon the place that I called home will no longer be made available to me. I cherish every moment that I can because I know that once I leave this place, I will never be able to see it again. Like death, it is inevitable, while there is life after on the outside, this place will cease to exist for me.

It is why I've decided to enter the quiet peaceful sanctuary that is my office. Despite the fact that it was only a recent move, barely a couple months, I have quickly grown fond of it. It's the embodiment of my success, possibly my greatest success, the recruitment of Vice President Ayanokouji Kiyotaka.

It follows one of my greatest failures during my tenure at this school, the recruitment of Nagumo Miyabe. When I first met the boy, he was incredibly promising and ambitious. One with a chip on his shoulder, eager to prove himself and show that he was worthy of Class A rather than his original placement of Class B.

I thought I could mentor and nurture him. Show him the school for what it is and what it is not. When recruiting him, he readily accepted and not long after I realized that I had poisoned my own well, a poison masquerading as an elixir. A weed disguised as a flower.

No matter my guidance, he stuck to his own principals. Insisting that I was the one that was wrong and eager for recognition that his ideals were superior. That nurturing shouldn't be the goal of the school, but to foster an environment where the strong survive and the weak are eaten.

By the time I had realized my folly, I was too late. Too proud to admit that I was wrong and I'd allowed that weed to spread and fester until it was no longer under my control to cut it down. There was no way that I could remove Nagumo Miyabe, I had empowered him too much. He was popular now, looked at as the prize of the second year students.

My salvation lies in one Ayanokouji Kiyotaka, if only I had been patient. There was no way to know that he was coming, it was hubris on my part. I thought that I could take anyone and mold them into my own ideals. As shameful as it is to admit, I was the one who was foolish.

Torn from my thoughts, I'm unsurprised to see the one person I did not want to see today, Nagumo Miyabe. Confident as always, checking the GPS function whenever he can to see what I'm up to in order to bother me with his incessant pestering yet again. There are times when I think to myself that I should just humor him and recognize his efforts simply so that I can conduct the remainder of my school life in peace but I can't seem to bring myself to do it.

"Horikita-senpai," Nagumo greeted with a cocksure smile. "I expected you'd be in today, turns out I was right."

"Nagumo," I replied curtly. "I was just here to get a headstart, I wasn't expecting any of the other council members to be in today."

"If the president is in the office, he's available. Isn't that what you taught me, Horikita-senpai?"

"I didn't say that I wasn't available, just that I wasn't expecting any visitors. What can I do for you?" I asked, not looking up from the paperwork I had just pulled from my leather binder.

"I was wondering if you'd considered what we discussed last time. You haven't given me a reply." Nagumo sat at the guest couch as he spoke before spreading his arms comfortably over the back and putting his feet on my coffee table.

"I believe I considered it and gave you an answer already. Ichinose Honami will remain as Vice President Ayanokouji's secretary until he decides that she isn't fit for the position." I reiterated bluntly, adjusting my glasses.

"Your infatuation with her is becoming unhealthy and unproductive. You have more pressing matters to attend to than treating this council as some form of dating center." I continued dismissively.

Nagumo snorted in derision before readjusting his posture, leaning forward with his elbows on his knees.

"What about Ayanokouji? He gets to do nothing with your blessing but I have matters to attend? I'm the senior in this situation, if I want Ichinose as my secretary then I should be given first preference." Nagumo narrowed his eyes in anger.

"You want my position next year, do you not? If you do then you have preparations to make. While I am in this seat, I have told you. Ichinose Honami will remain as Ayanokouji Kiyotaka's secretary. Once I am gone it is none of my concern. I must warn you however, do not provoke him. You will not enjoy the consequences." I warned him carefully.

Nagumo laughed mockingly before returning to his previous position comfortably. There was still so much for him to learn, truly my biggest disappointment.

"Allow me to explain something to you, Nagumo." I started before getting up from my desk and moving to sit on the coffee table with him, his feet by my side.

"In this world there are people who have power. At times it is not by their own doing, it is by their families. Ayanokouji Kiyotaka is the chairman's son, whether you like it or not. He is afforded luxuries that the remainder of the student populus are not. You may not like it, but it is a fact.

"While he has never leveraged those advantages, the fact remains that he can. If you believe that you can stir that hornet's nest without consequence then be my guest. As I mentioned previously, you will not enjoy the results." I finished while looking directly in his eyes.

"That's what's the problem with this school," Nagumo snapped.

"So many students that are here aren't deserving. All because they're the son of this CEO or the daughter of that influential family. Placed into Class A while the deserving are put into Class B through D like we're place fillers!

"Even with those advantages, where is he? Class D. The bottom. Lazy and unmotivated. Class D still has no Class Points! Not even one! All those advantages that life handed him, and for what? What have we even gained from keeping him here?" Nagumo spat angrily.

"OAA is live and in use because of him." I reminded him calmly. "If not for him, you will not have seen your vision come to life."

"You heard what the Chairman said, it's valuable to the school. Even if it didn't happen right away, it would have been commissioned when I take your seat. So what, we keep carrying him because he made a phone call?" Nagumo huffed in frustration.

No matter the argument and how easily it could be won, I would never betray Ayanokouji's confidence. If not for him, my sister would have been expelled. While my class treasury is now bare in saving her, I wouldn't hesitate to do it again if I had a thousand chances to redo it.

He's also the reason for Suzune's growth, her first and only friend. I could never betray him, even if I wanted to which I don't. Instead I just allowed Nagumo his moment and went back to my desk in exasperation.

"If you do not believe that it is important to appease those that are well connected then there is nothing I can tell you. Be warned though, I believe Ayanokouji will surprise us all in the very near future." I said cryptically.

Once again the door to my office burst open and an excited Asahina and an annoyed Tachibana entered together. Despite the fact that they were in two moods, it was obvious that both of them were because of the same person. The one who I just finished talking about. Ayanokouji Kiyotaka, I'm beginning to wonder if you actually are worth the trouble.

"Did you hear? Did you hear?" Asahina gushed excitedly.

"Hear what?" Nagumo asked in confusion.

"Honami-chan and Ayanokouji-kun started dating!" Asahina squealed. "Honami-chan confessed during the island exam. They're so cute! I knew it! I knew it! I knew it from day one!"

"I've never seen you act so girly before, it's insufferable." Tachibana grumbled while looking at her side eyed with distaste.

Nagumo frowned, his eyes twitching with anger. I couldn't help but sigh in resignation, how troublesome. Why did this have to happen now?

"That girl, I thought she would have better taste in men," Tachibana huffed in dismissal. "I have no idea what she sees in that... in that... disrespectful kohai!"

I was sure she wanted to say something harsher but strangely she looked proud as though it was a worthy insult.

"Oh don't be like that BunBun-senpai," Asahina teased.

"You see what he's doing to this place," Tachibana hissed angrily at me.

BunBun-senpai, the nickname that Ayanokouji gave her the very first time he met her. A play of words of her name and her trademark hairstyle. I couldn't help but curse that sarcastic bastard, why does he always make my life difficult?

"I have no idea what that girl sees in him, that lazy halfwit," Tachibana scoffed.

"I can think of eight reasons off the top of my head," Asahina grinned while showing her phone to Tachibana.

I wasn't sure what she was showing her but Tachibana suddenly glowed a vibrant red before averting her eyes from the screen in embarrassment and pointing directly into Asahina's face.

"W-why do you have such a vulgar photo of him? This is unacceptable!"

"I go to the gym,"

"Since when?"

"Since the second day of the first semester," Asahina grinned.

"I have abs too, it's not that impressive," Nagumo dismissed with a nonchalant wave of his hand, looking over her shoulder.

I could feel the beginning of a headache, this was my office. The Student Council office. Why was it being treated as though it were a common room for gossip and random chit chat?

"Irrespective, my point remains," Tachibana snapped before walking over to my desk in anger and putting a page on my table with a slap. "The results for the uninhabited island examination, Class A, B and D all finished with zero points while Class C won with one hundred fifty.

"He is making a mockery of this council, he has infected Ichinose and his sister's class with his tomfoolery. Will you finally listen to me now? He is a plague that we should get rid of at once, I don't know what it is you see in him!"

"Finally, something we can agree on," Nagumo nodded while looking at me expectantly.

It was rare, Tachibana and Nagumo never agreed on anything and they didn't like each other very much. Tachibana thought that Nagumo was disrespectful as well, always challenging me and taunting me, accusing her of having some form of feelings she never confessed. It annoyed her to no end.

There was only one thing the both of them agreed on: Ayanokouji Kiyotaka did not deserve to be in the Student Council, least of all as Vice President.

"How about a wager then?" I asked suddenly, looking at Nagumo.

"Oh, this will be good. What kind of bet?" Nagumo asked interestedly.

"I'm willing to wager that Ayanokouji Kiyotaka will do something remarkable before I graduate. Something that will surprise you and make you realize what I see in him,"

"That's pretty ambiguous, that could mean anything. How do we know who won?"

"We'll know," I answered cryptically. "Believe me, we'll know. We don't have to draft it in a memorandum, it can just be a wager between men."

"Very well then," Nagumo said confidently. "What are we betting?"

"How many points do you have?" I challenged him confidently.

Nagumo laughed loudly as he fished his phone from his pocket before bringing up his balance. Not long after, he turned it over to show fifty million points.

"Twenty five million," I announced confidently.

Tachibana was frantic as she grabbed me by my shoulders and turned my chair to face her, her eyes darting between my own in fear.

"Have you gone insane?" Tachibana gaped.

"Done," Nagumo said before he thought I would change my mind with a predatory grin. "Show me your balance so that I know you're good for it."

"I did not ask you to show me your balance, you did it of your own volition. I do not make wagers that I can not cover, you should have asked for that information before agreeing. Consider it a lesson on not being too hasty," I admonished him dismissively. "You can pull out now if you're not confident."

Even Asahina looked worried, her earlier excitement completely gone as she looked between us calculatingly. Her earlier excited gossiping was slightly out of character for her which showed how happy she was for the two. She was a student who reached Class A alongside Nagumo, she was capable. Seemingly to her this was a risky bet, Ayanokouji Kiyotaka was a wildcard.

That was how much I believed in him, I didn't even have the points. If needed, I'd make that sarcastic bastard pay for my end. I estimate he already has roughly forty million right now, by the time I graduate it won't make a dent. He would owe me for both approving the app and for making me look like a fool.

At the challenge of him pulling out, Nagumo smiled victoriously before holding out his hand to which I shook. It was easy manipulation, Nagumo was too proud to back down. I didn't even want a memorandum, we'd both know and that same pride will make Nagumo pay up without hesitation. He wouldn't back down, not to me.

After the bet was sealed, he turned around to leave with Asahina worriedly following behind him and closing the door. Tachibana waited with baited breath for a while, seemingly wondering what the hell just happened or why I just made a seemingly reckless decision.

"Have you lost your mind?" Tachibana breathed quietly. "T-twenty five million would bankrupt us! We'd have nothing left, that's all the points that we have!"

"Actually, it isn't. I had to use twenty million to save my sister from expulsion during the mid-terms." I said nonchalantly.

"And you didn't think to tell us!?" Tachibana exclaimed angrily. "That's not just your points, that's everyone's! We wouldn't have disagreed but if you said something the class would have started working to replenish the treasury!"

"That's enough," I glared at her with authority.

Immediately, Tachibana fell silent and meekly stared at the ground. That was the one thing about Tachibana, she was obedient. During moments when I allowed her leeway she had the tendency to be stern and authoritarian. When instructed to stop, she did so immediately.

Feeling a little guilty, I went to my safe before pulling out a stack of documents and then handing it to her.

"Take a look at those," I indicated with a nod of my head at the stack.

"What is this?" Tachibana asked curiously.

"Ayanokouji's entrance exam results,"

Tachibana looked curiously and immediately she rolled her eyes and frustratingly waved the stack of papers.

"Fifty across the board. That's what you bet twenty five million on?" Tachibana huffed in frustration.

"Look at the exams," I instructed her, not looking up from my paperwork.

I could see from the corner of my eye, she looked at the first exam and wasn't impressed. Then the second. By the time she got to the third, she went back to the first again to confirm before looking through the rest.

"This doesn't make any sense," Tachibana furrowed her brow in confusion. "Why would he do this? Why is he even in Class D? Surely the assessors would have noticed this,"

"Isn't it obvious?" I snorted with derision.

"Even still, there's no way of knowing that he'll actually put forth an effort. Even if he did, it wouldn't be anything big enough for you to win." Tachibana frowned in concern.

She was wrong, I have carefully studied Ayanokouji Kiyotaka from the first moment I met him. He was bored and the cracks were beginning to show. It all started when Ichinose handed me their delegated paperwork and I saw the difference in handwriting. At the time, I couldn't help but feel a smirk growing as I realized that Ayanokouji Kiyotaka was finally starting to break down.

The moment when Ayanokouji Kiyotaka reveals himself for what he truly is was fast approaching and I was sure of it. It wouldn't be far away, it was coming soon.

That sarcastic bastard wouldn't be able to help himself. He was at the ledge and all it would take was one final push and he would be unleashed. I had already noted his change in personality, this lazy lifestyle was not going to last for much longer.

"Who knows," I mused with a chuckle.

Tachibana clicked her tongue in annoyance, a phrase she'd heard so many times from the lips of the one she despised more than any other on the student council.

"You better hope that he does something soon or you're going to regret it!" Tachibana admonished me angrily before picking up her papers, dropping Ayanokouji's test results on my desk and leaving.

Thoughtfully picking up the test results, I looked them over once more fondly as I remembered the very first time that I met Ayanokouji in his dorm. I knew we were similar people from the moment I met him. I wasn't expecting how fond of him I would become or that he would become so important to my sister.

I thank God everyday that I befriended and recruited him, there was no telling what would become of Suzune if not for him. The changes in her are like night and day, it's almost as though my little sister had reverted into the girl who I remember from our childhood years.

Deciding that I needed to get back to the work that I had already committed to finishing, I took Ayanokouji's test results back to my safe and put them inside fondly. There was another file in there that made my face curl in disgust and disdain and for some reason I took them out before opening up the cover of the manila folder. An article that I found while researching Ayanokouji before our first meeting.

The title of the article filled me with disgust as memories of what I read began to affect my mood.

Japan Today

The Prodigy

An expose on the secret facility known as the 'White Room'

Hotsumi Kojiri

Chapter 31

There's something different today about Matsuo Eiichiro that I can't quite put my finger on. It's not bad or concerning, just different. The way he sits is different for one thing, his uniform is pressed and his tie is done up all the way. Even his hair is not unkempt like it normally is, sitting with a straight back rather than with the usual slouch.

Whatever the conversation was with Chabashira it had an effect on him. While his eyes are red and glassy it doesn't look like he's been crying, it looks like he hasn't slept for even a moment but he doesn't look tired. If anything, he looks determined. It's too profound of a change in one night.

I almost want to take a page from the book of Honami. I've been trying to steal inconspicuous glances at his neck for a fold where a mask ends and his skin begins.

Today is the day that the VIP's are announced and then the initial meetings will begin. I'm fairly confident in my predictions which is why I'm sitting with him right now. I want to confirm immediately if my hunch is right and if it is I have to start making plans on how I'm going to attack this examination as quietly as possible.

I asked what his plans are for the test but he hasn't told me. When asked if he had one he simply said yes. He's already scheduled a meeting with the class, all of them on standby as soon as the first meeting is over. Surprisingly, even Koenji was willing to come along even if I wasn't the one to request it.

The oddest part of it all is that Eiichiro went to each class member specifically in person. Not by the group text we had in our chat, but individually one by one starting from the breakfast hall. After he was done with his rounds, we went to the Ocean Cafe together and sat in complete silence.

The silence is maddening and it's bothering me. No matter how much I analyze what is going on at the moment, nothing seems to be making sense.

He should be panicking, he should be begging me for help and blaming me as though I had cursed us with a special test so suddenly. As though my words breathed a test into existence, like I'm capable of influencing the cosmos simply by my words. Instead he's just sitting there patiently.

I had plans to find out what his were and then tailor my own actions based on that. Trying to find the holes in his strategy that I can plug as inconspicuous as possible but instead I am forced to just keep him company. I needed to know what we were supposed to do, how much water our raft could take to keep us afloat while still being kept in the shadows.

"Are you okay?" I asked in concern.

"Of course I am, why wouldn't I be?" Eiichiro replied quizzically.

There has to be a fold somewhere, perhaps the mask goes all the way down to the top of the chest.

"You're just so... different?"

"I had a long talk with Chabashira-sensei, I learned a lot. I have to change and she pointed out some other things. I'm trying something new." Eiichiro shrugged nonchalantly.

So that was his plan, trying to force a change. Fake it until you make it. I'm not so sure it would work but if it made him feel calmer about the current situation then who am I to question it.

"I'll be frank, Kiyotaka. I owe you an apology, just as I've given to every member of the class so far. I haven't been leading this class, I've been managing it. Chabashira-sensei pointed out the difference, I'm working on it.

"During my meeting with the monkey group, I read my sheet out loud to myself and I hid my phone in my pocket on record. I spent all night last night reviewing all the information that was available and trying to figure out what we need to do."

"You didn't need to do that," I snorted with a short laugh. "You could have asked me, I can just recite it word for word for you and we could have typed it up."

"Could I have, Kiyotaka?" Eiichiro asked curiously.

I was confused as to where this change of attitude was coming from, it was almost like a fight between us but it wasn't. It wasn't confrontational, I couldn't quite put my finger on it but something was odd.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"I've asked you for help from day one," Eiichiro said simply. "I've asked you to lead the class, I've asked you what I should do with the Sudo situation. I even asked you to teach me whatever you can.

"You offered to buy me a seat in Class A. I'm thankful, but I don't want that. I want to try to get there with my own efforts. You gave me information and I was eager but you wanted to enjoy your summer holidays. So, enjoy it."

"So you are still being sulky," I rolled my eyes in frustration.

Eiichiro simply shook his head and finished his tea. We still hadn't received the VIP information yet but he stood from the table to go.

"I'm not Kiyotaka, I'm just not relying on your help anymore. You're smarter than anyone I know, I believe in you. I wouldn't be surprised in the slightest if you already had everything figured out already. I just can't rely on you. I have to plan and prepare as though you're not going to participate.

"I've tried to think of a way to incentivise you but what do you offer someone who has everything? I can't offer you points, I can't offer you anything that you don't already have and you don't care about getting to Class A.

"So I'll take charge the best way I can, learn as I go along and hopefully manage to pull a win out. If you decide that you're actually going to participate this time, let me know. I'm sure whatever I come up with will have holes that you will be smart enough to plug. If you decide to." Eiichiro said with finality.

He turned to leave, prepared to continue with whatever his plan was for the rest of the day before pausing and stopping, turning around to look at me.

"You're still and will always be my best friend, Kiyotaka. I love you like a brother. I just can't be a kid anymore. We don't all have your options."

With that he turned around and left.

Stop behaving like a child.

Chabashira's words were starting to echo again. I quickly shook my head to get rid of it before it could take hold.

He wasn't being sulky and he wasn't angry. He just resigned, exasperated with my nonchalance. I can't say that I don't deserve it, I constantly downplay his concerns. Even the concerns that have merit.

I knew he was serious, the bravado and the way he was carrying himself was forced but he was serious. The outward appearance part of it I understood, it was one of the things that I planned to bring up to him when we got back to the school. There were a lot of things that Eiichiro had to work on.

For one thing, physical appearance. It may seem superficial but it isn't. A sloppily dressed leader doesn't exude an air of confidence. Eiichiro has always been a little unrefined. He chews with his mouth open, he curses far too much and he throws his uniform on with little care and doesn't take care of anything else.

Leadership is more so about perception than it is about ability. You don't need to be a good strategist to be a good leader, you just have to have a good strategist that you are willing... to... listen to...

A frown was starting to grow, Eiichiro did have a good strategist he was willing to listen to. One that he trusted whole heartedly who let him down time and again. Another who he believed would help him on the island and then left him high and dry with an early retirement.

The other thing was something he touched on, lack of incentives. He didn't emphasize it enough with the class, no touching on quid pro quo. Class D needed things spoonfed to them, it wasn't enough to just explain that it needed to be done without stressing what you get out of it. Telling them to study to get good grades wasn't enough.

You needed to stress the fact that if they don't they'll be expelled. That they wouldn't have points. The hand out I gave them made them all lazy, not many of them utilized BUDDY because they were handed a gift. Now to them, they were out of points and just praying that the ether would hand them another gift straight into their laps.

The last thing was accountability. He was a lot like Honami in a way, he took a lot of the blame onto himself. When the class failed, he took it as a shot to his own leadership skills. He wasn't completely to blame on the island, there were a lot of people who needed to be held accountable. He tried with the limited amount of experience that he had and there were a lot of people who weren't pulling their wei...

Wait. Was this Eiichiro's way of holding me accountable?

There was no way for me to know that we would have a special test so soon, it wasn't like I spoke this into existence. Still, he was eager. There was nothing stopping me from giving him some advice, working on some things with him while we were lounging about.

Maybe I was just trying to procrastinate and I was simply making excuses.

Regardless, I can't blame him for how he feels and I can't be angry for his reaction. Instead, I'll just follow orders. He is still the leader of Class D and I'm still committed to making sure we win this special test this time. When my phone chimed, I pulled it from my pocket to check the screen curiously.

After thorough consideration, you have not been chosen to be the VIP. Please remember to be a team player as your group tackles the challenges of this test. The exam begins today, and will be held over a period of three days. Members of the Rabbit group should gather in the Rabbit room, located in Room 204 on the second deck.

Not really having anywhere else to go at this point, I decided to leave the thoughts of what was happening to my best friend on hold before heading back to my room to get ready for the special test.

The other members of my room were already gone and I changed in silence. Before leaving, I incidentally spotted myself in the mirror as I was walking out. While my clothes were always pressed, I couldn't help but notice that my appearance had gone steadily sloppier as time had gone by. I stopped paying attention, I stopped caring.

Deciding to do my own part, I removed my tie before tying it into a full Windsor rather than the schoolboy knot I had done previously. Fixing it all the way up and doing my top button, I left the room to go to the second deck.

I haven't even seen Honami, not once, since that night. Class B have been turtles in their little cave, keeping to themselves and conspiring in hushed whispers. Class A are much the same as they always were, while they're not hiding themselves and refusing to speak to people, they're fairly silent whenever anyone is near. Despite the loss, they seemed to have bounced back and are walking about the ship again with an heir of entitlement.

The strangest acting class is Class C. The entire day yesterday, I haven't been able to go anywhere without Class C staring me down. They wouldn't take their eyes off me for a second.

The green haired boy called Ishizaki has been tailing me but there's one person from Class C that I haven't seen at all since the beach. It was barely a moment but Ryuen tensed ever so slightly as I scanned Class C's members in one particular direction. Then one girl was missing from the class when the announcements were made.

Ryuen has vocalized his suspicions of me, whoever this person is, for some reason he's hiding her from me.

Walking to our meeting room, I can't help but feel a smirk of my own grow as I spotted my elusive girlfriend approaching from the other end of the hall. Despite the fact that I was at the door first, I waited. She seemed a little apprehensive that I waited for her, most likely wanting to avoid meeting me before we entered but she continued to make her way to me with renewed purpose.

"Good Morning, Ayanokouji-kun," Honami said with a determined nod at me.

"Ichinose," I nodded back, surprised at her sudden use of my last name again.

While that blissful night this room served a different purpose, today it would be a battlefield. The other members of our group were already inside at their seats, watching the exchange at the doorway with interest.

I was going to enjoy this, I wanted to see what this meeting was about. Test the waters, see what the other classes had to offer. It was a rare opportunity to work with them and scope out what everyone else was working with and how they compared to the dregs of Class D.

"After you," Honami offered graciously with a friendly smile.

"Ladies first,"

"I insist."

Both of us continued to stare at each other, playing chicken. The time that we had to be in the room was fast approaching and one of us needed to bow down soon. Honami was the one to crack, eventually huffing at my stubborn refusal to enter.

"I'm going in because I want to, not because you told me to." Honami said with as much composure as she could muster. She seemingly swallowed a lump in her throat. It was obvious that she was growing restless at my boring stare and she gathered herself before beginning to enter the room.

"You know, this room sure looks different in the daylight. What do you think, Ichinose?"

Honami stiffened for barely a step before turning to me and looking at me with determination.

"You will not bring that up during the meeting, Ayanokouji-kun. I know you said you'd use underhanded tactics but if you mention that during the meeting, you will not touch me again for a very long time."

"I'm scared," I deadpanned sarcastically.

"Then try it. When we are outside this room, you're Kiyotaka and I'm Honami. In there, we're Ayanokouji and Ichinose. That is that, this is this. We promised." Honami said firmly.

"So just so that we're clear, was I Ayanokouji or Kiyotaka when we were in the room that night?" I asked mockingly.

Honami huffed at my teasing before entering with a bit of annoyance in her walk.

It was part of the plan, as far as I was concerned she was my biggest threat in the room. The selection from each class was unbelievably strange. They all had their own pattern, it was almost as though each teacher had carefully selected each student knowing that I'd be in this group. I wanted to try to throw her off early.

I understand that this seems conceited but it would be foolish not to consider it. All of the staff members know my secret after all.

Following closely behind her, the room broke off once again into idle chatter as everyone waited for the session to start but the eyes of Amikura Mako were piercing and she watched the interaction between the two of us like a hawk, unblinking. She was the picture of confidence, sitting on the other side of Class D with her legs crossed over the other and leaning back in her seat. Her top leg swayed back and forth as she waited with her arms crossed comfortably.

Across from her, Karuizawa was seated very much the same way with an empty seat next to her saved for me just as Mako had done for Honami. The two were like a reflection on a still pond, the difference being their hair color and personalities but the mannerisms and appearance being similar, they looked like two different sides of the same moon. One dark, one light.

I'd need to take control of Class D in the Rabbit Group. Even if Eiichiro decided he wouldn't rely on my help, I would give it.

"Sotomura-dono," I greeted him as I took my seat between him and Karuizawa. "How fare you on this lovely morning?"

At my strange speech pattern, Karuizawa looked up at me as her lip curled in distaste.

"Ahh, Ayanokouji-dono. 'Tis but an excellent day to be sharing the battlefield with thee." Sotomura said back with a grin, adjusting his glasses. "Though one must be objective, wilt thou be capable of ruthlessness on this battlefield whilst thou are but sat across from thy maiden?"

"Well, Sotomura-dono, for but today I view her not as my loving partner but a wretched cur that need be cut down on the quest for victory."

"Well met, well met," He nodded enthusiastically.

"Are you two done with your loser talk already? Why are you even talking like that?" Karuizawa scoffed at me haughtily.

Turning away from Sotomura and catching her line of sight I glared at her for just a moment. It was all it took for her to avert her eyes before turning back to Sotomura with the same grin as earlier.

"Sotomura-dono, in the interests of strategic importance, may we do away with the high-born linguistics for the session? I understand thou detest the rhetoric of the commoner, but shall we do away with such formalities only in this instance?"

"I can do that," Sotomura said with a shrug.

"Great," I smiled gratefully at him, clapping him on the shoulder before turning to Karuizawa who was now moodily uncrossing her arms and inching her chair away from me angrily. I grabbed onto the side of her chair before dragging her back, she was tipping slightly and she grabbed onto the sides to stabilize herself before she would topple over.

"You're being an ass lately," Karuizawa hissed angrily at me. "Why are you always taking the sides of these space cadets over mine? We're supposed to be friends!"

"We are friends, Karuizawa." I said in a low voice. Mako's piercing gaze not once left me and Honami was looking at the exchange between Karuizawa and I with the barest hint of jealousy.

"We have to work with them, they're in our class. Do you want points this month?"

"Of course I do," Karuizawa snapped.

"If you do then we all have to work together, that includes Yamauchi and Sotomura. It's even more important especially since you and I both know," I moved close to her ear so I could whisper with no one else hearing. Honami's eyes narrowed but there was nothing I could do. We had to be discreet.

"You're not the VIP." I whispered as quietly as I could before pulling away from her ear.

It wasn't supposed to be flirtatious, merely for strategic importance and it didn't exactly have the desired effect. Karuizawa was blushing heavily, I couldn't tell if it was because of the intimacy of what an exchange like that would feel like or because I had basically confirmed something that she had never told me.

Honami's hint of jealousy was now growing steadily and I knew that I would be paying for this later. Why is working with Class D students so difficult?

"Please, just for these sessions try and stomach it." I said normally now that I was sitting properly. "I'm not asking you to be friends with them, just please don't antagonize them. Once all of this is over, you can go back to pretending like they don't even exist."

Karuizawa continued to stare at me with her blush still full force. After a few more moments, she just meekly nodded before wringing her hands in her lap and quietly sitting while staring at the table.

Obstacle two down, turning to Sotomura I asked that we swap chairs for a moment to which he nodded. I did the same as I did with Karuizawa, moving next to his ear and whispering instructions to him not to talk to Karuizawa.

"She's tough to deal with, you didn't do anything wrong. In the interest of teamwork, just don't talk to her for a minute while I talk to Yamauchi and get him on side."

We shuffled seats, Sotomura sat rigidly like a stone statue with his hands clenched in fists on his knees as straight as possible and staring forward like a rock. He hunched his rotund shoulders in as much as possible, doing everything he could not to make any contact with Karuizawa either physically or vocally.

Once I was next to Yamauchi, I got his attention by patting his knee firmly. He broke from his stupor of staring at the opposite wall from Manabe before looking at me questioningly, not noticing any of the earlier exchanges.

"Are you going to be okay?" I asked as kindly as I could.

"Why do you give a shit?" Yamauchi glared angrily.

This was going to be the toughest one out of the three, the other two were easy. Karuizawa was my friend and Sotomura and I had common interests. Yamauchi and I didn't like each other, whether he was misguided or not he looked at us as similar both in physical appearance and personality.

In his eyes, we were similar people and I was the one who got misplaced favoritism while he was shunned as a pervert and a loser. It wasn't reality but there were people like this with misplaced confidence and he couldn't understand why he was constantly belittled. I despise people like this and there was a part of me that just wanted to get things over with and just submit the VIP's name.

An opportunity like this was a rare one though, there weren't many chances so far where we would be forced to cooperate with other classes and the well of information that could be gleaned from these sessions was so very tempting to me. It was right at my fingertips and I wouldn't let my personal disdain for Yamauchi get in the way of me attaining the forbidden fruit.

"Yamauchi, you and I have never seen eye to eye." I started carefully.

"Katsuragi told me that he had your ID card from the island. If that's true, it would seem as though you sold us out for whatever reason because of what was going on between you and Manabe.

"I don't believe you sold us out," I lied skillfully. "I believe she tricked you into asking about our leader and then stole the card from you. What she did to you was disgusting, you pitied her because she's not that good looking and gave her a chance. She got too arrogant and thought she could do better than you.

"But you and I both know that she's wrong. She made a huge mistake and now is not the time to let her win again. You want revenge for what happened? Don't give her the satisfaction to see that it affected you. Make her realize that it was a mistake to mess with Yamauchi Haruki."

I could see the gears turning in Yamauchi's head through his eyes as he stared blankly into mine. I was like the snake in the garden of Eden, wrapped around his neck and whispering everything he wanted to hear. Almost all of it was a lie. I'm sure he sold us out, he's a selfish person.

I purposely told him my made up scenario of Manabe stealing the card from him, he was selfish but he was also proud. If I accused him of giving us up he would have dug his heels in and denied it, instead I offered him an olive branch. A plausible second route that would alleviate doubts and would allow him to come back with his dignity mostly in place.

I did all of this on the fly, none of it planned. It goes to show how manipulative I am, how I can come up with ways to bend people around me as though it were second nature. If I'm capable of doing this to Sakayanagi Arisu, then Yamauchi Haruki may as well be a fish in a barrel.

"You're right," Yamauchi relented with a slow nod of his head. "I don't want to be the loser at the bottom anymore, I want to win this."

"I know you do," I confirmed with a slow nod of my own, mirroring his movements to show that we were in sync. "Will you help us?"

"...Okay," Yamauchi submitted hesitantly.

"Thank you. You're a smart guy and you know what you're doing. Just don't let Manabe manipulate you and do what you think is best,"

At my calling him smart, he sat a little straighter and opened his posture a bit with the slightest hint of pride. All of it was lies, I think he's a moron and deadweight. I think he's a disgusting pervert with a misguided view of his own self worth who couldn't sit the right way on a toilet seat.

For now, he was a member of Class D and as a member of the Rabbit Group, we needed him on side especially in this instance.

I had to take control of Class D's students in the Rabbit Group and hold them together. If my hunch is right, the leader was in Class C for our group. If I know Ryuen as I think I do, there's every possibility that he would target Yamauchi specifically.

I nudged Sotomura with my elbow and he stood not long after so we could swap back. The calculatingly staring eyes of Amikura Mako never left me for even a moment and her grin widened with every interaction. She wasn't an idiot, she was just as perceptive as Honami was. Unlike my girlfriend, who was blinded by her feelings for me, Mako was able to see everything for what it was.

"Sotomura, would you switch seats with Yamauchi?" I requested before he could sit down.

Yamauchi looked up at me in surprise, shifting his gaze to Sotomura questioningly. Sotomura also looked at me in confusion but nodded obediently before the new seating arrangements were taken.

I wanted Yamauchi closer to me, he was the weakest link. I'd need to be able to stop him physically from over reacting, I now had both of the hotheads in Class D on either side of me. Strategically placed, they were the ones who needed to be protected the most.

"You sure know how to pick them, Honami-chan," Mako grinned knowingly.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Honami asked quizzically.

All conversations were cut short when there was static and then a thump over the PA system as an announcement blew through the room.

"The first group discussion begins now."

"What do we do?" Karuizawa whispered to me.

"Just watch and wait." I answered simply.

"Alright everyone," Honami said loudly, getting to her feet. "Before we begin, I think it'd be a good idea if everyone could introduce themselves to break the ice. Most of us are acquainted with each other but not everyone knows each other."

"Some of us are more acquainted than others," Mako grinned provocatively.

Class B was clearly the social class, while the rest were all sitting awkwardly in their own little groups, they had no issues whatsoever vocally bridging the gaps. I'd never witnessed Honami taking a leadership role before or taking the lead. She always indulged me and simply did as she was told.

It was a new side to her that I had to admit was rather... endearing.

Under normal circumstances, I would have expected them to resist or fight back but it seemed like everyone in their respective classes had a predetermined goal while we were left on our own to test the waters. Rather obediently, everyone took their turn to introduce themselves, all rather reluctantly.

I was distracted as this went on, trying to remain as inconspicuous as possible but that wasn't an option. Too many people are aware of me and I realized that perhaps my plan of playing around in the darkness just wasn't possible. Even if it wasn't by my own doing, too many people were suspicious of me already.

Class C wasn't paying attention to anyone else. The short haired girl called Ibuki was paying the closest attention to me particularly with a hard stare. Yabu and Yamashita looked indifferent while Manabe was sitting rather pompously.

I thought that she would be uncomfortable or even arrogant towards Yamauchi but instead she was glaring intently at Karuizawa of all people. Karuizawa hadn't noticed and was in her own little world.

The Class A students were the same as well, I'd underestimated how much Arisu must have spoken of me. They weren't giving me their undivided attention but they were aware of me, glancing in my direction multiple times throughout the introductions. There were occasional glances to the other occupants but their eyes would always fall back to my direction.

"Well since no one seems to want to take the lead in the discussion, I'll start us off." Honami smiled confidently before moving her chair forward slightly. Before she could continue, she was cut off by Manabe.

"I don't see why it should be you. Why should anyone in this group listen to you? You couldn't even lead your own class." Manabe smirked arrogantly.

To the uninitiated, you'd think that this would be the time to pipe up and refute her. Get angry and defend your position and counter with arguments. There are times when such a reaction would be the best course of action.

In this instance, it's a four way battle and the one who speaks the most is the one who loses. When you talk more, you give up more information than you would originally want to. It was another thing that I wanted to drill into Eiichiro, spend eighty percent of your time listening and twenty percent talking.

The other thing is that arrogant people make mistakes. They feel untouchable and get sloppy. Ryuen was trying to sow discourse from the start by trying to get into people's heads through their pride. I don't know anything about Manabe, but she looked to be a simple girl, the words and demeanor don't seem to line up.

"Pretty arrogant position to hold considering none of the standings have changed. The last time I checked, we were still in Class A." Machida narrowed his eyes on her.

"The results speak for themselves, you're all losers." Manabe said pompously, inspecting her nails. Scripted, Ryuen was far more capable than I thought.

She answered that far too quickly, the words didn't match the way she seemed to carry herself. Ryuen was cunning, he drilled her and predicted how the meeting would go so far. I realized now Eiichiro's concerns and why he was so desperate, he wasn't just afraid of Ryuen physically.

"What happened on the island doesn't matter, what class we were separated into isn't important right now. You heard what was said in our briefing, we're all a part of the Rabbit Group right now. We have to work together to achieve the desired outcome," Honami cut in before a fight could start.

"You can do that? Even with how everything unfolded?" Ibuki asked with her eyes averted.

"Ryuen didn't violate the terms of the agreement, we can't be angry with him." Honami reluctantly offered, her eyes scanned in my direction wearily.

"What agreement?" I asked with a dumb expression on my face.

I have you now, Ichinose Honami. You're in a room with Class C who are arrogantly giving the information you so preciously guarded from me. All because you opened the door in the interest of trying to placate the malcontents. It was one weakness of Honami that I fully intended to exploit in this situation.

"As I said before, what happened on the island isn't important anymore. What's important is-"

"What's wrong, Ichinose-san?" Manabe cut her off. "Are you worried that your boyfriend will realize how incompetent you are?"

So that was his plan. I was wrong, Yamauchi wasn't the target and Ryuen wasn't trying to win this special test. He was after me and he was using the fact that Honami and I were in the same group to attack and undermine her in a public setting to see what I would do and if I would step in to protect her.

"Aren't you going to help her?" Karuizawa whispered to me worriedly. "You're her boyfriend, you're supposed to stick up for her..."

"Honami isn't fragile, she's capable." I whispered back to her. "She can stand up for herself, she doesn't need me to fight her battles for her."

"Honami-chan isn't incompetent, all of us trust and believe in her wholeheartedly." Mako defended her strongly.

"Is that how Class B believe in each other? By stripping them of their representative role?"

Honami was the picture of confidence, letting the accusations fall off her like water off a duck's back.

"She has a lot of responsibilities. We were giving her a break and lessening the burden on her. When she's ready then she can have her position back." Mako finished.

"But she doesn't want it anymore," Manabe smiled victoriously.

"Of course she wants her leadership back," Mako scoffed dismissively. Out of the corner of her eye, she spotted Honami wringing her hands in her lap.

Aside from Eiichiro and Arisu, I know Honami better than anyone else at the school. I've studied her closely from the moment I met her and know her physical queues. She scratches her cheek when she's nervous, she plays with her hair when she's deep in thought. She wrings her hands when she's hiding something.

She didn't tell Mako that she didn't want to retake the leadership position from Himeno.

"Honami-chan?" Mako called to her worriedly.

Honami instantly stopped wringing her hands before exhaling purposefully and interlaced her fingers over her crossed knees. It was only a moment later before she smiled at Manabe kindly, completely relaxed.

"Ryuen-kun certainly is a strong opponent. That was a great attempt at derailing the conversation but we're here to discuss what we're going to do as a group to achieve the desired outcome." Honami observed before taking control of the group again.

"Is there even a possibility to do that? The fact remains that none of us trust each other," Ibuki asked, continuing to stare at her lap.

"Well, there are two people in this room that managed to find a way to trust each other. Tell me, Ayanokouji-kun. How did you two manage to... bridge the gap?" Mako asked provocatively, smirking at me suggestively.

"Disgusting," Ibuki muttered.

"I think that we should discuss the possibility of trying for Outcome #1." Honami spoke loudly to get our attention again.

"Did you see that?" I asked Karuizawa, nudging her with my elbow and pointing at the large window behind Class B.

Karuizawa was confused before she looked out the window with curiousity.

"See what?"

"I thought I just saw a pig flying over the horizon."

Machida snorted in laughter while Mako was stifling her own giggles. Karuizawa cracked the smallest of smiles while Honami looked at me gratefully for the brevity.

"Do you have another suggestion then, Ayanokouji-kun?" Honami asked curiously.

She didn't take it as a slight but looked rather grateful for the ice breaker. Honami was infallible in the face of confrontation, like an aikido master capable of using momentum to her advantage.

Small ribs of ridicule weren't going to be effective enough to break her composure. I'd have to go bigger as the meetings went on

"I just thought I saw a flying pig," I offered with my hands raised in surrender.

Honami narrowed her eyes at me for just a moment, it showed how comfortable she was with me to be able to let it visibly show when something was bothering her. I think I'm the only one in the school who she allowed to see this side of her.

"Let's all just assume right now that no one in this room is the VIP. If we all work together then I think we can clear it as a group and we can show the other groups that we're capable of putting our differences aside." Honami offered humbly.

That was scripted, she was better and far more charismatic than Manabe was to hide it. She was able to make it seem natural, but this was her plan from the beginning. Start from Outcome #1, see how much push back she got and identify who were the most difficult people to deal with.

Class C already showed their position, she was doing this to gauge Class D and A.

"I think we're all capable of setting aside our differences and moving towards Outcome #1. Everyone here would like to get some points, I'm sure Class D would agree." Tetsuya nodded thoughtfully while 'thinking out loud'.

He spoke as though he was talking to himself but he said it just loudly enough so that we'd all hear. Class B really were worthy of their position, it was very subtle. The added nod was a physical queue and his posture was open as though he had nothing to hide.

Class B seemed like they were going along with the flow of things. If you didn't know what you were looking for, you'd think that this was all an accident but it wasn't. Himeno must have left the Rabbit Group solely for Honami to take care of, this had her fingerprints all over it.

While Ryuen would have given Manabe specific instructions and predicted what he perceived to be answers based on his script, Honami trusted her classmates. She gave them roles and believed in them to fulfill those roles based on their personalities.

Tetsuya seemed to be the quieter agreeable type. He appeared to be one of the people that Mako had indicated, someone who believed that Honami was the best leader for Class B but agreed to let her take a backseat temporarily so she could have a break. Honami more than likely instructed him to act as a positive reinforcer.

Mako had never, not even once, taken her eyes off me. It was obvious that Honami had instructed her to deal with me. How cute.

"I could really use the points," Karuizawa agreed quietly.

Yamauchi hadn't said anything and neither had Sotomura. Sotomura didn't need the points but you can never say no to more, Yamauchi was strangely quiet. Very uncharacteristic of him who always vocally made his stance clear.

"Class C's goals are different in this exam, we don't care about reaching Outcome #1 or any Outcome. Ryuen's given us different instructions to follow as a whole," Manabe said loudly.

It appeared that since Class C's win they've become pretty confident, Manabe seemed to be flying high in succeeding in the role that Ryuen gave her. She held herself as though she were untouchable, like she was forcibly trying to take the lead from Honami who was attempting to keep the topic to the special test.

"Manabe, stop this," Ibuki hissed. "Ryuen's plan is stupid and I'm not going to follow along with this."

"While everyone else is focused on trying to get points to recover from their loss, Class C has a different focus," Manabe parroted her script, completely ignoring Ibuki.

As I was watching and listening to her, it was almost as though I could see Ryuen in front of me instead. The inflection, the way she spoke even the vernacular all oozed Ryuen. I could almost envision an apparition of his form over her shoulder and the exact words coming from her mouth were mirrored by said apparition in his own voice.

"What focus is that?" Machida asked curiously.

"Manabe, shut up. Stop it." Ibuki continued to hiss at Manabe.

"Exposing Ayanokouji Kiyotaka,"

Silence. Dead silence.

If I wasn't so well versed in self control I would have flinched or given something away. Instead I just blinked owlishly as the eyes of the group turned to me, looking at me questioningly. Honami was incredibly good at self control herself, she only tensed for the barest of moments.

"Me?" I repeated in confusion, pointing at myself. "What's there to expose about me?"

The silence was broken by Yamauchi who snorted angrily, glaring at Manabe. He had stayed quiet the entire meeting and I realized it was out of fear that Manabe may start revealing some of the things he may have told her when they were alone.

I doubted any of it was of any importance to the Class, Yamauchi wasn't let in on anything important anyway. He was probably worried about the gossip that he'd shared to her, more than likely some if not most of it revolved around me. Ever the coward, he was keeping his mouth shut to save his skin but his disdain for me had come out involuntarily.

Machida leaned forward in interest giving his full attention. Arisu had bragged about me extensively when we first started and I'd shown nothing to back up her claims. They already chalked it up to sibling admiration and disregarded it. The Class A students were all firmly within Katsuragi's camp, Mashima selected them to keep Arisu's people away from me to stop me from being exposed.

Mashima wanted me to stay hidden for the sake of his class, he wanted Katsuragi to win this one.

Hoshinomiya selected Honami's closest friend and someone who was loyal to her, most likely a ploy to entice me to transfer.

I don't know much of anything about Class C or Sakagami so I didn't know why he put this group together. It would have been futile since Ryuen had complete control of Class C.

"Unless Ryuen-kun has some sort of information that secretly Ayanokouji-kun is some sort of hardworking overachiever, I don't know what there is to expose him of," Honami tried to joke.

"Of course his girlfriend would protect him." Manabe turned to Honami before smirking at her with a taunting grin.

"Ayanokouji-kun gets put on the Student Council as Vice President. All this while seemingly a Class D loser. Nobody finds that strange?"

"Obviously it's because of his father," Machida countered with a frown. "Everybody knows that Sakayanagi and Ayanokouji are the chairman's children. Nepotism is a fact of life."

"So why not Sakayanagi-san then? Why choose the unremarkable when you could have a genius?"

"Because he's the son. Whether we like it or not, Japan is a patriarchal society." Machida dismissed in exasperation.

"So BUDDY just appeared out of nowhere? We checked with other senpai's. Not one of them even heard that it was in the works, isn't that odd? You don't think that if something groundbreaking like that was coming that the Council wouldn't at least tease it over the last year?"

"What do you think, this idiot had something to do with that?" Yamauchi finally couldn't hold it in anymore.

Manabe snorted, rolling her eyes at Yamauchi. She looked rather disgusted by him, leaning back in her chair as though to distance herself as much as possible without moving.

"Yeah, I know exactly what you think about him. It doesn't surprise me that you can't see it, you disgust me. Filthy pervert. You're an idiot."

Yamauchi went back to being quiet but Manabe smelt blood. It must have been cathartic for her, having to lie about being attracted to him on Ryuen's orders. I don't know just how far she had to go to extract things from him but now that he'd drawn attention to himself, manabe twisted the knife.

"You actually thought we'd bring you to Class C? What a joke. You're pathetic. It wasn't even that hard to trick you, you're delusional. As if I'd ever dirty myself dating you, did you actually think I'd kiss you when you gave me the card?" Manabe taunted him.

None of them even paid any attention to her taunts at Yamauchi.

"While I don't believe that Ayanokouji-dono is stupid, coding is incredibly difficult." Sotomura chimed in, adjusting his glasses. "I'm quite knowledgeable on tech, coding something like that for a student would be impossible."

"He's scored like fifty in every single test, there's no way," Karuizawa said to herself quietly.

"He scored zero on the pop quiz at the beginning of the year, he's notoriously aloof," Machida also added. "Something like that would take a huge amount of time. It's unreasonable to believe that a student would be able to code something like that, let alone Ayanokouji."

Class B said nothing the entire time, all of them sitting in complete silence and watching it unfold. Honami was a stonewall of emotion, not giving anything away. She appeared to be deep in thought, considering everything that Manabe was saying. I could see the differences though, she was worried about me.

With that the meeting was over, an announcement cutting through the discussion and stopping us abruptly.

Manabe stood with the rest of Class C, Ibuki glaring at her furiously in anger.

"Ryuen-kun asked me to pass on a message to you, Ayanokouji-kun.

"If you insist on hiding in the shadows, I'll drag you kicking and screaming into the light." Manabe said, smiling confidently.

A/N: After this chapter I'm going to take a bit of a break from writing for a bit. There may be another chapter within the week or it may take a bit longer. I'll give an update on my wall if it's going to be longer than a week I've just been a little burnt out with work and writing atm.

Thank you to Inferno3054 once again for the help.

Chapter 32

Walking on the deck with Honami holding my hand would normally be a great thing that I'd thoroughly enjoy. Having her cling to my arm like a koala as we walk toward the meeting spot for Class D would be a sight I'd be proud of. Under normal circumstances, the glances and looks that I'm receiving would be ones of pure jealousy from boys. Girls would probably be looking at Honami in much the same way.

Instead the pair of us are being eyed curiously, no doubt what happened in the Rabbit group really was a strategy used by the rest of Class C. It was rather brilliant of Ryuen, I must say I'm quite impressed.

Ryuen has picked the perfect special test to trap me, I have no way out. It's another rather ingenious strategy of his. While everyone focuses their attention on me, he can work on trying to figure out the code on how the VIP is selected. Even if their focus isn't solely on me, it's enough of a distraction to prevent the classes from putting everything behind cracking the code.

It also works as an information gatherer for him, while everyone discusses different things they've noticed about me, the information gets filtered back to him. I can't leave the meetings or not attend, I also can't submit the names of the groups to prevent the rumors from spreading. If I do then the rumors get worse.

The first meeting was very bland and basic, it was purposeful that I was brought up specifically at the end of the meeting. It kept everything fresh in everyone's minds as they left, it also obscured just how much information Ryuen had. If this was everything, then it would be a pressure test to see whether or not I'd crack before he was forced to reveal another card.

I've made an error in my laziness, Eiichiro's fear of him was warranted. While I have nothing to be afraid of, for someone like Eiichiro it was understandable.

Still, Ryuen is not one to enjoy his machinations in obscurity. He enjoys torturing people and taunting them. It isn't enough to know, he has to see. He has to be a part of it, quite sadistic I must say.

"Kiyotaka, are you going to be okay?"

Honami was visibly incredibly worried. There wasn't anything to worry about and I wasn't concerned in the slightest. What was there to panic about? What does it change? If Ryuen really has information on me then giving him the satisfaction of a reaction does nothing.

I never had any illusions that my secret would last forever, I knew that more than likely my cover was going to be blown eventually. Particularly when I decided that I was going to start participating. If I compete, I win. It'll be difficult to stay hidden in the shadows, especially with what I was working with in Class D.

I just wanted one special test where I could pull the strings and try to stay obscure. It would seem that it wouldn't be possible but I wasn't disappointed. I had the chance to do it on the island but didn't, this is my karma. I've been given everything I could want since coming to this school so there really isn't any reason to be ungrateful.

"Of course I am, why wouldn't I be?" I asked.

"Aren't you worried?"

"If I say I am, will I get a kiss to calm me down?"

Honami smacked me on the arm, cheeks slightly pink as she pouted at my teasing.

"How can you joke about something like that at a time like this?" Honami asked as she chastised me.

"Who's joking?" I asked coyly.

"Be serious! When did you become such a pervert? You have bigger things to worry about than... practice."

I couldn't help but smile, at least my plan was working. I didn't want her to worry, there was no need. For one thing it wouldn't achieve anything and for another there was nothing to worry about. Everyday was another day that someone could accidentally or purposefully type my name into a search engine and the cat was out of the bag. Even if that did happen, so what?

If I worried about that all the time I'd be as bald as Katsuragi before we even got to the pop quiz.

"Would you relax already? Everything's fine. It's not like it's a secret that I'm the Vice President. They didn't even say anything of substance. I shouldn't be telling you this because you never tell me anything about class stuff, but it's a distraction to stop us from finding the VIP."

I let go of her hand and put my arm over her shoulders, rubbing her upper arm in as soothing a manner as I could as we came close to rounding the corner near the bow where Class D's meeting was taking place.

Honami stopped short, I wasn't sure what Class B was supposed to be doing but she wasn't about to intrude on our meeting. She moved out from under my arm and stood in front of me still fidgeting as I continued rubbing her upper arms in comfort now with both hands.

"What about what they said about your connections with BUDDY? Aren't you worried everyone will find out?"

"What connection to BUDDY?" I asked blinking owlishly.

Honami frowned at me briefly before looking down at her feet, wringing her hands. The tell tale sign that she was hiding something.

"I know you're behind that. You've spent a lot of points on meals for us, you never worry about points and Class D hasn't been getting any allowance. It doesn't matter to me but I'm worried about you."

Simply to placate her, I pulled my phone from my pocket before putting it in her hand. Honami looked at me questioningly as she glanced between the phone and I in confusion.

"Check my balance. If BUDDY was mine the private points should be going up right now, people are still at school." I said with a shrug.

"You're just going to give me your phone like that? What if I look at your email to see if you're the VIP?" Honami asked wearily.

"I trust you," I said simply, looking her directly in her eyes.

Honami stared back at me, studying my features carefully. We stood there for what felt like an eternity but it really was barely ten seconds. Without even looking at my phone, she placed it back in my hands while shaking her head.

"Please be careful. Ryuen... he's... Just please be careful," Honami said with concern.

I looked down at the phone in my hand and was thoroughly confused. I'm machiavellian by nature, winning at all costs is all that matters. Arisu is very much the same, there aren't many people who are like us who are able to prioritize winning over anything else. Relationships, feelings, people. Those things have to be set aside in order to achieve a goal.

There are very few things that I wouldn't do to achieve a goal and I was handing over a well of information to Honami that she just gave back to me without a care. Despite the fact that it was a ruse on my part, the BUDDY points weren't there after all, it was an offer that I would take advantage of in her position.

"I'm going now, you have a meeting to go to,"

Honami smiled before looking around to see if we were alone before placing a chaste kiss on my lips then wiping the gloss off with her thumb.

I heard a surprised eep from around the corner near a door. Looking in that direction I was surprised to see Hasebe hiding behind a cracked door, watching the interaction with her full attention. Honami blushed lightly and hurried off in what I imagined was the direction of Class B's meeting area.

Turning in the direction of the door, the peeping Hasebe was shamelessly standing as though she wasn't intruding on a private moment. It didn't bother me in the slightest that she was watching but Honami was surprisingly very shy about public displays of affection. She very rarely did anything like holding my hand when people were around, today was the first time and it was purely out of concern for me.

Hasebe really didn't talk to anyone aside from Miyake, I haven't spoken a word to her the entire time that I've been at this school. Which is why I was surprised at why she would wave enthusiastically when I was at the Ocean Cafe and couldn't help but wonder what the reasoning behind it was.

"You two are really bold," Hasebe suddenly blurted out bluntly. "You guys are kissing like that already?"

It was so blunt and upfront that I wasn't sure how I was supposed to react. Apparently it showed on my face because for a moment she looked a little panicked before her face went blank and disinterested.

"Isn't it normal? I'm a little new to all of this," I said after the shock wore off. "I'm not really sure, we just sort of go with the flow of things as it happens I guess."

"You're not shy or anything? You don't seem like the kind of guy who's perverted or anything like that but are you some kind of predator or something? Are you one of those guys who just pretends to be unassuming but you're secretly a beast who goes around corrup-"

"You really get straight to the point don't you?"

More Class D students were starting to make their way to the meeting area and one by one they all gave me curious glances before continuing on their way, not saying anything else. Hasebe motioned with her hand for us to go and I followed alongside her curiously.

"Sorry about that, I'm not very good at talking to people. That's why I only really talk to Miyacchi, he's the only one that I'm comfortable with. The thing is, you and Ichinose-san started dating and I'm really into all of that romance stuff. I got curious."

"So who did you put your bet on in the pool? I asked.

"Sakayanagi-san," Hasebe admitted with a nervous chuckle.

"I told you that was a stupid bet," Miyake said from behind us.

Miyake made his way over, almost everyone was here now. I wasn't too fond of Eiichiro's choice of meeting area, almost anyone could overhear what we were saying so it wasn't very discrete. Still, he was taking this seriously and he must have had some kind of an idea as to what he was doing if he chose such a public place.

Normally, the three of us never talk. I wasn't sure if these two were dating or something, they were always together and rarely spoke to anyone else. It was a little unsettling, especially considering the current circumstances. I wasn't too sure now if the looks were because of the odd group or because of the meetings.

Still, these two seemed to be alright and I had to start broadening my circle. I need to socialize more. I'm used to a certain type of person, the snooty upper-class type who seem to have a chip on their shoulder. I came here to be normal, these two seemed to fit that category.

"It wasn't a stupid bet! Look at those two! He wouldn't leave her alone, he was carrying her around everywhere. He was so sad when she came into the class and she started crying too! I'm telling you, it wasn't a bad bet!"

"They're siblings!"

"If she's not blood related, she's free to be dated," Hasebe said sagely, with a condescending finger wagging in his direction like she were a teacher. "Besides, he and Ichinose are just so... different."

"You know, I'm standing right here."

"Opposites attract," Miyake shrugged.

"Yes, but they're like the definition of opposites. He's so lazy I'm sure he wouldn't breathe if he didn't have to and she's so gung-ho! They're like... crazy opposites."

"I'd rather ask Ayanokouji what he did to get on Ryuen's radar. The last half of our meeting was all about you, everyone was talking about it after the meeting the whole way here. Is BUDDY really yours? Did you make it?"

"What do you think? You really think I'm capable of something like that?" I deflected with a roll of my eyes.

"Well, they were all talking about you and Sakayangi. I think the Class D students were the only ones who didn't find anything suspicious about you. Hashimoto was really vocal about how you're probably the most talented student in the school."

"Kamuro was the same in mine," Hasebe frowned. "Yamamura was too, even the Class B students couldn't really say anything. They just stayed quiet and listened for the most part."

Great, Arisu's minions were making things worse for me. I was wondering what was taking Eiichiro so long, the Dragon Groups students still weren't back yet and everyone was starting to get a little restless with the wait, some of them were already talking about just leaving. As the time continued to tick by, eventually they abandoned their gossiping about their groups and I was being eyed even more suspiciously.

Eventually the bow was now beginning to quiet and everyone was standing around awkwardly.

"Well, I suppose he got what he wanted. As far as I can see, everyone in Class A, B and D are too busy talking about me and not focusing on finding the VIP. At this rate, we're all going to lose yet again," I pointed out loudly.

"Is it true?" Shinohara asked me directly.

Shinohara finally gave voice to what everyone wanted to ask. I stood there as suddenly all eyes were on me, curiously there were a few Class A and B students who were curiously floating about, most likely trying to eavesdrop on the conversation.

This was a terrible spot to choose for a meeting. I'd hoped that Eiichiro was planning to move us and just chose this as a rendezvous. Still, there was no way of knowing that this would be the topic of conversation.

Perhaps this really is the end of my peaceful life of obscurity, it was fun while it lasted.

"What do you mean?"

Shinohara asking the question and breaking the silence seemed to give courage to Yukimura who looked like he wanted to ask the same. The winds seemed to change along with the topic as the air cooled and washed over me like an icy embrace, a physical manifestation of what I was feeling.

"Have you been holding back? Are you really behind BUDDY? Have you just been pretending to be an idiot this whole time?" Yukimura asked angrily.

"Leave him alone!" Matsushita suddenly exclaimed, moving between me and the others. "Don't you see what they're doing? Class C is distracting us from finding the VIP with this. We should be working together for once! Aren't you all tired of having no points every month?"

At the sight of the normally quiet Matsushita suddenly defending me, the girls started to move away. Yukimura on the other hand wasn't having it and stepped forward angrily.

"If he's been holding back on us then he's part of the reason why we have no points."

"I said it in our meeting before. While I do not believe that Ayanokouji-dono is stupid, coding something like that is beyond the capabilities of a regular student. He'd have to be exceptionally gifted for something like that. It's quite a reach." Sotomura chimed in.

"Exactly why I'm asking, have you been holding out on us?" Yukimura asked again, getting closer.

Matsushita was still protectively standing in front of me but I opened my mouth to speak before closing it again. Everyone was waiting impatiently for me to speak. I had everyone's full attention as they all leaned forward to hear how I was going to answer.

"Valid questions, wouldn't you say Ayanokouji?"

Class D was splitting the circle around me as Ryuen followed by Class C made his way toward me. On instinct, I moved in front of Matsushita to meet him only for Miyake to step next to me. Once we were face to face, Eiichiro, closely followed by Horikita, Hirata and Kushida all rushed towards us.

Ryuen laughed loudly at the display, moving his hair out of his face before a taunting grin spread across his face. They must have been talking to Ryuen on the way to the meeting and followed behind him on his way to find me.

As Ryuen was approaching, Class A and B members were standing at the railing on the top floor overlooking the bow of the ship. I could feel the stares just like the approaching mid day sun glaring down at us. The stares were almost as hot as the rays that were showering us, truly I'd been dragged from the shadows.

"Your classmates asked you a question." Ryuen said.

"You know, for someone who doesn't go looking for people, you seem to be trying to find me a lot."

"Well, you're right in that respect. I don't like looking for people, they come to me. But when you have a rat hiding in plain sight that refuses to be exterminated, sometimes you have to go hunting."

By now it wasn't just Class D and C at the bow, the top railing of the deck above us was filled with students, it looked as though the entire first year had heard about what was going on and had come to see the show. I couldn't tell who was or wasn't there, it just felt as though it were everyone.

"So you decided to point out information that everyone already knew and then a conspiracy theory. I couldn't have thought of that, you're really smart. Everyone's focusing on me and now I won't be able to see if someone slips up and reveals that they're the VIP." I sighed in resignation.

"Still acting the part, are you?" Ryuen said smoothly.

He may be a tyrant and he carried himself like someone who was from the streets but if that was the case he really was impressive. For someone with his background, he was articulate. He wasn't some uneducated thug from the streets who was short sighted, he was cunning. Ryuen just suffered from the same problem that everyone with an ego had, he thought he was above everyone else and invincible.

"I don't exactly know what you mean, I was just adopted into an influential family and I was taught how to capitalize on it. I don't exactly know what you're trying to expose about me, I'm nothing special."

"Is that right?" Ryuen asked tauntingly.

He started walking around me, circling. His voice went from quiet conversation to loud and booming. As though the conversation wasn't one to just be kept between us, but as though he were addressing the crowd that had formed to see what was happening; just like a dictator who caught an insurgent.

"If that were the case, why would the Chairman adopt you specifically? Why is it that while the rest of Class D are toiling about and struggling for points, you seem to be able to do as you please? Why does President Horikita bend over backwards to give you everything you want? Ichinose Honami as your secretary, looking the other way when you're derelict in your duties.

"Why is it that no matter how many times I smack him around, he always seems to get back up again?" Ryuen asked, pointing at Eiichiro directly. "Why is it that both on the beach and in the camp, when everything's falling apart around him, he looks at you? Like you're supposed to save him."

"He's my best friend, isn't it normal to look for support from the ones you hold dearest?" I asked rhetorically.

"If what I know to be true is correct, you really are a cruel and selfish bastard. You'll allow him to fail, you'll allow him to be ridiculed. You'll allow everyone in Class D to be laughed at as bottom feeders, all so that you can hide in the shadows like the coward you are.

"Why do the teachers seem so afraid of you? Why does Sakagami continually warn me not to provoke you? So many questions that all of us here would like the answers to. Why, why, why."

It was difficult to hold the attention of so many people at once, Ryuen had everyone spellbound. Taking stock of the people at the railing, I could see that the teachers were there as well. Honami had pushed her way to the front and I could see that while she was worried, now she was asking herself the same questions.

I could almost see the questions going through her mind, written all over her face. She was questioning herself, how well did she really know me?

"If you insist on hiding in the shadows, I'll drag you kicking and screaming into the light. How long are you going to keep up the act, Ayanokouji? What else do I have to do to you before you finally reveal yourself?"

"It's obvious that constantly battering on your best friend isn't working, so what do I do next?" Ryuen asked as he slithered to my side and put his arm over my shoulders.

He followed my line of sight and saw me looking at Honami, he was no longer talking to the crowd. It was now a conversation between him and I.

"She's no longer representative of Class B, I've destroyed them. Kanzaki is broken, should I break her next? Do I have to reduce her to tears? Do I have to start taking apart Class B, one by one? When she's crying in anguish as she watches her class expelled one by one, will you step in to stop it?"

"I'm not what you think I am, Ryuen. If you're capable of doing that, then there's nothing I can do to stop it." I lied carefully.

Everyone was straining to hear what we were talking about, only Matsushita and Miyake were close enough to be able to hear. I could feel Matsushita's breath catch in her throat, I could see Miyake ready to step in. Eiichiro was about to step forward in anger to put a stop to all of this but I gave him the slightest shake of my head, telling him to leave this to me.

Ryuen was right, I'd done enough to him. I've put him through enough since we came here and his lack of development was my fault. Ryuen was out of his league right now, it would be cruel to make him fight this battle for me.

Koenji was outside of the circle, leaning against the railing of the bow. While he looked relaxed, I could see the muscles of his shirtless torso start to tense. As though he were ready and willing to jump in if this would turn physical. He very carefully and slowly made his way towards us, inching closer in a non-threatening manner in preparation.

"No... that wouldn't be enough. If you're willing to let your childhood friend suffer for your peaceful oblivious existence then you wouldn't rise to the challenge to protect a girl that you've only been dating for a couple of weeks. Perhaps something more. Perhaps, someone more important."

I could feel my heart constrict. Like an icy hand that gripped at the muscle, squeezing it to the point that it was going to burst as I realized where this conversation was going. Not by my own doing, I could feel my breathing start to labor, my pulse begin to rise. My blood was pumping at such a rate that I could feel it pressing against my skin, a balloon that was threatening to burst.

The image of a frail white haired girl who looked up to me like I was divine crossed my mind. As though Ryuen could see into my thoughts, he spoke my fear into existence.

"What about that frail little sister of yours, Ayanokouji? Is that what it will take? Do I have to break Sakayanagi Arisu?"

I could feel it now, anger. My blood that I could feel rushing through my veins had now turned hot. It was as though the icy hand that was clutching at my chest had melted now as the fire in my veins was coursing through every part of my body. I could turn right now, he was right next to me with his arm around my shoulder.

All it would take was a turn, I could reach out and wrap my hand around his throat and crush his windpipe. I could do it.

"Maybe if your dear little sister accidentally took a tumble down the stairs at school, you would act. What do you think, Vice President Ayanokouji? What will make you reveal yourself? Do I have to break her mind, or her body?"

I've felt almost every emotion since I've left that place. Happiness, sadness, anger, love. I thought I'd felt every emotion that a human could feel. Right now, in this moment, I realized how sheltered my life was. I've never been pushed to rage. I've never felt so angry that I couldn't breathe, I've never felt like ripping a person to shreds, piece by piece.

That wasn't enough for Ryuen, death would be a mercy for him. It was too quick, it would give him salvation and I wanted him to suffer.

As my breath became labored and my hands clenched to fists until my knuckles lost color, my vision started to blur. It was as though the fabric of reality was tearing itself apart and I was being forcibly removed from the world.

I've heard of people who have flown into a rage, they all say that when it happened to them that they saw red. That they saw red and they just snapped and before they knew it they had done the unthinkable.

My blurry vision was getting worse. As though everything in front of me was a canvas, a picture that covered reality. Then just like that, the canvas was being pulled at both sides, the center started to tear little by little.

The canvas was stretching and contorting. Eventually, the halves tore to reveal what it was hiding as I looked at everyone that was watching me as though this were a performance for their perusal.

As I looked at everything around me, the rage suddenly just stopped. I felt nothing as my face relaxed and turned apathetic. My eyes went dull and lifeless as though I wasn't focusing on anything, seeing through everything.

Looking at everything in front of me, there was no ocean. There was no ship. I could see the people but they were almost unidentifiable, they were insignificant.

There was no color. Everything was white.

A/N: A couple of days ago, Motivated reached 100k reads. I'll admit that I was refreshing constantly watching as it hit 99.6 all the way to 100k just so that I could get a screenshot to commemorate.

Thank you to everyone who has taken the time to read this. From the people who just clicked on the prologue, to the people who read the story then dropped it because it wasn't for them. To the readers who continue to read and enjoy in silence and those that take the time and effort to vote and comment.

This really isn't my achievement, it's everyone who contributes to it with enjoying the story. If not for the interest, I probably wouldn't have continued to the extent that I have.

Hopefully this chapter will be something you all enjoy ;)

Chapter 33

"I lost... again."

From the day I arrived at this house, this girl never gave up on me. She taught me how to smile, how to laugh. Taught me how to be around people without being uncomfortable. She never left my side, her pain was hurting me and I didn't want to see it anymore. The ache in my chest was another new feeling, I don't like it.

"One day when we get older you'll leave me," Arisu said quietly after she gave up.

Arisu reluctantly started to put away the chess pieces as the game concluded. I hated doing this to her, I don't want her to measure her success based on me. The more I beat her the more I hated it. The more the losses piled up, the more that Arisu would look dejected. The more she looked at herself as though she were a failure.

"You're silly."

"It's true, I slow you down. One day you'll find someone you love, you'll find friends like Eiichiro and Tsubasa. Then you'll realize that I'm just a waste of your energy."

The moment the last piece was put away, Arisu put the board on her lap and rolled her wheelchair to the shelf on the other side of the library. She placed the board there carefully before turning around in her chair, intent on leaving.

Before she could get too far I stopped the wheel with my foot. I placed both of my hands under her armpits before lifting her out and carrying her on my hip like she was a toddler. She gasped in surprise as I walked us away from the chair, hitting me on the chest and arm.

"Kiyotaka! You will put me down this instant!"

"No,"

"What on earth are you doing? Put me back!"

"No, I won't. Now we're both going the same speed, are we not?" I asked while looking at her.

I didn't understand what the issue was, she said I would leave her because she would slow me down. Wasn't this the optimal solution?

At my misunderstanding, her eyes softened and she laughed with exasperation.

"Very well then, Kiyotaka. At least put me on your back, it will be more comfortable that way."

With a nod, I lowered her back to the ground and continued to balance her. Carefully, I squatted down in front of her before picking her up securely behind the knees. She wrapped her frail arms around my shoulders as I lifted her. Her chin rested on my shoulder with her cheek pressed against mine as I made to exit the manor.

The moment we stepped down the stone steps and made our way down the cobblestone path in the garden, the blaring hot sun scorched at my skin. Sweat began to drip and I felt alive. Hot, Cold. Sun. Color. I was truly blessed for these small luxuries, with the greatest gift I could ever ask for firmly clutching her arms around my neck with her body pressed against my back.

"It baffles me that you can be such a genius and yet you misunderstand nuanced idiosyncrasies. I meant that I will slow you down in life, not in walking pace," Arisu chuckled bitterly.

"There's nothing wrong with going a little slowly, it allows you to enjoy life. A lazy pace is best, otherwise you miss the small things in life."

Arisu hummed in thought at what I said. Spring was here and the flowers were in full bloom as we exited the wrought iron gate and made our way to the surrounding woods. I wanted us out of that manor, out of that stuffy library. The further away from that chessboard the better, I wanted Arisu to experience what it meant to be free.

"I suppose you're right. Time will tell whether we stay together or drift apart."

"Why are you so intent on your belief that I will leave you? I don't want to go anywhere if you're not there with me."

She didn't answer for a while, continuing to muse over what I had said.

"It's a difficult thing, Kiyotaka. I'm a genius who has never tasted defeat, I've always known the answers. To lose to you over and over... it's disheartening. I want to prove that I deserve to be beside you, I don't want to be the one to drag you down."

I saw on the internet that it was a normal interaction between siblings to flick the other when they were being silly. Thinking I'd try it, I flicked the tip of her nose. She yelped and smacked me, perhaps I did it wrong?

"You're being silly. You'll never drag me down, I'll just get stronger to bring you with me." I told her

Arisu removed her cheek from mine and looked at me in curious surprise. I continued to walk, I wasn't sure what I said to warrant such a reaction but I continued unperturbed.

"You mean that? You promise? What if someone uses me to hurt you?"

"Then I'll kill them," I said as though it were the most obvious thing in the world.

I was smacked once again, why was being a big brother so difficult? I thought she would be touched by my answer.

"Don't be stupid! They'll take you away from me! Besides, there are worse fates than death."

"Well, I guess I could take them to that place. Hopefully it'll still be there if it ever happens."

"I'm going to smack you again. For someone so smart you're being an idiot."

"What should I do then?" I asked in confusion.

For someone who was so inexperienced in what it meant to be a free boy, it was new to learn lessons like this. Arisu was a genius, she was also more experienced in this new world that I now called home.

One that was filled with color, filled with the smell of flowers and the feeling of the sun on your skin. I liked this place, if listening to Arisu meant that I could stay in it forever then I would dedicate myself to learning all about it from this well of wisdom.

"Winning is everything, Kiyotaka. Always remember that. Nothing is off limits, the strong survive and the weak are eaten in this world. Death is a mercy, it frees them from suffering. The only way to truly get revenge is to crush their soul. Once the spirit is broken, they will never raise a hand to you or I ever again."

That was logical, if someone was defeated so soundly that they lost hope, there was no way they would try to provoke you again.

Realizing this, I found that I had been making a horrible miscalculation. I was making a mistake in my newfound environment unknowingly. Beating Arisu in chess like that... I was crushing her soul. No wonder she was starting to talk about me leaving her, I was making her think I didn't need her.

"Remember this, Kiyotaka. If anyone hurts or threatens us, you must crush them without mercy. If you let people push you around or threaten the ones you love, the only way to stop them is to destroy them so that they never think to come after you again. No matter the cost."

I gave a slow nod in understanding. No one will ever threaten my Arisu, if they did I would crush them without remorse. There was no one in the world that would ever matter more to me than my Arisu. Even if I had to destroy father, I'd just kill that part of my heart until the job was done.

"Alright, I promise. No matter the consequences, if anyone ever threatens you I'll destroy them. Even if it's father."

Arisu snorted dismissively at the pledge. When I made no effort to reiterate, she looked at me and realized that I was dead serious. Her eyes started to water and I could see she was touched. She knew that I really meant it.

"You really do mean that, don't you?"

"Of course. I love you, you said that if someone threatens the ones you love then you need to destroy them. Did I misunderstand?"

Arisu smiled widely before tightening her hold around my neck and hugging me close. She turned her face and planted her soft lips to my cheek with a kiss and her own cheeks were pink with embarrassment.

"No, you didn't misunderstand. I love you too, Onii-chan."

Despite the picturesque setting around us, the thoughts of someone trying to tear me apart from my beloved sister was plaguing my thoughts.

I couldn't shake the feeling of unease. Irrespective, a scenario where someone would go so far to try to hurt or threaten my Arisu seemed far-fetched.

"You don't really think someone is going to try and hurt you though, do you? Why would anyone want to threaten you to get to me?"

I was so naive to the world, I didn't understand the complexities of power. The dynamics of people wanting to extort or manipulate you. To want to use your abilities for nefarious means. Since I didn't understand, I relied on my Arisu. My encyclopedia to life.

"Who knows," Arisu mused as she stared at the trees around us while I continued to walk.

Who knows? I like that. Perhaps I'll use that myself at some point...

"-ji-kun? Ayanokouji-kun?"

How long had I been silent? How long was I lost in the abyss of white?

Never before had I experienced this while being around so many people, usually I was alone or when there was only one. They're all outlined, black outlines filled with white. The abyss is endless, it stretches for what seems like an eternity. Like an ethereal plane that stretches into nothingness.

The faces fade as they're not in focus. The only one I see right now is Matsushita who is right in front of me. Looking up at me with the deepest levels of concern and I see the recognition in her eyes. The arm draped across my shoulders is weightless, I didn't feel a thing as I stepped out from under Ryuen but before I could get far his grip tightened as he attempted to hold me there.

"And where, Ayanokouji Kiyotaka, do you think you're going?"

"Get off him!" Matsushita said as she tried to pull me away from him by my hand.

Ryuen ignored her as she tried in vain to pull me by my hand out from under Ryuen. The effort was neither appreciated nor unwelcome. Under normal circumstances, I'd be really proud. My spineless friend who had constantly towed the party line and shied away from confrontations was standing up to a dragon. Instead, I felt nothing.

I turned my face towards Ryuen and looked up at him with the lifeless pools that were my eyes, refusing to tilt my chin upward. I could see the recognition across his features. The feral grin had returned as he had realized that he had done it; he had revealed me for what I truly am.

If Ryuen was a dragon, then I am a demon. A demon doesn't raise its head to look up to anyone.

There was only one thing on my mind; only one goal. I wanted carnage. I wanted armageddon. I wanted to annihilate Class C. To put this false dragon back into his cave and remind him of his place. I want him chained with the burden of despair that his curiosity spelled the doom of his class.

As my cold lifeless orbs met his own, he relaxed and removed his arm from my shoulder.

"So you're finally serious. Good. I'm going to enjoy this,"

"We'll see if you feel the same way by the end of the day," I replied.

The upper deck was too far away to see anything clearly, it appeared to them that the show was over. The crowd began to disperse and I watched as the upper decks cleared while Class C and D continued to surround us, wondering what was happening.

As I walked towards Eiichiro, Kushida, Hirata and Horikita they eyed me with caution while Ryuen called loudly to Class C that they were leaving.

Eiichiro looked at me sadly, regret and frustration with himself written all over his face. Horikita and Hirata both looked confused but Kushida's angelically smiling face was beaming with so much happiness that it made the air thick. Her eyes widened in recognition as her twinkling orbs met with my own.

"This test will end before the next meeting, I'll send the names of all the VIP's to you by then."

"You know who all the VIP's are?" Eiichiro asked me, stunned.

The other three all looked equally as shocked as I walked past them to head to the top deck.

The trip was uneventful and quiet, most were giving me a wide berth. To the uninitiated I looked reasonably normal, bored and apathetic are fairly similar and only the people I was closest to would notice the difference. I must have given off an intimidating aura as everyone cleared from my path, no one staying close.

I analyzed my surroundings with mild interest.

Lee Atwater once said perception is reality. As I roam the cruise ship, intent on my destination, the walls and halls all look like that place. If perception truly is reality, am I even really on a cruise ship?

I've never spoken of that place, never explained what it's like. Even in my therapy sessions, I've never described what it was like to grow up in that hellish white prison.

The walls were polyurethane, if you were to run your hand across it there isn't even a grain. It's just smooth. The lighting isn't even on the roof, it's all around. It lines the walls with long LED strips so that there isn't even a shadow.

There wasn't even a seam on one side of my room where the one way glass showed me inside my habitat. A zoo animal that was only there to be studied and observed. There was no need for a sheet on my bed, the room was temperature controlled so that I couldn't even feel the basic sensations of hot or cold.

Even my clothes were a complex weave of what felt like the smoothest plastic. If I wanted to generate a sensation, rubbing it against my skin would have done nothing. Everything was tailored to make it so that I couldn't even feel the most basic sense of hot or cold.

My food was white, my furniture was white. I was surrounded by it no matter where I looked or turned.

It's all I've ever known but I can keenly remember the sensations, the hallucinations. When you're deprived of everything, your mind starts to attempt to compensate. When yearning for a feeling, your heartbeat becomes maddening. All because it's the only sensation you have.

In order to keep myself from going insane, I locked everything away. Desires, personality. Everything.

Personality breeds hallucinations. Desires give hope. The studies and materials I was given, the tasks; I did all of them to the best of my ability as quickly as possible. All because it would give birth to desires and personality; fun and boredom. The sooner the tasks and requirements were over with, the sooner I could go back to locking everything away so that once again I was an empty shell.

Once leaving that place, I heard rumors of what some of the former victims of the White Room Facility had suffered before they perished. I heard gruesome tales as the people around me would talk about some of the reports they had found inside during the raid.

I was a part of the fourth generation, everyone else was exactly the same age. When a child was brought in from those Human Trafficking rings that Professor Ayanokouji had solicited, they were put into a generation based on their age.

When I was first put into the White Room, there were forty others that were my age according to the reports. I wouldn't know, I could count on one hand the times that I'd seen any other White Room captors.

I heard stories of how some children would rub their skin raw in order to feel something. One had even clawed out their own eyes in madness, another had gone so mad with the hallucinations that they went completely insane.

I was the only survivor of the fourth generation. I was the only one who had figured out the only way to survive was to discard your own humanity.

Right now I resembled a husk. A lifeless shell that ambles onward like something artificial. It's unnatural and they could feel it.

My ascent up the stairwell to the top deck was robotic. I didn't even give a cursory glance to the other students who were doing their best to hug the wall of white on the opposite railing as inconspicuous as possible, they were unrecognizable. It's as though I've had a psychotic break and my mind is in shards. I couldn't even recognize the intricate woodwork of the decadent luxury around me.

I didn't even give it a second thought as I continued my crusade towards my destination and as I reached the precipass I was greeted by Chabashira-sensei.

Though the faces around me were unrecognizable, she is. It's because she was the one I was seeking out to request what I'm looking for. When she saw me her eyes softened in recognition and I could feel the sympathy that should have washed over me in comfort. Instead I felt nothing.

"What happened down there Ayanokouji?" Chabashira asked in concern.

"It doesn't matter, I'm here to request your assistance." I said.

Chabashira stared into my eyes as I looked back at her unblinking and unfocused. It was starting to unnerve her as memories seemed to cross her mind of what I looked like on the news.

"Something happened to you, Ayanokouji. Those eyes... They're not the eyes of a child. Your voice... it's like you have no soul," Chabashira breathed sympathetically.

"You once told me that you'd sell your soul to reach Class A. The question is, Chabashira-sensei, would you sell mine?"

"What does that even mean?"

It wasn't a question I was expecting an answer for right now. Just food for thought for her to think about the next time she asked me to take control of the class, so she could see what it would do to me.

"I would like to buy access to the private pool area for the next two hours and I'd also like to purchase an announcement on the ship's PA system. How many points would it cost me?"

Chabashira-sensei was growing uncomfortable and I could see it, plain as day. I could see the internal battle unfolding on her face. It was clear that I was having a form of breakdown, one that she couldn't understand.

The internal battle was a moral dilemma for her. Do I report this and stop him for his own safety? Or, do I leave this to unfold because it's the best chance in this special test? Do I put my own selfish desires above the health and well-being of one of my students?

Chabashira gave a resigned sigh, her desires for reaching Class A were just too great. Instead she looked ashamed of herself, no longer able to look at me. With her shoulders sagging, she reluctantly continued to speak.

"The Private Pool on the first floor is taken by Class A at the moment. I will make a booking for you in the Private Pool on the third floor. Everything on the ship is free, you won't have to pay. What announcement do you want me to make?"

I should have known that this would be the case. No matter how fond of me she had grown, the human heart was a selfish one. I would know, I am the same.

"I want all Class D students to be at the Private Pool in fifteen minutes."

Chabashira looked confused as she continued tapping on the screen of her phone as she finalized the booking for me.

"You couldn't just use the Class' group chat for that?"

"If I did that there's a possibility they'll refuse or simply not come. Also, I want every student in the first year to know exactly what time and where they are meeting."

"Why would you want that?"

"So that they know exactly where they are when Class D submits every VIP for every class."

Chabashira's fingers stopped dancing on the screen of her phone in disbelief as I turned to walk away towards my new destination. This meeting bore more fruit than I anticipated, thanks to her, I now knew exactly where I needed to go instead of having to search about the ship.

The shock was evident on her face before I even turned as I saw her jaw drop and she looked at me in awe. It shouldn't have been surprising for her, she knows what I am. Despite this, it still astonished her and the shake in her voice was palpable.

"You already figured it out?"

"I figured it out before the test had even begun." I told her as I left.

There was one person I wanted to find specifically but I had no idea where to look. I've noticed and mentioned a few times that there was always one person that Ryuen always seemed to keep hidden from me.

On the beach when I was scanning the occupants for Honami, when my gaze turned to a certain direction he flinched ever so slightly. After the island examination ended, there were only thirty nine students there. One of them was missing, I imagine that they were already on the ship and had retired to report if one of us did so as well. A way to signal to Ryuen that we had changed leaders.

Then with the confrontation on the bow, one person was missing yet again. Ryuen was suspicious of me, he knew that he was going to threaten Arisu before he even arrived. He was foolish to think that I wouldn't notice, although it is understandable.

There were so many people there that it would be easy to miss that one person in particular was missing. It was only because I noted that this person was gone when the island exam ended that I took note of it. As I made my way through the buffet area, I scanned through my phone to see if I could identify who this missing person was.

As I scrolled through the profiles of Class C on the OAA app, I noticed the person who I was now positive was the VIP for the Rabbit Group, Ibuki Mio. She constantly had her eyes averted, never addressing or contributing to the group primarily. She seemed as though she didn't want to give anything away.

Ibuki also seemed to be very much against Ryuen's plan. It may be the case that she just didn't like him or thought that his plan was either stupid or reckless but that was something that I didn't have time to confirm.

Her biggest tell was that while everyone was apprehensive about whether or not we would be able to achieve Outcome #1, she was the only one who continually questioned whether or not we would be able to trust each other.

Perhaps she wanted the additional private points, I didn't have time to confirm. Rather than wait for the meetings to continue, I decided to go about confirming my suspicions in a different way and now I had the key thanks to Chabashira-sensei.

People were still continuing to eye me cautiously as I passed them, it didn't matter to me. There's a goal to be made and right now I would step on any of them to make sure that they wouldn't stand in my way. The goal; the annihilation of Class C.

The moment I entered the private pool, Class A's heads turned collectively. Outside of Class D, they're the ones that I've spent the most time with as a group. While normally my reception by them was relatively warm, at this time they were reluctant. It had nothing to do with my demeanor, merely a byproduct of the fact that we were competing against each other in a special test.

Katsuragi looked intrigued with me the moment his eyes were on me. To him I was a mystery, one that he thought he had already figured out only to find out that his suspicions were incorrect. That there was far more to me than what appeared on the surface. While before I was obscure in the shadows, I had been pulled into the light only to be forced into the white abyss.

I'm a demon, stalking forward in a room filled with prey and yet they were all none the wiser.

"Ayanokouji," Katsuragi greeted with a nod.

"Katsuragi," I replied.

My demeanor and expression sunk in and he was caught off guard. His face hardened as Totsuka and Machida both moved next to him. Machida was incredibly confused, we just had a meeting together not long before and yet my personality changed from black to white.

"So the rumors are true," Katsuragi frowned. "I had my suspicions of you but disregarded them already. Sakayanagi was very adamant that it was all an act but I chalked it up to sibling admiration."

"I suppose you're entitled to think that way. It's not really an act, I merely subverted expectations. Nothing more."

"So why are you here? I'm guessing that now that Ryuen has revealed your secret that you've decided to take the lead of Class D, are you here to negotiate for an alliance?"

"Revealed my secret? Lead Class D? You seem to misunderstand my intentions, Ryuen has revealed nothing. He's simply peddled a conspiracy theory that I own BUDDY and asked a few questions. The only thing that he's done is made me decide to reveal myself.

"Ryuen threatened Arisu. Now, I'm taking everyone. Class A, Class B, Class C. All of you. I'm just here to let you know who you have to thank for this massacre." I said simply.

"No matter how intelligent you may think you are, we will not be defeated so easily." Katsuragi said.

He glared at me angrily, he still had his pride. Katsuragi said so himself, the only one he looked to as a threat was Ryuen. All of that would change with three names.

"Kamuro Masumi." Holding up one finger.

"Rokkako Momoe." Holding up a second.

"Yoshida Kenta." Then a third.

Katsuragi's face went pale, the rest of Class A were in stunned silence. It wasn't until Machida finally broke the silence that the private pool area started to devolve.

"How!?"

"Impossible..."

"Sakayanagi gave him the names, you traitor," Totsuka spat shoving Hashimoto.

"Hypocrite, you sold us out on the island!" Yamamura yelled back at him as Hashimoto shoved him back.

I knew I had them all, emailing Eiichiro the table with all of the VIP's highlighted while the chaos ensued around me. I watched as Class A devolved into a parody of what I saw with Class D. I took no joy in it, there was no ego at all. I simply stood there watching as Katsuragi tried to get them under control in vain.

With all of Class D in the one place at the private pool and Eiichiro seeing his own name on my cracked code of all of the VIP's, it wouldn't be long before a chorus of all the available VIP's being submitted would be ringing through everyone's phones.

"STOP THIS! STOP IT! NOW!" Katsuragi thundered as one by one Class A started to calm down, remembering that I was in the room.

As the room started to calm, I made my exit. I'd barely made it to the door before Katsuragi firmly grabbed me by the shoulder to stop me from leaving. I made no flinch in surprise, not even a motion to turn. Instead, I allowed him to halt me without another move. I waited patiently with my back turned while Katsuragi spoke to me.

"Let's make a deal,"

"Deal? What deal is there to be made?" I asked.

"If you have all the names for all other classes then you still have three of your own that you can't submit yourself. I want to make you an offer for your names." Katsuragi replied desperately.

"If you give us the names for Class D's VIP's, we'll give you all of the private points for the submissions. One point five million, we'll send it to you the moment the payments are made."

"Why would I want that?" I asked.

My back was still turned to them as I looked over my shoulder at Hashimoto who was now staring at me in awe. No doubt he already believed everything that Arisu had told him, he had to have. I already heard from Miyake that Hashimoto was parroting Arisu's bragging of me in his group, Kamuro and Yamamura had done the same in Hasebe's.

Now that everything that Arisu had bragged about me was out in the open, I could make do on one of my promises. One that I made on the island to someone while being insulted. It wouldn't be as sweet as if I wasn't basking in an ocean of white, I couldn't feel anything to enjoy it. This was as good an opportunity as ever though, it would be ever more sinister while my face and eyes were dead.

Turning back to them, I walked towards Totsuka Yahiko. My eyes traveled from Hashimoto to Kamuro to Yamamura as I spoke to the gathered Class A.

"I told you all that I want armageddon. I want Ryuen to suffer, I want him to writhe in despair. I want Class C in ruins. Class Points? Private Points? They're all meaningless to me. He threatened my sister, my sister .

"There is no one. Nothing. Nothing that means more to me. All I wanted since coming to this school was to know what it was like to be normal. I just wanted to be left alone."

As I finally came to a stop in front of Totsuka Yahiko, he saw up close exactly what I looked like. While the others around him simply faded into being unrecognizable, the black and white face of Totsuka Yahiko was all I could see.

As he stared into my lifeless eyes, I could see him start to sweat and panic. Carrying Arisu back and forth on the island was a physical feat, since coming back to the ship I've increased my regime. Eating a proper diet, I'd never been in a higher peak physical condition. I've never been more imposing in my life, least not while everything was bathed in a sea of white.

It didn't matter if he was pale because it was reality or because of what my neurons were telling my eyes to see. Perception is reality and as far as I could tell, Totsuka Yahiko looked like a ghost.

"Do you remember when I brought Arisu to the cave? Do you remember what I told you?"

Totsuka seemingly swallowed the lump in his throat before giving me a slow nod, no doubt more intimidated than he'd ever been in his life. I wanted to enjoy this, I wanted to be happy that I was finally making good on my promise to myself to get even with this cretin for laughing at my Arisu.

"You laughed at my sister. You said I was stupid for carting my disabled sister around between camps to give you points like a donkey. You said I could suffer for it because I wanted my Arisu to experience taking part in the Island Examination.

"You called me a slave. You called me a mule. You called me a brainless meathead, do you remember?"

Totsuka had lost the ability to speak as he cowered back from intimidation as I continued to move closer to him until his back hit the wall behind him. No one in Class A came to his aid, not even Machida or Katsuragi. The bald boy simply looked at me in shock at the complete turn around in my personality.

Taking a hold of Totsuka's shirt, I pulled him closer and forced him to look at me as I spoke.

"I asked you a question,"

Before he could answer, there was a message chime from the forty occupants of the room. It echoed in the emptiness of the private pool like a disjointed sonata. Then a second set of chimes, then a third. Nine sets of alerts vibrated through the air from every device like an echoing harrow of doom, the realization set upon all of them that I was telling the truth; my armageddon had rung true.

"I remember..." Totsuka croaked out.

"That's good. I told you that I wondered if it was just us, with no consequences and no one to stop us if you would be so bold.

"I told you that one day soon, we'll find out the answer to that. That I hadn't forgotten that you've laughed at my sister and everytime you taunt me is just another pound of flesh that I'll take one day. I told you that I was patient.

"That day will come. No one laughs at my sister. So I'll ask you, Totsuka Yahiko. Are you laughing now?"

Chapter 34

Leaving the private pool with Class A was like opening a door to a parallel universe. Imagine opening the door from a stunned silent room and entering pure pandemonium. I wasn't even noticed as students stampeded through the hall and through the adjacent buffet area like zebras cutting through the sahara in utter panic.

I slipped through unnoticed and unbothered, making my way into the fire escape as discreetly as possible. The moment I entered the silent fire escape, the frenzy was drowned out completely as the door slammed behind me with a resounding boom.

Only then had I realized that my phone was erupting with calls and messages. My phone rang loudly, it echoed in the empty fire escape, my screen displaying Eiichiro's name. I rejected the call immediately before putting it on silent. Multiple alerts erupted on my phone, messages from Honami, messages from Eiichiro, messages from Horikita.

I noted them unphased before putting the phone back in my pocket, intent on beginning my search for my next target. As I was about to take my first step down the stairwell, I heard the faint sound of crying from above. The sobs were barely there, if not for the fact that the desolate fire escape was completely devoid of sound, I would have missed it.

Changing course, I ascended. As I continued to make steps up the stairwell, the sobs grew louder and louder. It wasn't until I reached the landing of the third floor that I saw the crumpled and beaten form of one of my friends.

Karuizawa's hair was down from the usual scrunchie adorned ponytail, messily falling down her body. Her face was covered in angry marks from being slapped. Her shirt was torn, buttons missing and her skirt was dirtied from the dusty floor of the concrete of the stairwell. Tears were falling down like waterfalls, her nose snotty and running. In her current state, she didn't even notice me approaching.

It wasn't until I was almost on top of her, squatting down beside her before she looked at me. Her watery eyes widened in surprise when she realized who it was. Not a moment later, she lunged at me and threw her arms around my neck, crying even harder with heaving sobs.

This was my friend, one of my dear friends. Yet right now I could offer no comfort, I had no empathy, no sympathy. In this state, she was simply a resource. I had time to rebuke myself later if need be, I didn't even have the capacity to do it at the moment. I simply stayed rigid and allowed her to cry and draw strength from me until the sobbing ceased and she calmed down.

She didn't let me go, face still buried into my neck as she calmed herself. Karuizawa didn't move from her spot, not wanting me to see her in this state but not wanting to be alone either. As heartless as it sounds, I didn't have the time for this.

"Who did this to you?" I asked.

Karuizawa didn't answer, she continued breathing heavily while hiding her face in the crook of my neck. I peeled her off me before taking hold of her chin and inspecting the marks on her face.

"Who did this to you, Karuizawa?" I asked again.

Again, complete silence. Despite the fact that I had a firm grip on her chin, she averted her eyes in shame refusing to look at me.

"Karuizawa. If you don't tell me who did this to you, I have no idea who I am supposed to be going after. Who did this to you?"

While waiting for an answer, I checked over her curiously. There was no heavy bruising on the face but she was hunched over in pain, more than likely they hit her in spots that could be covered in clothes.

Her ankle was swollen. Perhaps she tripped and twisted her ankle trying to get away from her. In my peripheral vision, I noted a camera that was pointed down from the corner above the door.

"Manabe," Karuizawa said quietly. "Manabe, Yamashita, Yabu and Morofuji from Class C."

"Did it happen here? Where specifically?"

She pointed at the corner of the opposite side of the landing, directly in view of the camera. I took out my phone and took pictures carefully of the area before taking one including the camera. Once my phone was back in my pocket, I turned back to Karuizawa, wiping the tears and snot from her face with my sleeve.

"Can you walk?"

"No," Karuizawa shook her head. "I rolled my ankle trying to get away from them, it hurts."

I took off my tie before unbuttoning my top button. I removed her shoe, then her sock before using the tie to wrap her ankle, not even trying to be careful not to hurt her. As I wrapped it in a figure eight, I noticed the blush on Karuizawa's face as I tied it off to keep pressure on it, the wince cut the blush quickly.

Placing the shoe and sock in her hands, I picked her up before standing without even a grunt.

"I'll take you to the infirmary, I don't have a lot of time."

"No!" Karuizawa said frantically. "Please, no. If you can just help me to my room... I can't let anyone see me like this..."

"Your ankle could be injured worse than what it looks. You'll risk a longer recovery time in the interest of vanity?"

"Yes... Please... Just take me to my room."

It shows the heartlessness of the White Room Conditioning, I would have just left her there if not for the fact that I needed something from her. Her pain and suffering was fortunate for me, I needed details on what happened.

Normally this wouldn't be the case, I normally love my friends. Right now the only goal I had was crushing Ryuen's soul and Karuizawa had the key to making that far easier. Instead, I took the necessary pitstop to get what I needed. Karuizawa balanced the shoe on her lap before wrapping her arms around my neck to keep herself from falling.

I only stayed quiet for a few steps down the stairwell towards the girl's lodgings before I started to question her.

"Did they attack you for no reason? Manabe was glaring at you during the meeting."

"Why? Are you going to tell me I should apologize too?" Karuizawa asked snappily.

"No, do as you wish. I just need to know the details so that I can plan ahead."

It was only then that Karuizawa actually noticed that there was something different about me, something out of the ordinary. While she was present at the confrontation, she wasn't close enough to see the change as it happened. We were friends but she knew nothing about my past.

"Are you okay?"

"You're asking me when you're covered in bruises with an injured ankle?"

"You're different, it's strange. You're not the same Ayanokouji-kun that I know,"

"Everyone has their past, everyone has their secrets. I'm no different."

We reached the door at the fire escape that led to the girl's quarters and Karuizawa opened it for me. I poked my head out to see that no one was there before walking out into the hall. In my state, I wasn't concerned with Karuizawa's well-being, nearly smashing her head against the doorjamb. She quickly moved her head out of the way, not rebuking me, Karuizawa was still wearily taking in my demeanor.

"Which one is your room?"

"Down the hall, room 301."

I walked there in silence, Karuizawa curiously forgetting her injuries and inspecting me. The earlier pain and shame had now disappeared, it was as though I were a puzzle that she couldn't understand.

Manabe had some kind of an issue with Karuizawa, the girls that were with her weren't surprising. Yabu and Yamashita were in our group but I didn't recognize the name Morofuji.

We were fortunate that everyone was too busy with an impromptu meeting, the halls were empty, Karuizawa and I were able to slip into her room uninterrupted. After placing her on her bed in a seated position, I turned to leave. Karuizawa clutched at my sleeve meekly before I could go.

"Wait, Please... don't leave me."

"I have to go. There isn't much time and you're not being forthright with what happened. I don't have time for this at this stage, I will check in on you later."

"Please, no. Please don't leave me Ayanokouji-kun..." Karuizawa cried frantically.

Karuizawa was very obviously vulnerable right now, whatever happened between her and Class C was critical for my goals. She wouldn't just tell me what happened, she was hiding what the cause of the altercation was.

It was quite obvious that she had done something to incur this retribution from them, she was concerned that I would judge her. Perhaps not take her side. I could care less at this point, I simply wanted the information so that I could use it against Ryuen. If I had to be cruel by threatening to leave her by herself in her vulnerable state then I was prepared to do so.

Unless she was willing to tell me, Karuizawa was useless to me.

"What happened?"

Karuizawa hesitated for some time, conflicted. She continued to open and close her mouth but no sound was coming out. Deciding to give her one last push, I made to exit again and she desperately held onto my sleeve.

"If I tell you, will you get them back for me?"

"What do you mean by getting them back?"

"Will you beat them up? Like how they beat me?"

"No,"

"Why? Are you scared?" Karuizawa asked angrily. "You're supposed to be a guy, you didn't even defend Ichinose-san during the meeting! You just sat there and watched while they bullied her! You're supposed to be her boyfriend! You're supposed to be my friend!"

I squatted down, bringing myself down to her level as she sat on the bed glaring at me with betrayed anger. When she looked into my eyes, the anger faded away. At seeing me unphased and unaffected by her, she calmed and waited with baited breath for me to speak, the silence unnerving her. Now she was frightened.

"Do I look like I'm scared, Karuizawa?" I asked her.

She gave a slow shake of her head, her eyes unblinking. Karuizawa was my friend but the only thing that mattered right now was the goal. She was insignificant.

I should have been thinking of Honami, I promised I wouldn't cheat on her and despite the fact that everything was glowing with an ethereal white around me, I intended to keep that promise. I was still alone with an attractive girl in her room. Regardless of the realities, the optics were what they were.

I had her tears on my sleeve, her make up smeared on the collar of my shirt from when she had her face buried in my neck. My clothes more than likely smelt of her perfume. This was risky territory and anyone could come in and misunderstand.

It didn't matter to me, I'll deal with the consequences if they ever arise. Despite the fact that she had gone through something traumatic, Karuizawa's well-being was not a priority for me either.

"Call Hirata to come and take care of you, I have work to do."

"If you leave me like this, I'll hate you forever." Karuizawa started crying again, furiously wiping her angry tears and trying to stop.

"We're supposed to be friends, I always supported you with everything. How can you be so heartless?"

I left, there was nothing to gain from remaining. Karuizawa was none of my concern, she's Hirata's problem. Right now I was on the hunt and I only had one target which was my top priority.

Shiina Hiyori, the one that Ryuen has been hiding from me all this time. The one he seems to be fond of, the one he's trying to protect from me.

The search for her was a tedious one but at the moment it was far easier than normal. The people walking past may as well have been faceless, none of them were in focus as I passed them.

I couldn't care less if they were Class A, B, C or D. They were useless to me, there was only one person that I needed to find. As I cut through the halls and carefully inspected each room, I didn't notice if any of the people I crossed paths with were weary, apprehensive or friendly. Eiichiro could have called out to me and he would have been ignored.

Honami could have flashed me and I wouldn't have bat an eye, I couldn't care less right now.

There was a method to what I was doing, it wasn't for anything superficial like asserting dominance over the year. It was to corner one person; to put pressure on him.

As I continued to search through the ship, I started to grow suspicious that perhaps she was in her quarters. I wasn't about to go knocking door to door but it was a curious possibility that crossed my mind.

I noted Class C in the ballroom, I looked from an inconspicuous window with calculating eyes only to notice that she wasn't there. Almost everyone else was but she was absent. Instead I continued on my crusade until I found her by herself in a quaint little room that looked as though it was used for corporate meetings.

She was engrossed in a book, And then there were none by Agatha Christie. It was quite an interesting read, I would be impressed by the choice under normal circumstances. Despite the fact that my interests have moved towards more modern forms of art, I have read a plethora of historically acclaimed fiction.

It was unfortunate that she was the one that Ryuen held in such high regard, in my time away from that place I'd like to think that I have grown quite proficient at reading people and as far as I can tell, this girl is an absolute angel. The loner type who simply wants a friend but doesn't know how to approach people.

The type who engrosses herself in books because there she has a friend. Even if they are only fictitious characters in her mind.

It's as though she's glowing, almost transparent against the pearly white backdrop in my current state. It doesn't matter if she's an angel or a devil, she's Ryuen's weakness. I would strangle the life out of the purest of unicorns if it meant keeping Arisu safe. Unfortunately Shiina Hiyori would have to be collateral damage. Even if it means I hate myself once I leave this white abyss.

With intent, I moved to approach her and the sudden intrusion made her look up from the book.

"Ayanokouji-kun?"

Shiina smiled in recognition, carefully placing her bookmark to hold her page before closing her book and placing it daintily on the table. I wasn't aware of this girl's existence before I went looking for her and yet she was smiling at me as though I were an old friend.

"You know who I am?"

"Of course I do, Vice President Ayanokouji. Honami-chan doesn't stop talking about you. I was so happy to find out that you accepted her confession."

Of all the things she could have said, that was not one of them that I anticipated. I expected apprehension, perhaps fear. I could even understand weariness, I wasn't expecting a smile. Honami hadn't even occurred to me in this situation but it was as though a lightbulb had gone off in my head. It made sense.

Class C and Class B shared a camp on the island, it would only be logical to assume that Honami had socialized with them. Especially during a time when she was seemingly isolated from my perspective, Mako prioritized looking after Chihiro. Honami was friendly and kind to everyone, it wouldn't be a leap to assume that she would become friendly with some of the Class C students.

"So the two of you are friends?" I asked.

"Yes, we are. My first friend actually. I'm sure you can tell, but I'm a little bit of a loner," Shiina said sadly, indicating the empty room.

"I'm not very good at being social, it's a bit difficult to approach people. It's why I like Honami-chan so much, she's so friendly. She can just talk to anyone without getting nervous or worried, I admire that about her.

"Having said that, you're very different to how she describes you." Shiina observed thoughtfully.

Taking a seat next to her, I looked at the bag that sat partially open on the table. It was filled to the brim with books, titles that I've read and others that I'd find interesting to read. Noticing what I was looking at, Shiina's eyes lit up and her smile shined even brighter.

"You like to read? Honami-chan mentioned that you read a lot of manga and light novels, I wasn't aware that you liked to read anything else."

"I've read some of the books that you have, others I haven't. Under normal circumstances, you could say that I like to read."

Excited by my admission, she hurriedly started pulling books from her bag before fanning them out on the table for my perusal. She truly was a kind and innocent soul. For the barest of moments, color started to bleed into my sight. It started with a slight coloring of yellow from the afternoon sun, then the brown of the table.

Before it could take hold, I banished it quickly and everything returned to the white abyss that it was. Regardless of how I normally would feel, this needs to be done. Ryuen needed to be sent a message, that I was not one to be trifled with. That when dragged into the mud, I too was willing to get dirty.

An eye for an eye and we'll both be blind. If he believes that he can threaten my sister, then even if it killed me to do so, I'd reduce this girl to a shell of herself. We would roam the endless white abyss together if necessary.

Even if it means that Honami leaves me in disgust for what I was about to do.

"Is there anything here that you'd like to borrow? I've been looking for someone who may want to read with me."

"Possibly but before that, would I be able to trouble you for a favor?"

Shiina looked up at me before nodding enthusiastically.

"I was looking for Ryuen but couldn't find him anywhere. Would you be able to send him a message to meet me here?"

She smiled again before nodding and energetically tapping away on her phone. How curious, Ryuen hasn't told her anything. Either that or he doubted my abilities to see that she was the one he was hiding from me. There was also the possibility that he thought I wouldn't stoop to the level that he was willing to go to.

Shiina wasn't afraid or concerned with me in the slightest. Since she wasn't the social type, no doubt my change in behavior wasn't something she coined as unnatural, she had nothing to compare to. As a loner, she probably was naive. It was lucky for me, at the very least once I left this state, I could hopefully be able to live with myself. As long as Ryuen didn't force me into it.

"He'll reply, he always does. It's strange though, he left me on read," Shiina frowned.

"He's probably busy, he'll reply. Now, the books? You have quite the selection here."

"Really? You like them?" Shiina smiled, clapping her hands together. "I love mystery books, I carry them around even though I've read them all. I was hoping I'd be able to share them with someone, maybe have someone to discuss them with."

"We have a lot of these in our library at the manor, I've read almost all of them."

William Irish, Ellery Queen, Lawrence Block and Isaac Asimov. All very well known and accomplished writers. They weren't easy reads, the average student wouldn't even be able to comprehend this kind of literature, let alone understand the themes or follow the story.

This girl was smart, innocent and kind. To think that even a beast like Ryuen could want to protect this girl, it really showed how kind of a soul she was.

"I tried to loan some of these to Honami-chan but she's been reading light novels. She's been trying to take up your hobbies so that you both have a shared interest. She really loves you. This is great! If I tell her that you've read these, maybe she'll read them too. Then the three of us can read together."

"I'm sure she'd enjoy that," I nodded. Only time will tell if that would be possible.

Before she could reply, the door to the room slammed open and a panting Ryuen was standing there followed closely by Yamada and Ishizaki. The two minions stayed silent but their expressions were hard, Ryuen's eyes wandered between Shiina and I. When he saw that she was fine and smiling, his expression changed from panicked to tense.

"Ryuen, thank you for coming. Shiina and I were just discussing books, have you read any of these?" I asked. I turned to Shiina, ignoring the others and ran my fingers over the covers one by one.

"You know Shiina, before I was adopted I did a lot of reading. It was one of the few past times available to me when given the chance. The only thing is, I'd never read any of the old fairy tales or nursery rhymes when I was a child. My sister was the one who read them to me when I was first adopted."

"That's really sad," Shiina said, downtrodden. "I heard from Honami-chan that you were really close to Sakayanagi-san. She must be very precious to you."

"Oh yes, there's no one in the world more important to me. She's everything to me. There's nothing that matters more to me.

"Her favorite one to read to me was Little Red Ridinghood. You'd think that it'd be Jack and Jill but Little Red Ridinghood was the one she'd drill into me. I was very naive back then, she wanted to make sure I knew that I should be weary of strangers. That even if I think I know someone, I should always be on guard. They could be a wolf masquerading as a friend."

Ryuen silently made his way into the room in a non-threatening manner with the other two following him. They made their way to the table we were sitting at, Ryuen sitting on the other side of Shiina with the other two standing behind him.

"Hiyori, I need to talk to Ayanokouji here. Why don't you find somewhere else to read for a while?" Ryuen said as he took a seat.

"Why? She's not hurting anyone, I like her." I asked.

"No, it's fine. I'll just go," Hiyori waved off with a smile before standing and putting her books into her bag.

Before she could finish putting her books away, I stood as well and placed my hand on her head. Ryuen flinched violently while Ishizaki tensed. I patted her on the head soothingly while Shiina looked surprised at the affectionate gesture.

"Before you go, didn't you say I could borrow a book?"

I picked up my choice before she could give an answer.

Agatha Christie - The Body in the Library.

"I haven't read this one, is it good?"

"Oh, it's wonderful! Christie is one of my favorite authors."

"Then I look forward to reading it, I'll have it finished in three days. We can talk about the book while we wait for the results of the special test."

Shiina gave an enthusiastic nod before bowing to each of us in the room and hurriedly leaving us to our conversation. The door closed with a thud and as soon as she was gone Ryuen grabbed me by the front of my shirt as he stood in anger.

"She has nothing to do with this, leave her out of it!" Ryuen spat angrily.

I didn't need to have my sense of sight at the moment, a blind man could have seen what I saw. The fear oozing from Ryuen's pores like a pungent stench. I couldn't smell it but it was thick and I could feel it.

"Phones on the table, all three of you. Right now. Face up, turn the screens on so I can see them," I said coldly.

While the other two looked confused, Ryuen's eyes narrowed. He hesitantly nodded to the other two who did as I asked, both phones showing the home screen. Ryuen pressed his home key before doing the same. As I glanced nonchalantly at the screen, I could see the record icon on the top right near the clock.

"Ryuen, we're here to negotiate in good faith. I'm disappointed that you look at me as a low grade simpleton after you went through so much effort to drag me from the shadows..."

Ryuen stared at me for a moment before picking his phone back up and closing the recording app, putting his phone back on the table with the screen lit showing that the recording app was off.

"The other phone that's in your breast pocket too."

Despite the situation and what happened earlier, Ryuen looked mildly amused and smirked before taking the phone out of his breast pocket and mockingly turning off the record function. He put it on the table with the screen still on before it faded away to idle.

I was outnumbered, in a room with the most intimidating first year and two of his henchmen. Yamada had yet to utter a syllable the entire time I'd ever had interactions with him and I vaguely wondered if he could even speak japanese.

With the table set and everything built to this moment in what was barely two hours, the time to end this examination had come.

"So I was right, you finally appear, you bastard. I knew that there was a reason that weakling never seemed to break."

"He's far stronger than people give him credit for. We should all endeavor to be a little more like him. Loyalty like his is hard to come by these days,"

"What of your loyalty, Ayanokouji? You let him look like a complete fool over and over again while you sat back and watched. How cruel of you," Ryuen taunted me.

"I suppose you're right, it appears I'm more similar to you than I am to him. Both of us appear to be fond of frail white haired girls."

The moment the topic of Shiina Hiyori came back up Ryuen stiffened and his face hardened. He took a step forward, intent on intimidating me but I stood my ground. It took one look into my cold dead eyes to realize that he wasn't about to get anywhere with physical confrontations. Something that Ishizaki seemed to miss as he finally lost his cool and lurched forward, throwing a punch.

I moved out of its path calmly before grabbing his sleeve at his wrist. With a turn I pulled it across my body before putting my other arm at his hip, lifting my leg and throwing off his balance. A perfect execution of a Harai Goshi.

As he fell, I rolled with him. He landed on his back with a resounding thud, my shoulder hitting him squarely in the ribs as we both went to the ground. He gasped painfully at the impact of both my shoulder and the ground before I slithered into position, wrapping his arm up in a Udi Hishigi Juji Gatame.

"Ishizaki, we're trying to have a civil conversation here," I told him calmly as I pulled harder on his arm and he groaned in pain at the tension on his joint.

"If you're going to attack someone who knows how to fight, at least try a sneak attack. Be a little more graceful, this is just embarrassing. No wonder Sudo was able to defeat you so soundly."

Yamada broke from his stupor and moved to jump in but before he could take more than a step I pulled on Ishizaki's arm again and he screamed out in pain. Yamada stopped in his tracks, looking to Ryuen for help.

"If you move again, I will remove his arm from his shoulder," I said robotically.

Ryuen shook his head at Yamada to stop him and I relaxed my grip. Ishizaki groaned as the tension was released slowly before his breath became labored.

"Now. I'm going to let you up and we're going to continue this conversation. Attack me again and I will break something. Am I understood?"

When Ishizaki didn't answer me, I pulled on his arm again and after he yelled out in pain again he frantically nodded his head before I released his arm and got to my feet slowly. Ishizaki did the same, holding his shoulder with pain all over his face. He gingerly opened his shirt and checked for damage, no bruising in the slightest.

Ryuen watched and frowned in disappointment. I chose an arm bar on purpose, no visible injuries for him to make a report on me.

"Alright, you have our attention. You called us out here so what do you want? How did you figure out all the VIP's?"

"Don't be coy, Ryuen. You know that there's a key and you've been trying to figure it out. I was just faster and figured it out before you." I said simply as I took a seat back at the table.

The room was hot, I could see Ryuen and Yamada sweating. Ishizaki was sweating too but from exertion and pain. I couldn't feel it. Shiina Hiyori, almost making me leave this state had long gone, I couldn't even feel remorse for hurting Ishizaki. Couldn't feel guilty that I had left Karuizawa when she was hurting. I just wanted to see the fight leave Ryuen's eyes.

"I called you here because I'm going to give you three names for Class D. They're the wrong names, they're not the VIP's but you're going to submit them.

"You're going to submit them because I told you to. Because no one threatens my sister. If you don't, I'll start wiping out Class C one by one. All because the truth is, Ryuen, it doesn't matter to me how I break you. All that matters to me is that you're broken. Whether it's by you admitting defeat and giving up by submitting the wrong VIP's or if it's by me expelling every last one of your miserable class." I said malevolently.

Ryuen laughed at my threat as though it were ridiculous. This is what he wanted, he wanted a war with me. I knew why he wanted it, his plans were relatively simple to decipher.

He wanted to systematically break each class mentally. Once they were all broken it would be child's play to win every special test. He was already inside Class B's head, from what I could tell of their approach to this exam, they were fragmented and disjointed.

Ryuen could go for Class A next but instead he chose Class D. All because he had tried and failed multiple times to break Eiichiro only for him to dust himself off and continue on. He identified that I was the catalyst for this, found information on me and in his mind if he could beat me then Class D was conquered.

It was a shame that he wouldn't be able to do that. For him at least.

"How exactly do you plan to do that?"

He asked the golden question, now it was time to lay all my cards on the table.

"There are certain questions that people never seem to ask in this school. For example, ask anyone how many points it would cost to overturn an expulsion and everyone can give you an answer. Ask them how many points it would cost them to alter their test scores and I'm sure you can find a number who would know." I started.

"However, no one asks the more abstract questions because, put simply, all people want in this school is to assert dominance over another. It's all a big ego trip, everyone wants to outsmart the other in some clever or conniving way.

"No one ever asks, for example, if you can buy Class Points with Private Points. Why? Because there's no sport in buying a win that way. Changing class with private points is simply a last ditch effort after you've failed. Even BUDDY, which is out for everyone to use however they see fit, is simply another way of asserting dominance. Class A and B students spend points to remind Class C and D that they're mere peasants in the school system." I continued.

"It'd be a prudent investment, if you start early enough you could theoretically compound the interest and create a sizable lead. Particularly if no one else is doing it. No one asks though, because there is no dominance to be lorded over by others if you simply take the modest approach."

It was obvious that the thought of buying Class Points with Private Points was a question that Ryuen had never thought to ask. The moment I started my soliloquy he stayed silent and gave me his undivided attention. It was as though I were channeling my inner sensei and I was educating my naive student.

"There's also the fact that while everyone knows that you can avoid expulsion for the sizable price of twenty million points, no one asks how many points it would cost to expel someone."

While Ishizaki looked confused and Yamada's expression hadn't changed at all, I watched as the realization crossed Ryuen's face and suddenly he realized exactly where I was going with this. After all, he was the one who brought up questions about BUDDY in the first place. He no doubt had some kind of an idea on how many points it would generate.

I could see the calculations running through his head, trying to estimate just how many points BUDDY could have generated and how many it'd generate in the future. He couldn't know for sure, the number was exorbitant though. Even I hadn't anticipated just how popular it had become.

"If an expulsion costs twenty million points, why would anyone want to ask the question? After all, this school functions on sabotage, why pay for someone to get expelled if you can do it for free? Where is the blood? Where is the satisfaction of outsmarting your opponent? Most would never be able to sniff that amount normally, there's no use in asking if you can never afford it.

"However, what if there was someone who was generating more than twenty million points per month passively? What if that person had so many points that they simply didn't care what they spent it on? What if that person were, for example... incredibly lazy? Someone who didn't care about asserting dominance and simply wanted to get rid of a nuisance?" I asked hypothetically.

"If that were the case and someone threatened someone that they love more than anything or anyone in the world, what do you think they would do, Ryuen? Do you think that person would have an issue simply sending a text and picking a random name to expel every month?"

I could see the gears turning in his head. Not interrupting, not refuting. Not even taunting like he always had. He realized now that he bit off far more than he could chew. In the span of barely two hours, I'd already cut out his knees.

The only reason why I had every name submitted for every class was to ensure that he had absolutely no way to cut a deal. No way to figure out who the other VIP's were and mitigate the damages. I also wanted to put him on a timer, which is why I taunted Class A the way that I did. It serves multiple purposes but the primary reason I did it was for this.

Honami knew that I was a genius, she figured it out on her own and I didn't deny it. She's my girlfriend, I planned to tell her everything eventually so I didn't try to lie or deceive her when she figured it out. The moment that nine names were submitted, particularly right after a confrontation with Ryuen, would indicate to her that I was responsible for it.

Class A on the other hand would have their suspicions but they wouldn't know exactly. I gave them that information so that they knew which Class still had VIP's left to submit. They want to hold their status, I knew Katsuragi would try to make a deal.

Which is why I wanted the announcement for everyone to know where Class D was. The reason why I wasn't there was because I wanted to be here with Ryuen when all of this was happening. It wasn't to assert dominance, it was to tighten the stranglehold on Ryuen's throat. The viper of time with the venomous fangs reaching ever closer to his carotid artery.

"Right now, everyone knows that Class D was the ones who submitted every VIP." I continued with indifference.

"I made the announcement so that they'd be able to find Eiichiro easily. You've dealt with him enough, you should know that he has a propensity to panic. I've given him no instructions, right now Katsuragi and Honami are probably begging him to make a deal with them for the names of our VIP's.

"If he makes a deal with them and they submit a single name, I'll start wiping your class out one by one. I'll get rid of your best students with the highest OAA scores first and then work my way down. I'll leave Shiina to last though, I'll spend the next three years reducing her to a blubbering mess and when you're left with the dregs of Class C and you're begging for mercy you'll remember this day and wish that you cut a deal.

"When you see her broken and realize you could have stopped it with three text messages, would you regret it? What was it that you asked me? Do I have to break her mind or her body?"

"Leave her out of this," Ryuen forced out with gritted teeth.

I could see that he was worried, he was going to do what I asked. He may be a hard dictator but right now, at his most vulnerable, I could see that in his own way he cared about them. Ryuen wanted to be the king of the hill but he cared. He just didn't know how to do it while maintaining his true self.

What use was a tyrant with no one left to lead?

Ryuen thought that he was untouchable, he now realized that there was another who was far superior to him. One that was more capable of playing the game then he was.

"You wouldn't do that to her, she's friends with Ichinose. Ichinose wouldn't accept it,"

"Look at me Ryuen. Do you think that concerns me right now?" I asked as I leaned forward and stared directly into his eyes.

As he looked back at my lifeless golden pools, he could see I was telling the truth. I knew it was true. I wouldn't want to but I would. A threat was useless unless you were willing to follow through.

With that I picked up the book that I borrowed from Shiina, The Body in the Library, what a poetic choice of title. Whether that ended up becoming reality was up to Ryuen now.

"Koenji Rokusuke, Hirata Yousuke and Shinohara Satsuki. Submit those names and admit defeat. Either that or I start wiping out your class. Shiina Hiyori's fate rests in your hands Ryuen, I'll be waiting alongside her to return this book when the results are announced." I told him, shaking the borrowed literature above my shoulder as I walked towards the door.

"Pick your poison. I suggest you choose quickly though, time is of the essence. Whatever you decide, don't ever threaten my sister again. If you do, I'll make this look like a mercy killing."

Chapter 35

A/N: Thank you to Inferno and Zook who both read over the chapter before the upload and made suggestions.

The moment I left Ryuen, Ishizaki and Yamada I went straight to my room. Laying down in my bed with my eyes closed I started to breathe deeply. I could feel the change with my eyes closed but I refused to open them. As everything returned to normal, I instantly went to sleep. I didn't want to see, I didn't want to feel.

Instead I traded one abyss for another, white for black. It wasn't until one in the morning that I awoke and saw my other roommates already asleep. A quick glance at my phone told me everything I needed to know, it was done. The Zodiac Special Test was over. Whether that was by Ryuen or by Eiichiro making a deal was yet to be seen but it was over.

Unable to sleep anymore, I left my bed and went out onto the bow of the ship. I was disgusted with myself. Shiina's book clutched in my hand as I made my way to a bench and sat down.

You may think that I didn't really do anything too bad but I had. I lost control of my emotions, I abandoned a friend and I threatened an innocent person who was not only kind hearted but also my girlfriend's friend. I may not have threatened her to her face but what I had done was just as bad to me.

I'm someone who values my friends, they're precious to me. If someone had done what I had done to them I would be out for blood. I'm a hypocrite, a monster. A horrible person.

All because of rage.

The faint yellow glow from the upper decks barely illuminated the area that I was in as I looked out into the black abyss that was the ocean. The stars were out in full force, like tiny fireflies that were just out of reach.

They were the embodiment of my lazy and normal life, close enough to see but too far to reach.

I suppose I should be grateful, I got to enjoy three months of obscurity. I can't blame anyone because this was my own doing. I chose to reveal myself or at the very least it's what I tell myself. I caused this, I left myself vulnerable to being revealed because I wanted to have my cake and eat it too.

As I looked down at the book in my hands, the cover was a mocking allusion to what I was prepared to do to destroy Ryuen. I stooped to his level, it wasn't the type of life I wanted to live. Analyzing everything that had happened as the waves crashed against the side of the ship, something was amiss with all of this.

There was something about the questions that Ryuen asked, they were too specific. There was no way that anyone could ask themselves those questions. Not unless someone had pointed him in that direction.

I sat on the bench on the port side of the ship. While usually there are people walking in crowds laughing and enjoying themselves tonight it is desolate. I can very faintly hear the sounds of the teachers drinking at the bar above but I can't seem to care to eavesdrop.

Most likely they're talking or arguing about me, I'd rather not pay attention.

Instead under the faint glow and the eerie silence, I started to read. The truth is that I've already read this book before. The curse of an eidetic memory is something that for once I wish I didn't have, I can remember every word on every page of this book. I remember everything that I did, every threat I made, every betrayal.

A quote from this very book edged into the corner of my mind, like a devilish whisper that strangely sounds like my own voice.

'What I feel is that if one has got to have a murder actually happening in one's house, one might as well enjoy it .'

What was there to enjoy? All of this was horrible. Threats against my family, threats against innocents, abandoning friends in need. Is this what this school is about? Is this what life was supposed to be like once I left this school?

Looking further into everything that happened with Ryuen, he was being a hypocrite. To threaten my sister only to turn around and say that Shiina has nothing to do with this. My sister wasn't even on the ship. People seem to think of only what's done to them, not what they do to others.

As my eyes danced across the pages, reading every word again in vain, my mind wasn't processing what I was looking at. I was merely passing time, going through the motions to keep up appearances. It was unnecessary, there was no one around.

Putting the book down, I took my phone out instead.

Instead my mind was going through a different story. One of Greek Mythology, something that had died out through the passage of time, now merely some obscure folklore that people knew vaguely of but didn't understand the intimate details of the stories and tales.

Pandora's box, ask anyone what it is and they can tell you that it was some treasure in history and that it shouldn't be opened. Most have no idea why, simply heard of it randomly in passing or some such thing.

Pandora's box, the story of the first woman ever created. A tale of treachery, thieving and subterfuge. A story of revenge.

Pandora's box, a cautionary myth that warns of the dangers of curiosity.

A metaphor of the consequences of a single miscalculation. A single lapse in judgment.

The poem written by Hesiod tells the tale of the titan Prometheus who stole fire from Mt. Olympus and gave it to mankind. Zeus was angered by this and ordered the God Hephaestus to create the first female named Pandora. He then sent her to Prometheus' brother, Ephimeteus who didn't heed the warnings of his brother who warned him never to accept a gift from Zeus.

Ephemeteus married Pandora, too blinded by his infatuation by her. As a wedding gift, Zeus gave Pandora a beautiful jar as a wedding gift. Throughout history, the tale was changed to be later referred to as a box, but the original story said that it was a jar. The only instruction that Zeus had given her was that she was never to open it.

Unable to satiate her curiosity, she opened the box and all of man's woes had flown from the box and cursed humanity for an eternity.

Curses such as death, sickness, vices, sin. In her curiosity, she had cursed her fellow man into mortality.

While I wanted to be alone, it would seem that that wasn't going to be in the cards for me at this hour either as I heard a set of footsteps from behind me. I didn't turn around to acknowledge them, I simply waited and a feminine hand laid on my shoulder before I was joined by Kushida who continued to smile with that mockingly angelic face.

"Good morning, Ayanokouji-kun."

It was one in the morning and yet she was dressed in casual clothing that was far too dressy for someone who just got out of bed. She looked like she was getting ready for a date, a red knitted sweater that was relatively form fitting. A white skirt finished just above her knees and white knee high socks.

"It's just past one, the day has barely even begun. How could it possibly be a good morning?"

"It is when I finally get some alone time with you, Ayanokouji-kun," Kushida purred. "I was quite surprised when Okitani-kun told me you left. I asked him to message me if you woke up. Everyone is so worried about you."

"Is that so," I mused while staring out into the dark abyss.

"It is," Kushida nodded. "So this is what the masterpiece of the White Room is capable of... How terrifying."

Despite the fact that the words left her lips, she looked anything but terrified.

"To think that you would go so far as to threaten Shiina Hiyori... I must say, I never expected that from you."

Despite myself, I was surprised. I didn't think Ryuen would say anything, it was an embarrassment to him that he had his plans turned on his head. Especially so quickly after he taunted me. He stirred the hornet's nest and was met with instant karma.

This meddlesome woman, I was surrounded by them. Kushida Kikyo was a dangerous one, her information network was astounding. I couldn't help but be impressed by her to some degree. It couldn't have been Ryuen who told her about what happened and Shiina wasn't in the room when it happened. Shiina would be none the wiser which could only mean that one of the others had told her.

"It didn't take much to get Ishizaki to tell me what happened, men are such simple creatures," Kushida laughed.

Before I could say anything else, rather than sit next to me she sat on my lap. I immediately shoved her off onto the bench next to me only for her to laugh mockingly at my reaction. She wagged her finger at me as though I were a pet that was being disobedient.

"Now, now, Ayanokouji-kun. There's no need for that, we're friends. Friends are affectionate with each other from time to time."

"You think because you're able to use a search engine that I'm going to just start bending over for you?" I asked.

It was probably a poor choice of words, Kushida looked as though she were the one who wanted to be bent over.

"That's your problem, Ayanokouji-kun. You always think the worst of me, what have I done to you to deserve this kind of treatment?" Kushida pouted.

As much as I hated to admit it, she had a point. She really hadn't done anything to me and despite her playfully dangerous behavior she was incredibly valuable to the class. This girl was a well of information and if only I could find a way to get her to stop being so troublesome she would be a great ally to have.

That's the issue with this girl, there was no middle ground. It was like selling your soul to the devil; quite literally. Anything she could give me would come at a cost. A cost that I would never be willing to pay.

Still, the only dumb question is the one that's never asked.

"Alright then, I'll humor you. What do you want to keep quiet?"

"About what?"

"Everything."

"You don't understand me at all, Ayanokouji-kun. I wouldn't say anything even if you gave me nothing. I keep people's secrets, I have so many that I've forgotten most of the boring ones. If you're grateful to me that I'm keeping quiet, you should just give me something to show your appreciation instead."

"What do you want?" I repeated in exasperation.

Kushida hummed thoughtfully with a finger to her lips. It was all theatrics, she already knew what she wanted. She'd planned this encounter many times before she even had me alone, Kushida was thoroughly enjoying this little game at the moment.

"You could help me get Horikita expelled?"

"No,"

"Break up with Ichinose-san then," Kushida countered.

"That's not going to happen either,"

"You won't help me get Horikita expelled, you won't stay out of it if I try to do it myself. You refuse to break up with Ichinose-san, what else is there? If you're not going to give me anything at all, why even bother asking."

"Then ask me for something I can give you, do you want points?"

"I could never say no to more points but there's something I want more. After all, thanks to you we have quite the hefty sum coming in. After we submitted the names, Matsuo-kun made sure that everyone knew that we would be splitting the private points from the exam evenly forty ways. I'll have plenty of points."

As though she were taunting me, Kushida rested her hand on my knee. After a moment, she slowly started running the hand on the inside of my thigh dangerously. Her hand continued to creep higher and higher but didn't go into any dangerous territory. This girl was unbelievable. I have a girlfriend, I had no intention of cheating on her and yet she was doing this.

It goes to show the injustice of society, if it were the other way around and I were doing this to her I'd be labeled a pervert.

Kushida smiled challengingly at me, as though she were daring me to stop her. Despite the fact that I was a genius, it didn't take one to figure out what she was hinting towards. Why me? Yamauchi would be elated for such an offer, surely he'd do?

"I already said I'm good at keeping secrets, no one has to know. It's not like I'm asking you to do something you wouldn't enjoy."

"What exactly are you asking me to do?"

"Me."

I rolled my eyes before grabbing at her wrist just as she went a little too high. What the hell is wrong with this girl?

"Do you know why I'm dating Honami? Do you think that the possibility of dating you, Matsushita or anyone else never occurred to me?" I asked.

Kushida just shook her head but I could see on her face that she didn't care what the reason was, she was simply humoring me for the sake of continuing the conversation. I could have told her that I'd gotten Honami pregnant and it wouldn't have stopped her. She told me herself, she was the possessive type.

This girl was obsessed.

I just wanted it to stop.

"It's because in a world where everyone has an agenda, where everyone lies and where everyone is cruel and selfish, she's the opposite. While I'm a monster and a horrible person, Honami is practically an angel. No matter how much you smile and appear friendly to everyone, you and I both know that we're both the same; both rotten inside."

It was the first time that I had seen what Kushida was truly like behind the mask as her face twisted in anger. The sinister and vicious smile that I'd seen when she tried to get Horikita expelled was there full force as she practically snarled at me.

"You can't tell that she's slowly becoming more and more like you? How cruel of you Ayanokouji-kun. You can't even see that you're slowly destroying the part of her you've grown to love so much. I wonder, Ayanokouji-kun, if Ichinose Honami would still look at you with such rose-tinted glasses if she knew what you were really like. Would she still love you unconditionally if she knew that you threatened her friend?

"With me you have no reason to be concerned, no reason to hide. I know your past, I know that you wear a mask because I have one too. I can show you this side of me in a world where I simply can't be myself with anyone else. I can tell you that I like this side of you. The sarcastic, lazy and charismatic side of you. I can also tell you that I detest when you have those apathetic features. When your voice turns monotonous.

"That side of you is not my type at all. This side of you though... This side of you, however, is exactly what I'm looking for. I always get what I want eventually, I can be patient if I need to be. If you won't leave her, then she'll leave you. It's because even if I detest that side of you, I can accept it. You know that she can't accept your crueler side and that's exactly why you keep it hidden. Your 'relationship' is built on nothing but a lie."

While this devil-whispering rubbish would work on other people, it was having no effect on me. It wasn't that she was wrong, it's because she was right.

The fact that I'm selfish means that even if everything she was saying was nothing but true, Honami would always be mine. I knew that she would hate what I had done, I hated myself for it but that was irrelevant because she would never know. Even if she found out, I would deny it and she would believe me; because she's a kind hearted person that looks for the best in people.

I wasn't against Honami becoming more like me, it would be good for her and would protect her from being taken advantage of. I just hoped that I could eventually become a little more like her.

"Just as you said I don't understand you, you don't seem to understand me at all either. I'm not keeping a secret, I'm simply not spreading it around. Tell whoever you want, what's going to happen to me? At any moment, someone could accidentally search my name online and everything about me will be right there for everyone to read. So what?

"Ryuen tried his hand at trying to put me under the microscope and look what happened to him. What do I have to be afraid of?" I asked nonchalantly. "If you've done your research on me then you know that I'm not one that you want to provoke. Believe me, you don't want me as an enemy, ask Ryuen."

"Oh, I already know. Ishizaki was quite descriptive. I know exactly what I want and I won't be sitting on the sidelines and waiting."

"If it's because of my standing on the Student Council, I'll be happy to set you up on a blind date with Nagumo. If it's physical attractiveness that you're after, I can arrange to introduce you to Satonaka from Class A. Koenji is far more wealthy than my family ever will be. You're Kushida Kikyo, don't settle for little old me."

Kushida shook her head in playful exasperation before standing from the bench and getting ready to leave. I was grateful for it, I was over this little interaction. With friends like her, who needs enemies?

Despite the fact that I'd tried to tell her repeatedly that I wasn't interested, Kushida bent at the waist before taking her panties off from under her skirt. She stared straight into my eyes as she did it, before slipping it into my pocket where my phone was.

Disgusting, I'll have to clean it off with alcohol. Either that or get a new phone.

"Thanks, perhaps I'll give them to Yamauchi," I said sarcastically.

Kushida glared at me angrily, she thought she'd have me flustered.

"Only you're allowed to have them, Ayanokouji-kun! If you give them to that disgusting pervert, you'll suffer the consequences!"

Almost immediately after, the angelic smile with that sickeningly sweet tone was back in full force as she swatted me playfully on the arm.

"Just as we both know that you're better than those that you've just listed, I'm better than Ichinose Honami in every single way. I know it and sometime soon, you'll know it too. " Kushida said with a wink as she left.

More issues that I had to deal with, from one problem to the next. Is this what school was supposed to be like? Things were far simpler when it was just Arisu, Eiichiro, Tsubasa and I in the manor. You truly don't know what you have until it's gone, I thought I was coming to this school for a peaceful lazy existence.

The reality was that my life was far more peaceful when I hadn't come to this school. Everything in life was far more laid back. I didn't have meddlesome women constantly trying to push my buttons. I didn't have them constantly interfering in my affairs.

I wanted alone time because I had to come to terms with the fact that I had lost. I had quite literally been cornered and pushed to the point where I snapped. Not only was I lazy, selfish and self centered, I had grown incredibly arrogant as well.

My strings had been pulled and I danced like a puppet. If the goal was only the zodiac exam then the truth is that I hadn't lost, I'd won by a landslide. That wasn't the true battle, the real war was trying to remain obscure. The real war was staying in the shadows when I was being dragged into the light.

I was completely blindsided by my rage because I'd never been pushed like that before. If I wasn't past the point of no return I would have seen the situation for what it was. It's why I wanted to be alone at the moment, so I can plan my next move.

Despite that being something that I need to do, I can't right now. I can't believe that I was actually played, that I'd actually lost. To someone who I'd never lost to before in anything. I groaned out loud as the dots connected and I realized exactly how and what had happened.

Pulling out my phone and untangling it from the disgusting pair of panties, I frowned in distaste as I stopped the recording I'd made of my interaction with Kushida and tapped a message to the one responsible. It was late and I wasn't expecting a reply but I sent it regardless.

If Pandora's Box was a metaphor for my peaceful life, then Ryuen was Pandora. Given the box as a gift while hinting that there was something within worth looking at. However, if Ryuen was Pandora, then someone had to be Zeus. The orchestrator, the catalyst. The puppetmaster.

The questions were the key to realizing who had done this. Who had pointed Ryuen in my direction. It all led to one person.

'Why would the Chairman adopt you specifically?'

A rude question but one he'd asked none the less. A question that no one would ask unless he were told that there was something special about me. That there was a specific reason why I specifically was adopted.

'Why is it that while the rest of Class D are toiling about and struggling for points, you seem to be able to do as you please?'

Kushida was the only one who would be cordial with Class C. She was trying to seduce me, there was no way that she would be the one to leak that. Honami may have said something during the time that they shared a camp but I was doubtful, she looked up to me and she loved me. There was no way she'd speak ill of me like that.

The questions and answers started playing themselves in my mind as I went over what I'd already come to realize. I knew who did this and now they knew that I knew.

'Hashimoto was really vocal about how you're probably the most talented student in the school.' Miyake had said.

'Kamuro was the same... Yamamura was too.' Hasebe had chimed in.

'Why does President Horikita bend over backwards to give you everything that you want?'

'I have Horikita Suzune's contact information that I got from President Horikita Manabu before we left. I scheduled for us to play a chess match on the decks at the sunbeds tomorrow.' Arisu had said.

'I'm not stupid, Matsuo-kun. He's far more intelligent than he lets on.' Horikita said on the island.

'If what I know to be true is correct, you really are a cruel and selfish bastard.'

'All I've ever wanted since we became a family was to be able to compete with you,'

'Just so many people to meet, so many things to do and such a short amount of time,' Arisu said on the ship as she was dangerously hinting at things at the Ocean Cafe with Hirata, Karuizawa and Satou.

She'd finally had enough of my lack of ambition. My darling Arisu, the results on the island had finally pushed her too far. Even sick in a hospital bed, she was still a dangerous threat. All she needed was the information about the special test, a phone and her minions would do as she told them to.

There was only one person who wanted to compete with me so desperately that they would tell Ryuen my one biggest weakness, even if it meant putting themself in danger. Arisu was Zeus, she gave Ryuen Pandora's Box and dared him to open it. She knew that Ryuen wanted to compete as well, he wanted to assert his dominance. It wouldn't do if the best refused to rise to a challenge, it was an insult.

He may have had some suspicions about me, Arisu was just the one to confirm that his hunch was correct. That Ryuen was on to something and he only needed to keep pressing until it hurt.

I could hear the voices in my mind's ear. Despite the fact that it had come from Ryuen, it may as well have come from her own lips. I could hear both voices, melded into one.

'If you insist on hiding in the shadows, I'll drag you kicking and screaming into the light,'

'I want confirmation...' Arisu told me when I confessed to her that I had feelings for Honami at dinner. 'That I know you, just as well as you know me.'

I wasn't expecting a reply but I should have been. She wouldn't be able to sleep, especially knowing that she had successfully carried out her plans and I was now exposed for exactly what I am; a genius. She knew that once the dust settled and I had time to process everything that I'd know it was her.

She wanted to bask in her very first victory against me.

My darling ruthless little sister, the one that I love more than anyone in the world. That smug little schemer, that meddlesome woman.

Well played.

I looked down at the message that I'd sent to her and her reply. It oozed justified pride at a job well done. I could practically hear the text on the phone in that condescendingly prideful voice. That sweet honeyed tone that was laced with the deadliest of poisons. My belladonna.

Whatever do you mean, Onii-chan?

SS The worth of a soul

Thanks to Zook again for reading over this and editing. It's always nice to get opinions before the upload to make sure it's as good as it's going to get and the people who read over the chapters before the upload do it without asking for anything in return.

Regardless... Enjoy!

"You once told me that you'd sell your soul to reach Class A. The question is, Chabashira-sensei, would you sell mine?"

That little brat. Why would he ask me something like that?

I was surprised when he told me that he had all the names of all the VIP's. I shouldn't have been, I know that he's a generational talent. It's why I wasn't shocked at all when nine names were submitted and they were all correct; Class D had submitted every single name. It was exactly what I was hoping for.

Never in my life had I got what I hoped for and felt so... Empty. Ashamed. Embarrassed.

It's why I was completely discombobulated when another three names were submitted. In mere hours, Ayanokouji Kiyotaka had finished the Zodiac Special Test after only the first meeting. I was curious, had he given the names to Class A to benefit his sister? Perhaps he had given them to his girlfriend in Class B.

Instead, when we looked over the submitted names, I could see that Class C had submitted the incorrect names. A cleansweep for my students and not only that, we were now Class C. I couldn't move, I barely remembered to breathe. When the exam had ended on the island, I asked him to take over the class and that the gap was widening to a degree that we'd never be able to come back from.

In one exam, he had completely bridged the gap and we were now within striking range.

But at what cost?

I read over the results once more and then where the current standings would be after the results were announced.

Class A - 854

Class B - 651

Class D - 600

Class C - 442

The half empty glass of whiskey that I was sipping was becoming far too diluted. Instead, I motioned the bartender to pour me another and continued to sit in contemplative silence. Ayanokouji Kiyotaka has had a torturous life, suffered far more than any human being should have to suffer. He was happy now, with a beautiful girlfriend and friends who adored him. I could leave him now, he'd done more than enough just to bridge the gap. I could let him live a normal life.

It was so early on in their tenure at this school. Just as the tides had turned in our favor in just one exam, all of that could be gone in another instance. I wanted to let him be, let him be a child. I wanted to be nurturing. I wanted to do the right thing.

Despite all of this... I wanted them to get to Class A more, so much more.

A lifetime of regrets is something that can't be denied, it's something that can not be let go after three months. No matter how fond I've grown of Ayanokouji Kiyotaka, I simply can not bring myself to let that goal go. Especially now that I have someone who is probably the most capable I'll ever have. There will NEVER be another opportunity like this.

"Well, well, well... I was expecting celebratory drinks. Not something boring like whiskey. Where are the Pina Coladas and party poppers?" Hoshinomiya joked while poking me in the ribs.

I couldn't help but grimace and swatted at her hand as soon after Sakagami and Mashima both entered the rooftop bar. I didn't want a social gathering but this was the only bar and Hoshinomiya was a notorious drunkard.

"This is unjustly unfair," Sakagami spat. "The school shouldn't allow him to even be here. It's utterly ridiculous that Ayanokouji is allowed to attend, he doesn't even need this school. How are any of the rest of us supposed to go up against that monster?"

"Oh Sakagami-kun, don't be bitter. You weren't so humble when you were the one who had been the clear winner on the island, leave Kiyotaka-kun alone," Hoshinomiya chided him playfully.

"Kiyotaka-kun? Is there something you're not telling us?" Mashima frowned in disdain.

"Who knows,"

"Not you too," I scoffed in annoyance.

"Honami-chan has started saying it all the time, it grows on you," Hoshinomiya grinned

"Well, I suppose you're endearing yourself to him and thinking that you'll be able to recruit him to your class. Don't bother, he'll never abandon our class. He's too loyal."

"One never knows what the future will hold. I'm confident in my classes abilities."

"Your class hasn't had a significant win since the midterms." Mashima said.

"And your class hasn't had a significant win since... Oh, that's right. They haven't had one yet, have they? If only Sakayanagi weren't so notoriously against having him in Class A. You'd be a shoe in to have him transfer into your class." Hoshinomiya teased gloatingly.

It was one of the things I was incredibly grateful for, she was a hundred percent correct. I'd seen first hand just how much Ayanokouji cares for her, if she asked he would be in Class A immediately. The boy was so against having to do anything outside of what was required and yet he brought her between camps, cared for her in the middle of the night and made sure that she was included in everything.

He almost had a complete meltdown when he found out that she was sick because of his actions.

It was manipulative but I hadn't told him the severity of her illness on purpose. If he knew that she had contracted Pneumonia I was positive that he would have found a way to get back to the school. Another of my many sins but I needed him here. It was good fortune that it all panned out to be in our favor but it could have gone wrong and I would have lost any rapport with him immediately.

"There's still plenty of time for that. Sakayanagi is a genius. From what I understand, all it would take is one significant win for her and she'll be satiated. She'll be at the forefront to recruit him."

"You're both talking about stealing my student right in front of me as if I'm not even here," I seethed angrily. "At least have a little bit of tact and have this conversation behind closed doors."

"Ayanokouji Kiyotaka is a troubled child who deserves a normal childhood. We should all stop and leave him alone, he should at least be allowed that." I said bitterly.

What a hypocrite I am.

"Troubled child who deserves a normal childhood," Sakagami repeated. "He told Ryuen to submit the incorrect names and threatened one of my students. That child is a monster, he should be expelled."

"Do you have proof?"

"If I did he'd be expelled immediately!"

"Then you will keep your mouth shut! You know better than anyone else that unless you have proof, it didn't happen. Your own students framed one of mine for a fight he didn't even start and I said nothing, because there was no proof. So you will do the same and you will leave Ayanokouji Kiyotaka alone!" I spat while slamming my now empty glass on the bar.

"Okay let's all calm down here," Mashima said diplomatically, putting a hand on my shoulder.

"Our Sae-chan is awfully protective over Kiyotaka-kun. Has he brought out your maternal side?" Hoshinomiya said playfully.

I glared at her angrily before throwing down my previous diluted whiskey and ordering another. I wanted to get as drunk as possible and try to sleep. Hopefully by morning, this weak and sickening side to me will be long gone.

"You should really slow down with that, you're going too fast." Mashima frowned.

"I'm fine, I'm fine. I just need to drink."

"Why do you look so down when this was the best result you could have hoped for?"

"Yes... it was. But at what cost? You didn't see him. He looked like he was a dead man walking. If I didn't know him so well it wouldn't have bothered me but he was so different to how he normally is... I don't think I want to see him like that again."

"You can't treat him with favoritism, they all deserve your attention. A class can only go far if they're working together giving their best effort."

"We all play favorites, Mashima-kun. I'm just honest enough to admit that Ayanokouji is mine."

"Don't you think you're relying too much on Kiyotaka-kun? What if he chooses love over results? Surely you would know something about that, wouldn't you?" Hoshinomiya asked.

While it may seem like we were having our usual back and forth, the change in tension in the air was noticeable. Sakagami, who had previously been angry and then silent suddenly stood and tried to placate us. Mashima sat quietly just observing how things would unfold.

"I could say the same about you. Your one significant win was because of Ayanokouji, is that why you asked Mashima-kun to switch? So that you could try to pull him over to Class B? I'm disappointed in you, Mashima-kun. What did she give you to make you swap?"

"I think we should change subjects, this is getting a little out of hand. Our role as educators is to guide them. Petty squabbles like this are not becoming of this institution." Sakagami cut in.

"You think I'm finished with you? How dare you call him a monster. Did you see the articles? Do you know what that boy has been through?"

"That does not excuse his actions." Sakagami frowned. "This school has rules. Regardless of his family or circumstances, there is no excuse for breaking them."

"So report him, have an investigation take place and have him expelled. But you won't, will you? Because you know that he has the points to overturn the expulsion and you don't want him continuing to come after your class. You're afraid of a child, how pathetic."

"Alright Chabashira, that's enough." Mashima snapped.

I continued to drink, ignoring the others. I didn't want to be around them at the moment, I didn't want to be on this ship. I just wanted to drink alone in silence. Perhaps if I drank enough, this guilt that continued to grip at my heart would go away and I could finally sleep.

The others started talking amongst themselves, now ignoring me completely. I could see sidelong glares coming from Sakagami and Hoshinomiya continued to look at me with calculating eyes momentarily but Mashima let me be.

I was certain that Ayanokouji wouldn't leave, he would never leave Matsuo behind. They were a strange duo but they got along well. Matsuo is desperate for his approval, it couldn't have been easy for him. When your best friend is a genius with no weaknesses it's obvious to see why he has an inferiority complex.

He'd also made a number of friends in Class D. I was grateful for that, not only because of my own interests. That boy had slowly wormed his way into my heart. I'd never been attached to any particular student but what I said to the others wasn't a lie.

Ayanokouji Kiyotaka was my favorite student. I wanted him to succeed but I also wanted him to be happy.

When I left I didn't say anything to them, no parting words or anything. I just got up from my seat and stumbled down the steps towards my room. As I reached the landing down the bottom, I felt it. Mashima was right, I drank far too much too quickly.

Rather than look for a toilet I ran out the doors to the port side of the ship and vomited over the side railing. I could instantly feel my head start to clear and I felt a little better. The hand that was rubbing my back and another holding my hair out of my face was doing wonders for me.

Hands? What?

"Chabashira-sensei, please don't drink so much. I know you're in celebration mode but you'll never find a boyfriend if you drink and smoke so much."

This brat. What the hell was he doing up at two in the morning?

"I'll have you know that if I wanted to find a boyfriend it wouldn't be difficult. I rather enjoy being single."

"Spoken like a true middle aged woman without any options." Ayanokouji grinned.

Good, he was back to normal. Still, regardless of how relieved I felt I had appearances to keep. So instead, I put on the sternest look that I could muster and glared at him with reproach.

"How many times must I tell you that I am still your teacher and you my student? There are limits to how you can speak to me, Ayanokouji."

"Okay, okay. You'd think I didn't just win a special test for you or something. At least thank me or something."

Ayanokouji slipped himself under my arm before walking me over to the bench that he must have been sitting on. It was sweet but unnecessary and yet for some reason I didn't point this out. I just allowed him to walk me over to the bench before taking a seat and pulling out my packet of cigarettes before shaking the packet tauntingly at him.

"Want one?" I teased him.

"Absolutely not!" Ayanokouji said quickly with his hands raised in surrender.

I lit my cigarette while continuing to chuckle to myself. After a moment, Ayanokouji got up and left quickly before returning with a bottle of water without my asking. The taste of vomit was still in my mouth so I gratefully accepted before drinking generously and sitting in silence with him.

Ayanokouji looked troubled. While he was acting normally there was something different about him, he didn't look happy. Perhaps we both had the same issue, perhaps this win was bittersweet for him too.

Remembering what Sakagami had said at the bar, I couldn't help but believe that it was true. That Ayanokouji must have threatened one of Class C's students if they didn't submit the names that he'd given them. As long as the admission never came from his mouth though, I would do nothing.

Well... Perhaps I'm lying to myself once again. If he told me the truth I'd pretend I didn't hear it.

I really did want to know how he did it and so I asked him.

"How did you pull it off?"

He hesitated and continued to stare out into the abyss of the ocean in front of the bench. After a while, he reluctantly began to speak.

"I told Ryuen that if he didn't submit the names that I'd given him that I'd be inclined to pay points to expel each of his classmates one by one on a monthly basis. I'm guessing that it worked then?"

I wasn't expecting that and I was confused as I took the cigarette from my mouth and ashed on the ground while turning to him.

"I thought I told you that that isn't possible? You can only overturn expulsions, you can't pay to have someone removed."

For once I felt relieved, he turned to me with a wide grin. He really is handsome, if only I were about ten years younger...

"Yes but you also said that you've never been asked that question, I figured no one else has either. He thinks BUDDY is mine, it's a question he'd never ask and I leveraged that. I asked you to announce that Class D was meeting at the pool to put him on a timer hoping that he'd make a rash decision.

"Either way we would have won. If Eiichiro made a deal with Class A or B to pay points in exchange for our names we'd still win with four hundred and fifty points and we'd get private points in exchange. The rules were specific, we lose Class Points for having our VIP's guessed. I figured that it wouldn't come out of the points that we got from guessing the VIP's, the deductions would come from our current Class Points and we're at zero. You told me we can't drop below that.

"In the best case scenario, Ryuen submits the wrong names and we get the Private Points and the Class Points. Either we finish with 600 points and we become Class C or we end up with 450 and either my girlfriend or my sister increased their Class Points. Either way it was a win, I had us covered regardless so you can rest easy now. The gap has been bridged. Just don't expect too much from me from now on."

This child was incredible. The difference between him and the rest was absurd. Unlike Matsuo who had struggled with the island, he had contingencies. Judging by the fact that he only told me a small portion and I knew that he wasn't telling me everything, he had contingencies for his contingencies as well.

So why wasn't I happy? Why wasn't I free from guilt now that my student had returned to normalcy?

"You far exceeded my expectations. I'm very proud of you, Ayanokouji."

"...Thank you, Chabashira-sensei." He said quietly, staring at a book in his hands.

The body in the library by Agatha Christie.

I'd never read the book before. I wondered what the significance of it was as Ayanokouji seemed to look at the cover sadly.

"Is that all that you did?"

It was probably a poor choice to ask him outright like that as I saw him flinch violently, his hands started shaking and I watched the book quivering in his hands. He didn't answer, he simply sat there in silence.

"Do you think I'm a good person, Chabashira-sensei?" He asked suddenly.

It was a loaded question, something that had a deeper meaning than the simplicity of a yes or no question. No doubt, my student was in turmoil. Perhaps whatever state I had seen him in had lingering effects.

I do believe that Ayanokouji is a good person but only he knows the answer to that question. Regardless of what others think, in a situation like this the only thing that matters is what you believe. I could give Ayanokouji a speech and point out all his good points and minimize his bad ones just so that he would feel better in this situation but it would do little for him.

Loathe as I am to admit it, this child is far smarter than I am. Any lies or false praise wouldn't be able to fool him. It also would do little to help him right now. So instead, I simply took a page from Hoshinomiya and repeated what she had said earlier.

"Who knows,"

The guilt in my heart was lessened just a little bit as I heard Ayanokouji chuckle at my answer.

Updated A/N:

I forgot to put this but I've been curious since I haven't done this in quite some time but now that we have quite a few SS' written I was curious if your favourite has changed or if you still like your original. Please comment on your choice and for the love of god please do not vote for the cursed chapter

Leadership

Public Humiliation

The day my life flashed before my eyes

A lesson from a perfect being

Puzzles

The dragons empty victory

Now I sit broken hearted

Who knows

my time to shine (Please don't)

There's no such thing as loyalty

The bet

The worth of a soul

Chapter 36

I was about to head to breakfast to eat but as luck would have it my path was impeded. Before I could say anything, Satou and Shinohara had grabbed both of my arms and stopped me in my tracks.

It would have been easy to overpower them but I'm not one to physically deal with women so I simply allowed them to stop me and change our trajectory.

"Not this time, Ayanokouji-kun! You went to sleep before any of us could get an explanation. Matsuo-kun's orders, you're coming with us." Satou said firmly.

"Is that right?" I asked in amusement.

"That's right, you won't stop us either," Shinohara said with determination.

O'kawaii koto.

"You do realize that I could get out of this hold rather easily, right?"

"Matsuo-kun said you'd say that and he said to say 'If you try and get away, I'll start sending spoilers for I tripped over a vine, fell off a cliff and now I'm engaged to a water sprite volume two.'"

Joke's on him, I've already read up to volume three.

We descended down to the lower decks where there was a Japanese Restaurant that I'd never been to before, it wasn't really frequented by the rest of the school. Most people either ate at the Ocean Cafe because of the view of the water or they'd eat in the buffet because of the selection. This place was rather formal normally, I'd actually planned to take Honami on a date here before we got back to the school.

When we arrived, both of the hostesses bowed before opening the double doors and suddenly the sounds of eating had died out instantly and the sounds of chopsticks being put down on plates clattered throughout the restaurant. Ignoring them all, I took a seat next to Eiichiro who continued to flick through his phone as though I wasn't even there.

Slowly but surely when they realized I wasn't going to say anything, they all started to eat again. The chatter was subdued though, most talked simply to fill the uncomfortable silence but tried to remain quiet enough either to not be a hindrance or to eavesdrop on the eventual expected explanation.

"Anything good here?"

"Salmon Nigiri's good, the miso soup is tasty too," Eiichiro said absentmindedly, continuing to look through his phone.

I decided to go with his recommendation and placed my order before taking out my own phone and having a look at the school boards. It was everywhere, people discussing how the Zodiac Exam had already concluded and varying theories on how it had happened.

Curiously, that meddlesome sister of mine had liked and upvoted every theory that had me involved as the reason behind the win. Posts praising Manabu for finding a gem in the rough in Class D, posts that I'd been hiding my intelligence by pretending to be lazy. Some of them were utterly ridiculous but if they praised me, there was a notification underneath that said ' liked by Sakayanagi Arisu'.

"Well?" Horikita cut through the ambience of the table suddenly.

I looked up at her with confusion as I sipped on the tea that the waitress generously poured for me.

At our table Horikita, Matsushita, Kushida, Hirata and Eiichiro all stopped what they were doing and feigned as though they weren't listening intently. The chatter started to die down around the room again and it descended into silence once again.

"Well, what?"

"Well... how did you do it?" Horikita said with gritted teeth, attempting not to lose her patience.

"How did I do what?"

"Are you purposefully trying to make me throw my tea at you?"

"Is it working?"

"Would you stop provoking her already? I'm trying to eat here," Eiichiro scolded me calmly.

I shrugged and started to eat while ignoring the stares coming from the rest of the room. At the end of the day, just like on the island, none of them wanted to be the reason to break the silence. They waited impatiently for someone to make me say something but none of them had the guts to be the first one off the ranks.

"Thank you, Ayanokouji-kun." Matsushita said quietly. "If you hadn't done whatever it is that you did... Still, are you okay?"

"Of course," I said with a smile. "Thank you for asking, I'm fine now. I heard we're all going to be getting a lot of points, what are you going to spend it on?"

"You're really not going to tell us how you did it?" Horikita cut in, ignoring my attempt at a segway.

"Does it matter how he did it? The exam's over and we got points. We should just be grateful that he did something." Eiichiro said.

"This again with you, what is wrong with you? There are lessons in success and failure yet you refuse to consult with him even after the island. Aren't you curious? Don't you want to improve and see what we missed?"

"What is there to consult about? How can you improve on what just happened? We won before the test even started. He obviously didn't tell us when we asked and if you know anything about him, you'll know that he only ever says something when he wants to. Forcing him like this achieves nothing."

"You're okay with that?"

"Of course I'm not,"

"So you're just going to roll over and let him have his way again." Yukimura finally chimed in.

"Didn't you hear what Matsuo-kun said, he won't tell us even if we ask. Like Matsushita said, we should just be grateful for whatever he did, we have a chance now!" Shinohara said back.

"Why now all of a sudden?"

"Don't you think that if I could tell you how I did it, I would have done so already?" I said before the conversation could run away any further.

At the sound of my voice, everyone died down again, eager to hear what I had to say. They wouldn't be getting an explanation out of me and I didn't owe them one. Regardless of the fact that Arisu had successfully forced me into acting, she must have forgotten who she was dealing with. If she truly wanted to drag me kicking and screaming into the light, she would learn that I could bite and thrash while she was doing so.

"Why wouldn't you be able to tell us?"

"If I could tell you that, I would have already. It completely defeats the purpose of not telling you how I did it."

"Is it because you don't trust us?" Kushida asked sadly.

I didn't trust her as far as I could throw her. Probably not the best analogy, I think I could throw her pretty far but still...

"Not with this I can't,"

"What if we promise that we won't reveal anything that you say?" Horikita offered diplomatically.

I looked around the room, everyone looked as though they wanted to make that promise. Unable to satiate their curiosity, they'd agree to just about anything to get their explanation. I was dangling Pandora's Box right in front of their eyes, they desperately wanted to open it like a child that was told they shouldn't play with a power point.

"I don't know... promises can be broken." I hesitated. "I can't risk this getting out, it's complicated."

"You can trust us, Ayanokouji-kun. We promise. We won't tell anyone, right guys?" Kushida said enthusiastically.

"I really can't... It's not that simple."

"Whatever the reason is Ayanokouji-kun, I promise you that I will not tell a soul." Horikita said. "The rest of us won't either, you really came through for us. We won't betray your trust."

There was a collective nod throughout the room as one by one they all agreed and sat a little straighter. Now was the time, it wouldn't be believable if I just came out with my made up scenario. I needed to appear hesitant, I needed to make them work for it. Otherwise they would chalk it up to simply being a lie.

"I wasn't the one who figured out who the VIP's were. Someone else gave me the names." I said reluctantly.

Silence... It stretched almost for an eternity but realistically it wasn't that long. Silence always seems to feel like it stretches longer than it lasts in reality.

"Are you fucking kidding me? We submitted names that you weren't even sure were right?" Yamauchi exclaimed angrily.

"No way, there's no way."

"We're screwed... what if the names are wrong?"

"Who gave you the names?" Yukimura asked.

"Oh my God... it was Sakayanagi-san wasn't it?" Horikita said suddenly as the epiphany hit her.

Eiichiro looked at me with a bit of annoyed awe, he was basically being given a real life masterclass on manipulation. Be ambiguous and let them fill in the blanks. I was sure he didn't like it, especially since he knew the truth. This was necessary, he needed to see. This is what it took, you have to deceive. At times it was just as important to lie to your allies just as much as it was to deceive your foes.

"Why would she be the one to sell out her class?" Matsushita frowned.

Matsushita knew it wasn't what happened but she wasn't about to sell me out. This wasn't what she had in mind when I reluctantly agreed to tell them how I found the right names.

"Class A is in a civil war, Sakayanagi-san wants to lead the class. If she would be able to give Katsuragi a substantial loss, it would help her case. She'd be the one who benefits the most from selling out Class A..."

"That doesn't make any sense though, why would she sabotage herself? If she did do it, she'd be losing a hundred and fifty class points. It doesn't make any sense," Miyake frowned.

"Because she loves Ayanokouji-kun! I told you it wasn't a bad bet!" Hasebe exclaimed, slapping his arm.

"Well I agree with that but not that way! How many times do I have to remind you that they're siblings?"

I continued to eat in silence as the class continued to argue on the merits of the possibility that Arisu had given me the names. As long as they weren't asking me if I was the one who figured everything out then they could tell themselves whatever they wanted. This was just a slight test run to see whether others would find it plausible that Arisu had given me the names.

"Is that really what happened, Ayanokouji? Tell us the truth. Did Sakayanagi give you the names?" Yukimura asked.

"What do you think is a more plausible scenario? That I'm some secret genius that managed to figure out every name after one meeting when all I've ever scored is fifty in every exam? Or that my known genius sister took pity on the fact that I'm still scraping the bottom of the barrel?"

"That's not what I asked you,"

"Well, that's all I'm going to say. The special test is over, we'll find out if the names I was given were right in a few days."

When I left after finishing my food, most of the class was continuing to debate amongst themselves on whether or not we were screwed. The majority of them were disheartened, too beaten with the results on the island and the fact that we were at zero class points for so long that they didn't dare to hope.

It was something that I myself was hoping for, if they had thought that we lost it would be fortunate for me. When the results were announced and we won, they'd be too excited and relieved to ask anymore questions. After that I'd just have to lay low for the rest of summer vacation and hope that it wouldn't be the flavor of the month anymore.

It wasn't the ideal situation, ideally I wouldn't be questioned at all but this was the only way I could think of to salvage it. I was hopeful that someone in Class D would leak the information, I wanted everyone to think Arisu had given me the names. She may have put me in check but it wasn't checkmate until the king was taken.

I was barely even past the corridor when Eiichiro rushed after me and fell into step as I continued towards my dorm.

"Where are you heading?"

"I want to go to the pool, I'm going to change and head out there. Want to come with?"

"I have some things I want to take care of first, maybe later."

We walked in silence for a bit, Class A and B students continually watched me as I passed with contemplative eyes. Some were wary, others were friendly but none of them gave me their usual greetings. When we passed Hashimoto on the way to the stairs, he gave a small smile but didn't make eye contact and continued to pass us as though we weren't even there.

"Why did you lie to them?" Eiichiro asked when we were alone.

"If I hadn't then they'd be fighting to have me take over the class. I thought you'd be happy about this, we're probably Class C now and we have a significant win under our belts. You have momentum you can ride and you managed them flawlessly."

"You left me in the dark to fend for myself. You didn't fill me in on what you were planning or what you did and left me to pick up the pieces. I had no idea what I was doing." Eiichiro said angrily.

"Are you mad at me?" I asked dumbfounded.

It didn't take long for me to change but once I was done I sat on the bed while Eiichiro continued to pace.

"I'm frustrated, Kiyotaka! I'm happy that you did this for us because you're right, we won and it'll be huge for morale but you carried me. How is this any different from you buying me a seat at Class A? I want to learn from you, I don't want to be dragged like I'm useless!"

"You're not useless."

"So why do I feel like I am?" Eiichiro said quietly.

I never gave credence to how difficult it must have been for him to be my friend. When we were younger, Eiichiro used to do martial arts. One day we had a spar when he had come over, excited to show me what he had learned. Unaware of the consequences, I beat him easily and not long after, Eiichiro stopped with his lessons and never went back again.

He was from a poor family, his father was old and continued to work so that he could provide for Eiichiro. His mother was dead and all of his achievements both academically and extracurricularly were overshadowed by my natural gifts. Despite all of that, he always treated me kindly and he was my best friend.

That didn't mean that I was good for him, I was the reason that he had such a low opinion of himself. Perhaps he didn't feel like he brought anything positive to our friendship even if he did on so many levels.

"Eiichiro, I'm very sorry that I haven't taken you seriously. I promise you that I will support you from now on with whatever you want to do. I promise that I will start teaching you anything you want to learn from now on. No more excuses, no more procrastinating."

It was hurtful that he didn't look like he was convinced. Eiichiro simply nodded as though it was just a natural reflex before he left without saying anything else.

I couldn't help but sigh in defeat, words weren't going to be enough. I'd have to prove it with my actions.

The short walk to the pool with a towel around my neck was fairly uneventful. While walking there and mulling over how best to help Eiichiro, I decided to do a little bit of shopping. I scrolled through BUDDY and came up with quite the selection of literature on leadership and tactics. Eiichiro would have my full and unwavering support and I wouldn't make excuses anymore. If this is what he wanted and he was willing to do the work, I'd be willing to help him.

I also knew that from now on I'd help the class, I wouldn't be taking the mantle of leading the class but I would participate. If he asked me to do something reasonable, regardless of whether or not I agreed with his course of action, I would assist.

One of the things that was integrated with BUDDY when it came to buying books was that the purchases of hardcover books also allowed you to download a digital copy as long as it was available. I had all of the download codes ready and I planned to have Eiichiro download them all, by the time I was finished with him he'd be begging me for Light Novel sessions again. Let us see if Matsuo Eiichiro would be happy when he gets what he wished for.

I was so distracted with my shopping spree, lying on my sunbed in a button up Hawaiian shirt and swimming trunks that I hadn't even noticed my girlfriend followed by Amikura Mako from Class B. Wearing a multicolored bikini top that tied around her neck and a pale blue sarong that covered her bottom half, a small bag that carried her necessities hanging from the crook of her arm as she stood there looking down at me.

I have seen many different types of Honami. School uniform Honami, casual clothes Honami, gym gear Honami. Swimsuit Honami was...

I've become a complete pervert. What is happening to me?

Thank you to whoever the man was who invented sunglasses that allowed me to inconspicuously watch and take in every inch of her without anyone knowing what I was doing. From the creamy exposed skin of those heavenly thighs all the way up to her neckline and clea-

What the hell was this girl doing to me? I'm Ayanokouji Kiyotaka, I will not be reduced to an ogling pervert. This was beneath me.

All that went out the window as Honami leaned down and placed her bag at my feet on my sunbed before her hand carefully reached towards my chin. Her slender fingers pushed my jaw up, closing my mouth which was apparently open like a fish in surprise at the gorgeous form of my girlfriend.

"You'll catch flies," Honami said teasingly.

I was caught... Send me back to that place, I need a refresher course.

"I was seeing what it was like to breathe through my mouth instead of my nose."

"Of course, my dear. I wasn't trying to insinuate anything," Honami giggled.

"Argh, you two are going to give me diabetes." Mako said, rolling her eyes as she followed behind and dropped a bag of her own at the sunbed next to me.

Well that was a new experience, I've never been called a pet name before. Strangely, I quite liked it when Honami called me that. She was looking quite proud of herself for catching me off guard. I was a little bit annoyed when I looked over her shoulder and saw some guys trying and failing to discreetly catch glances at Honami.

Rather than start a confrontation, I unbuttoned my Hawaiian shirt before putting it over her shoulders and covering her up. At first she looked confused and then she huffed in annoyance.

"Really Kiyotaka?"

"People are looking at you..."

"Yes, they are. Now girls are looking at you," Honami huffed, motioning to a few of Arisu's classmates who were now doing the same as the boys had previously been doing with Honami. "Does that mean that I need to go get you a rashguard?"

"Well, no... it's not the same thing,"

"How is it not?" Honami asked with a raised eyebrow and crossing her arms.

I will not allow this woman to distract me with her feminine ways. Even if the way that she was standing was incredibly hot, or the way that her crossed arms seemed to naturally highlight all of her god given gifts. The worst part about it all was that it wasn't even intentional on her part, all of this was purely natural for her.

This woman lets her guard down far too easily, she has no idea what she's doing.

"It just isn't," I said stubbornly before laying down on my sunbed again.

Honami rolled her eyes but didn't take the shirt off, instead she put both hands under her hair before fanning it back out over the back of the shirt and sitting at my feet. Mako watched the exchange with mischievousness before humming in playful thought.

"So possessive, Ayanokouji-kun. Should I be worried about my friend?"

"I'm not possessive, I'm just... protective."

Honami rolled her eyes but didn't say anything, continuing to rummage through her bag for whatever she was looking for.

"I'll let this one slide just because we have you to thank for this extra free time. I won't forgive you so easily though, you managed to weasel your way out of me scrutinizing you for the next few days in the meetings," Mako said teasingly.

"What makes you think I had anything to do with that?"

Mako snorted before taking out her phone and lying down on her own sunbed.

"Class A have been talking, apparently you went to their meeting and scared the pants off them. Everyone's talking about the fact that you're a genius who's been hiding in plain sight. Now I don't get to confirm it with my own eyes, how annoying."

Honami's flinch was barely noticeable as she paused for a moment in her search through her bag. I could see her lose focus in concern before she played it off and continued until she pulled out her sunscreen and turned to me.

"Am I allowed to take this off so I can put on my sunscreen?" Honami asked sarcastically, pointing at the shirt.

"That depends, can I put the sunscreen on for you?" I asked mockingly.

"Get a room, honestly." Mako said without taking her eyes off her phone.

Honami huffed but took the shirt off and handed me the bottle before turning so her back was facing me. It was only a sarcastic rebuttal but apparently I had just volunteered for sunscreen duty. I opened the sunscreen before putting some on her shoulders and continuing to talk to Mako.

"Maybe I was just afraid that the great and powerful Amikura Mako would be able to figure out that I was just an idiot that managed to trick her friend into dating me."

"Sure, sure. Try and butter me up but you'll crack one day. I know there's something you're hiding and I'm going to figure it out," Mako said confidently.

"What could I possibly be hiding?"

"All I know is that Honami was never interested in dating anyone. If she confessed to you, there's something special about you. I'm going to figure it out."

"You're not suggesting that Honami would only be dating me if I were a genius, are you?"

So it wasn't that she had suspicions about me, it was that she had faith in Honami's abilities at seeing different qualities in people. What a fascinating girl...

My attempt to try to catch her off guard did little, instead it just made her grin widen at my sudden attempt to throw it back in her face.

"How about you make it easier on both of us and you just tell me how you did it?" Mako continued.

I was distracted with the conversation with Mako, robotically continuing to apply sunscreen to Honami that I wasn't even aware of where my hands were. I was already done with her back and my hands had trailed to her front, my arms surrounding her. When my hands grazed over her ribs, Honami tensed and gasped suddenly as though she wasn't expecting it. With her back turned to me, all I could see was the tips of her ears glowing bright red before she snatched the bottle of sunscreen out of my hand.

"I-I can do the rest. Thank you, Kiyotaka."

Her hands were shaking as she squeezed the bottle and a torrent of sunscreen squirted all over her hands and the deck. Honami clumsily tried to catch it as more dropped onto the ground, lathering the abundance of cream as though it were all according to her plan. She looked like she was taking a shower in the stuff.

Mako snorted at the flustered Honami before looking at me expectantly.

"What's in it for me?"

"Brownie points with your girlfriends best friend,"

"I thought I was your best friend," I said to Honami with a frown.

"Don't drag me into this," Honami said over her shoulder, shaking her head.

She huffed in frustration at the absurd amount of sunscreen that was just being smeared at this point before taking her towel out and wiping the excess. Mako wasn't going to let this go as she took out her own sunscreen, I was so distracted by Honami that I hadn't even noticed her own cute polkadot swimsuit that suited her quite nicely.

"I have all day, Vice President Ayanokouji. You owe me after all, just give in and accept your fate."

Tearing my eyes away from Honami, I looked at Mako in confusion. Since when did I owe her?

"The points that I ended up paying when Honami missed class. I covered it because SOMEONE was all sleepy and stubbornly overworking themselves." Mako said teasingly.

"I offered to pay, you said you had it covered."

"I still paid, cough up the goods Ayanokouji-kun. You're not winning this one."

Honami finished cleaning up her mess before lying down next to me on her side and draping her arm and leg over me with her eyes closed. I would normally tease her about this but the sunbed next to us on the other side was already taken and I quite enjoyed this so I decided to stay quiet. She wasn't one for public displays of affection and this seemed to be rather difficult for her so I let it slide this time. She was trying.

"Let's just say I had a little bit of help from a guardian angel," I said ambiguously.

Honami's eyes snapped open at that as she looked at me, registering what I was insinuating. Mako was not stupid, she didn't need to be spoonfed. She knew exactly what I was alluding to the moment I inferred that Arisu had given me the names.

Mako's mouth opened and then closed a few times, seemingly dumbfounded on what to say next. It wasn't an outright admission, I didn't exactly flat out say that Arisu had helped me. I did the same with her as what I did with Class D, threw out a possibility and let her connect the dots.

I noticed from my peripheral vision that Machida had suddenly left the pool area. Apparently he was behind me the entire time.

It's not like I planned this. It's not like I made Mako work to try to get an answer from me. It's not like I said that just loud enough, knowing that Machida was behind me and listening in to what I was saying. It's not like I was trying to deceive Class A into thinking that I was just acting and that I was actually stupid and Arisu had actually been the one to crack the code and give me the names so that Katsuragi could lose...

I couldn't do something like that.

Mako continued to stare at me, the gears turning in her head as she continued to observe and analyze. I just continued to lay there, running my hand absentmindedly through Honami's hair while enjoying the sun glaring down on my skin. Honami's electric blue eyes were unblinking, staring up at me as she continued to wonder if she really did hear what I'd said.

After a few more moments of deliberation, Mako stood and stretched before turning to me and regarding me once more.

"How about we just pretend that I believe you and you can pretend that you're not a big fat liar," Mako grinned.

"I have single digit body fat, it's going to be a hard sell," I joked back.

Mako chuckled to herself as she walked to the edge of the pool before diving in.

As I looked back down at Honami, she still hadn't moved or taken her eyes off me. For the first time, she didn't look at me with unwavering trust. She looked at me as though she couldn't believe what she'd just heard and what I'd insinuated.

"You know," Honami started. "The only reason why she didn't believe you is because she doesn't know the extent of how close the power struggle is in Class A. If she did, she would have believed you."

"What do you mean? What did I say?"

Honami pulled me closer and lowered her voice to barely a whisper. To everyone else it looked like a private moment between a couple but I knew it was because she didn't want to be overheard.

"You all but said that Sakayanagi-san figured out how the VIP's are selected and gave you the names. You said just enough to let her connect the dots. If I didn't already know that you're a genius I would have believed you, knowing what I know about Class A.

"I didn't think that you were so good at lying. It's worrying. How can I know that you won't lie to me like that?" Honami whispered with concern all over her face.

It took a bit of effort and required careful contortion not to hurt her as I carefully maneuvered myself so I could take her face in my hands, her arm and leg still draped over me. When I kissed her, her eyes fluttered closed and the rest of the people at the pool faded away. When I pulled away and rested my forehead on hers, her eyes opened slowly, slightly dazed from the sudden affection.

I looked back, unblinking before opening my mouth and lying as easily as I could breathe.

"I would never lie to you, Honami."

A/N: Thank you to Zook who helped me out with this chapter with proof reading and making suggestions.

On a side note, there are a lot of stories that don't get read as much because for whatever reason they're hard to search and find on WattPad. A lot of these stories are really good and many of them I find to be more interesting and written better than even this story. I think that a lot of this stories success has to do with being blessed by the algorithm Gods.

For that reason, I decided to share any good stories that I find or I get recommended and if you guys are hungry for new things that you may not have found, perhaps check it out and give them some support :)

I really enjoy reading Sweet Citrus (Has had a number of name changes) It's been an interesting read, one that was suggested in the comments on an earlier chapter.

Also, please check out The World is your Oyster by HundredBlossoms. Just by the prologue it looks pretty interesting, looking forward to seeing how that ends up unfolding.

https//story/316991701-the-world-is-your-oyster?utm_source=ios _medium=link _content=story_info _page=story_details _uname=HundredBlossoms _originator=TET3JoNdd7K5TlhzesJzwxvIYSMLbUCFldXKuEi%2BoPPMXWnF7W1UPZv6DRBcYWooFguLPCw3VU8%2FmeoqK9NhQpBbN%2F%2BQOBoBo8C4LcRAl6uY%2BqfVKOgJP5uBwUS%2F1qNV

Hope you enjoyed the chapter. They can't all be adrenalinefilled bangers, I'll end up having a heart attack. xP

Chapter 37

A/N: People who don't like the Honami x Kiyo ship should probably skip this chapter, word of warning. This is pretty much all fluff.

Zook has been cracking the whip for me to crank more chapters out, I've been reduced to being a slave. If you want to thank someone for the chapter it would be them. Zook has helped a lot with the most recent chapters so thank you to Zook.

Next chapter will be a big one so it'll take a while. Not sure how long, don't expect too much from me :)

"This is all your fault."

"How is it my fault? You could have laid down on another sunbed, you're the one who practically molested me!"

"You're the one who kissed me in public! I don't know what's happened to you but you're constantly looking at me with... lewd eyes. Pervert!"

"I didn't see you complaining at the time!"

"Enough, you two. Get back to it. Those toilets aren't going to clean themselves." Chabashira warned us as she continued scrolling through her phone while leaning on the wall.

Apparently the school had rules for indecent displays of public affection. No one had said anything at the time, but once again people didn't mind their own business and photos were taken of Honami and I and posted on the school boards.

"Horikita-senpai is going to be so embarrassed. Tachibana-senpai is going to be livid! The student council Vice President and Secretary, cleaning toilets because someone couldn't keep their hands and lips to himself!" Honami muttered to herself as she scrubbed ferociously.

"How many points will it cost me for you to tell her to shut up?" I asked Chabashira-sensei, trying to keep my voice down.

It didn't work, Honami bristled in annoyance.

"Why would I tell you that? I'm quite enjoying watching her debase you," Chabashira smirked. "She's right, you need to learn that the rules apply to you too. You're being a menace."

"I want to change classes,"

"No you don't."

"I hate you."

"Keep cleaning, you still have the rest of the floor to do. I'll be back in an hour to check on your progress. Be grateful that this is what I decided to punish you with, your father will not be impressed." Chabashira said as she got up and left.

Honami was scrubbing the toilet with so much ferocity that I was worried that she'd put a hole in the ship. She was sweaty and her hair was swaying back and forth angrily, tied up in a ponytail to keep it out of her face.

The moment that Chabashira was out the door, I took my gloves off before dropping them on the tiled floor, sitting on the sinks and taking out my phone. Honami whirled around, brandishing her toilet brush at me like it was a sword at the sound of my rubber gloves snapping off and hitting the floor. Toilet water flew off the bristles but I was out of range.

"Ayanokouji Kiyotaka. What do you think you're doing?"

"Taking a break,"

"You will not leave this work to me! You get those gloves back on and help me, immediately! Right now Ayanokouji Kiyotaka!"

I glanced up from my phone in boredom at the furious blonde in front of me who was glaring at me challengingly, as though daring me not to obey.

"'You're more than welcome to give me all of your work and I'll do it without complaint,'" I quoted absentmindedly.

Honami looked completely confused, the toilet brush went down to her side as she stared at me and waited for me to elaborate.

"What are you talking about?"

"That's what you said to me when we first met, when I gave you the secretary position."

Wrong thing to say, I knew it instantly.

It was as though her anger gave energy to that ponytail as it floated behind her. It was as though Honami had her own whiteroom mode as her pupils dilated and disappeared. Similarly to how the anime's I enjoy watching would always portray female leads just before they went completely psychotic.

"I am going to give you an opportunity to rethink what you just said." Honami said calmly.

Honami has been playing with me lately. Lying on my bed and teasing me, pulling her to me when I was the one who kissed her in the room. Wearing that cursed bikini and lying on my sunbed and then having the audacity to make out like it was my fault when she was constantly tempting me.

Wars have been started for less. I will not be subjugated by this woman.

Jumping off from the sink I stood to my full height, looking down at her. Honami didn't raise her head, simply raising her line of sight to look up at me as I looked down at her, trying to intimidate her.

She didn't flinch and met me head on. As expected of the former leader of Class B.

"No."

So this would be our first fight, another new experience. The battlefield had been set and I wasn't going to back down. Regardless of if I was right or wrong, Honami was being defiant and a precedent would not be set of me folding whenever she confronted me on things.

One of the things that frustrated me more than anything about Honami was how stubborn she is. Funnily enough, it was also one of the things I enjoyed most about her personality. Everything in moderation, it shows how close and intimate we have become so quickly, she wasn't comfortable enough with anyone to show when she was upset or angry.

She did it with me, only with me. Honami was also one of the few people who wouldn't simply let me have my way.

"When I said that, I meant with Student Council duties. Not with your punishments. I'm your secretary, not your slave." Honami said firmly.

"You should have chosen your words more carefully then." I fired back calmly.

"You should choose your next words carefully as well, Ayanokouji-kun. I also said that back when we were nothing but mere acquaintances back then. I'm your girlfriend now. I hope you don't honestly expect me to continue doing everything from now on, do you?"

It shouldn't be like this, we were having an argument. Our very first disagreement as a couple that started on one topic and moved to another. It was dangerous because quite honestly I didn't expect her to continue doing everything for me anymore but my pride didn't allow me to admit that. If I backed down now on this, I'd be giving up ground and I wasn't prepared to do that.

I also had to admit that there was a part of me that found this angry and annoyed Honami to be unbelievably attractive. Incredibly so.

"A deal is a deal, Ichinose. I hope you didn't confess simply to get out of your prior commitments. I thought that you weren't one to back out of things once you've given your word."

Ichinose looked hurt when I insinuated that her feelings for me weren't genuine and for a moment I felt like I went too far with that one. The hurt look on her face turned angry as those bright blue eyes I enjoy looking into all the time started to water.

"Circumstances change, Ayanokouji-kun." Ichinose hissed. "We're a couple now, we're a package deal. That means we average our misery, I will not be treated like a slave or a doormat!"

She fell silent as the door to the bathroom swung open and Koenji entered, humming a tune to himself and dripping water all over the floor of the bathroom. The same floor that we were due to clean. That ponytail suddenly dropped back down, the demonic forces no longer giving it life. Ichinose frowned at the water falling onto the floor but said nothing to Koenji as he walked to the sink.

Koenji didn't even look at us, completely disinterested as he turned on the tap and let the cold water run at the highest pressure. I had no idea what he was trying to achieve, he was already dripping wet. Letting the water run, he looked up at his reflection in the mirror and frowned in disdain.

"The facilities on this ship are certainly lacking, this mirror is filthy. How am I expected to see myself in this? Ichinose-girl, wipe this down at once if you please,"

On the inside, I could see that Ichinose was fuming. On the outside, she was the picture of friendly and helpful. Rather than rise to the bait and lose her temper, she simply removed her gloves one by one before shoving the gloves and the toilet brush into my chest. Completely by reflex, I grabbed at them as she let go before turning to Koenji with a smile.

"I'm sorry, Koenji-kun. I need to go to the ladies room, Ayanokouji-kun can clean that for you. I'll be right back,"

She turned on her heel with grace, ponytail swishing behind her as she briskly left the room. Something told me she wasn't coming back.

Koenji snorted with laughter before running his hands through the cold water and fixing his hair while looking into the mirror. What an absolute waste, his hair was already dripping wet all over the floor.

"It appears I've misjudged Ichinose-girl, she's far more interesting than I originally anticipated."

"You do realize that you've just firmly put me in the doghouse right now?"

"You were doing a very good job of it yourself from what I could hear before I entered."

Looking down at Ichinose's gloves and toilet brush in hand I realized that girlfriends were an absolute nightmare. How annoying. My life was far simpler when I was single, those that envy me have no idea what life is like. They have no idea how good they have it. I sighed in exasperation before getting back to cleaning, ignoring Koenji who was watching with amusement.

"Oh how the mighty have fallen, to think the Ayanokouji Kiyotaka is in here scrubbing toilets while others are lazing about. Perhaps karma truly does exist."

I ignored the taunting jab simply because I knew that Koenji didn't mean anything malicious behind it. This meeting was fortunate as well, I needed to speak to him anyway. I just wished his timing was better, perhaps a meeting at the pool rather than with me putting on a pair of pink rubber gloves and wielding a toilet brush.

"It's not all bad. If Professor Ayanokouji is watching this from whatever hell he's in and seeing what has become of his masterpiece... I couldn't think of any better way of disgracing his memory."

"You truly do have a dark sense of humor,"

"Sometimes you just have to make the best of a shitty situation," I joked.

Koenji snorted before shaking his head at the terrible pun.

"I couldn't help but notice that you had not transferred any funds to my account. I understand that we hadn't exactly agreed on the terms but I assumed that we had an agreement."

"We would have," I said nonchalantly. "However I seem to remember you saying that you would stay on the island as long as I was there. If memory serves, you left and retired early."

Koenji turned off the tap before shaking his hands dry with a frown. After a moment of consideration, he took the towel from his shoulders before drying himself off while watching me scrubbing the white porcelain of the toilet bowl. When he was no longer dripping on the floor, he paused thoughtfully before wiping off the water he just shook onto the basin with the same towel.

"So you've decided against our arrangement then?"

"I didn't say that, I was simply withholding funds until we could negotiate the terms. You're about to get a substantial amount of points once the transfers come through, do you even need more than that?"

"A perfect existence requires a certain standard of living. One can not enjoy life when living in subhuman conditions."

"Many people around the world do just fine with the small amount that they have."

"Many people are not fortunate enough to live a life of abundance, I am one such person. I do not enjoy living in squalor, I thought I made that perfectly clear on the island."

"I also made it clear that I am not motivated by money. If you want points on a consistent basis then I am happy to provide them to you. However, if you want to give me something in return in order to square a debt, I want something else."

Finishing the toilet I was cleaning and getting to my feet with a groan, I turned around to face Koenji who was listening with interest as I moved to the next cubicle. Eyeing him thoughtfully as I walked, I regarded him carefully before getting started again.

"I'm going to start actively participating from now on. I also still want to remain in obscurity."

"A fool's errand," Koenji observed dismissively. "Your actions contradict each other. You want to remain in the shadows and yet you eviscerated everyone. I can't understand you. By far, you are the most contradictory existence I have ever come across."

I stopped scrubbing for a moment before carefully weighing up my options. Of all the people who knew my secret aside from Arisu and Eiichiro, Koenji was the most trustworthy. He never alluded to it, he didn't seek out my attention at all and he actively worked in my interests. Koenji has done a lot to draw attention away from me and yet during breakfast he remained silent.

I could understand why now, he didn't understand what I was doing. Koenji simply didn't act because he wasn't sure what my reasons for doing what I did were or what my goals were.

I needed an ally, now more than ever. Eiichiro seemed to be annoyed with me, Arisu was actively trying to get me exposed and Ichinose was throwing a tantrum. Kushida was meddlesome as ever, Horikita was being annoying and everyone else was now suspicious of me.

Koenji was probably the only person I could turn to right now and to be completely honest, probably one of the few people I could go to for advice at this stage.

"I was forced into action, Ryuen threatened Arisu and I lost control of myself. I'm trying to make the best of a bad situation that I put myself in." I admitted shamefully.

"I see," Koenji said after a long pause. "Judging by the fact that you're attempting to throw Sakayanagi-girl under the proverbial bus, am I right in assuming that this was a result of some sort of ploy on her behalf?"

"Sometimes I wonder if you were in the White Room," I chuckled in amusement. "You're quite quick on the draw."

"I'll take that as a compliment but only because I must," Koenji shuddered. "The thought of spending any time in that repulsive place makes me uncomfortable."

"If you're going to stay here and chat to me at least get those gloves on and give me a hand,"

"A Koenji does not scrub toilets."

"And an Ayanokouji does?"

"Evidently, they do."

"Asshole," I muttered to myself.

"I also do not do things unnecessarily. I requested points in exchange for money simply because I do not see a reason to compete in these menial tasks. Competing against these plebeians is beneath me."

I couldn't help but sigh in frustration, so this is what Eiichiro goes through with me.

"I'm not asking you to do anything more than what I am going to do. All I ask is that you put forward as much effort as I do and we'll call it even. I'll subsidize your standard of living, all I ask is that you do as much as I do."

I never saw someone agree so fast. Have I really set the bar so low?

"Deal."

"Excellent!" I exclaimed, finishing the toilet that I was working on before getting back to my feet with gusto.

I quickly moved towards my own gloves and brush that lay forgotten on the floor from earlier before picking them up with excitement and holding them out to Koenji. He looked at the items in my hand with pure disgust, looking at me questioningly.

"Right now I'm scrubbing toilets. You'll do as much as I do so... let's get to work together."

Koenji's eyes moved from the brush and gloves to my expectantly happy smile, back and forth over and over. Eventually, he simply walked past me to exit the public washroom while talking over his shoulder.

"I don't need points this month, clean your own toilets."

I was gobsmacked as the door closed behind him and I was left alone with toilet brushes in hand. How could this happen to me? I wanted to cry comical tears at this turn of events, where did my life go wrong?

I almost wanted to... do that. It brought up a curious thought, if I did and everything around me turned white, would I simply stop because everything simply looked clean? Would I be put into an endless loop of going into that abyss and coming out? Koenji was right, I really did have a rather dark sense of humor.

Irrespective, I continued to clean. It gave me a chance to go over things in my head. Truth be told, I'm a clean and tidy person. My dorm is almost clinical, everything has a place and everything is spotless. I have a rather OCD personality when it comes to things like that, my collection of books and paraphernalia are all lined up perfectly and in order. Plates and glasses all have a certain order to them, same with the items in my pantry and refrigerator.

I was capable of doing this much, I just didn't like to. Too much work.

As I continued to clean and pulled out the bucket and mop to get to work on the floor, I couldn't help but notice that Honami really didn't return. I started to feel bad, perhaps I went a little too far. I even started to refer to her as Ichinose again for a short while, I was simply matching her energy but it was notable nonetheless.

As I continued to work about my tasks, I started to go into autopilot mode and I drifted into my thoughts once again. A lot has happened in two days, I had a lot to do and a lot of things that needed to be addressed.

Most notably, Eiichiro. He was my best friend and it didn't take a genius to figure out that he was exasperated with me. I had plans to address it but at the same time he needed time. This was a long time coming and I was deserving of this treatment. I was curious as to what Chabashira had told him but didn't think to ask at the time. It was of little consequence really, it was only a matter of time before he became like this, regardless of what she said.

I wonder what Tsubasa would say if she could have seen these events unfold. Since meeting Honami and spending time at this school, I've thought very little of her. She always went with the flow of things, never asking to do something and simply tagging along with everything we wanted to do. Tsubasa is a bit of a tomboy, she frequently lapsed into strange speech patterns which Eiichiro and I constantly teased her about.

I know that if she was here and she saw the way I was acting, she would take Eiichiro's side and I would be on the receiving end of a severe ear beating.

There was also Kushida. What to do about Kushida Kikyo.

That meddlesome woman was becoming more and more brazen. Revelations about my past and my potential were without a doubt heightening her interest in me. She wasn't going to stop and her meddling was sure to escalate to dangerous levels. I couldn't see a way to make her stop, if things get any worse, I'd need to have her expelled.

It was the reason why I asked Chabashira-sensei if I could pay to get someone expelled. If she said it was possible, Kushida would be out of Advanced Nurturing High School the moment that we were back on land. Unfortunately, I didn't get the answer I wanted.

The information was useful though, it was a useful tool that I was able to use to put more pressure onto Ryuen.

If I'm being honest with myself though, it was a rather useless threat. The pressure didn't come from the threat of expelling his classmates, it came from my threat to Shiina Hiyori. Now that I was out of that white abyss, I really had gone too far. She was another that I wanted to mend fences with. I doubted that Ryuen or Ishizaki hadn't told her about the fact that I threatened her. Only time would tell if she would inform Honami of what I had done but I was doubtful she would. Shiina didn't seem like the type.

There was also Karuizawa. What to do about Karuizawa Kei?

I asked Chabashira-sensei for the footage of the camera's in the fire escape. She agreed to get it for me but was thoroughly confused as to why I had asked for it. I wanted to use the footage as an olive branch to Karuizawa. She's my friend and I abandoned her when she was vulnerable. Karuizawa Kei and I have quite an interesting friendship.

The truth is that of all the girls that are in our class, she really was the only one who supported me as a genuine friend without any romantic interest and without asking for anything in return. Satou was similar but I wasn't as close to her as I was to Karuizawa. My friendship with Satou was merely a byproduct of my friendship with Karuizawa.

Of everyone in Class D, she was the only one who believed in and supported my relationship with Honami. She was the one who stood up to the others when they wanted to keep her out of the camp. She was the one who was genuinely the happiest when she found out we were together. The points from the pool was simply a reward to her, she was actually happy that we were together.

Karuizawa was also the one that was most concerned about Honami during the meeting when she was being attacked. There seemed to be an underlying reason behind it but she was concerned. I really did want to mend that relationship, Karuizawa is a precious friend of mine. I'd have to reach out to Hirata for assistance.

Then there was that meddlesome imouto of mine...

Damn that loli.

My plans for my dear sister were quite simple, as Koenji had put it, I was going to throw her under the bus.

I'd already started the ball rolling, Machida had definitely reported what he heard to Katsuragi. He wasn't a fool though, he'd know for sure that Arisu hadn't given me the names. The question would be if Katsuragi had the wherewithal to see what I was offering him. A chance to cement his leadership position in Class A.

I was empowering him, he had the opportunity to pin all of the blame onto Arisu. Between her staying with Class D on the island, losing them precious points and now handing over a win to Class D there would be questions about her loyalty.

The coming hours would be critical, as long a-

The message chime from my phone cut me from my thoughts. Curiously taking my gloves off with a snap, I couldn't help but feel like this would be a bad omen as I took my phone from my pocket to check what this was about.

Why is this happening to me?

Of all the times that Honami could have thrown a tantrum and refused to work, why now? I swear I've said it a thousand times. That woman will be the death of me.

It wasn't what I was expecting... It was too early. No... Not now... Why now?

Due to the Zodiac Special Test concluding early, it has been decided that the results will be released early. The results will be announced at 18:00 this evening.

I heaved a heavy sigh while looking at the rest of the cleaning I had to do, I still had two other restrooms to clean on this floor alone. I only had roughly four hours before the results would be announced. Fantastic.

I redoubled my efforts, rolling up my sleeves and cleaning the toilets as best I could. There was only half an hour left until Chabashira-sensei returned and I didn't want her to keep me behind if the work wasn't done. After finishing up the second and finally making it to the third, Chabashira-sensei opened the door and walked in, carefully inspecting my work.

"Where is Ichinose?" Chabashira asked with a frown.

"In the other restroom," I shrugged.

"Tell her that she's free to go and you can do the same. Make sure to keep your hands to yourself next time when you're in public."

"Maybe if you had a boyfriend yourself you wouldn't be so jealous..." I muttered under my breath.

"What was that?" Chabashira asked loudly, glaring at me.

"Nothing at all, Chabashira-sensei," I smiled at her.

The moment I was finished and dismissed I made my way back to my own room to shower and change, I smelled disgusting. While there was a lot to do, I wanted to sort this out with Honami first. It was our first fight and I didn't want it to fester, I wanted to have it resolved as soon as possible.

Honami is stubborn, it was probably best if I extended the olive branch. I may have taken things a little too far.

By the time I got to her room I was exhausted. Freshly showered and dressed in casual clothes but I was tired. I just wanted to eat as much as my body would allow me to and drift into a food coma while everyone else was looking at the results but unfortunately that wouldn't be possible for many reasons. If I did that, I'm sure that they wouldn't simply let me sleep this time. The results would cause a stir, I was sure of it. Aside from that, there was a small part of me that wanted to see the reactions of Class D.

We'd spent so much time at the bottom, they'd spent so much time broken and losing that it'd be nice to see them happy for a change. My little band of misfits.

When I reached her door, I knocked firmly and waited. This is what Ayanokouji Kiyotaka has been reduced to. Cleaning toilets and making up with his girlfriend with his tail between his legs. How annoying. No answer, not even from the other girls who were sharing a room with her.

I was just about to leave but I noticed that the door was ajar which meant that it hadn't been closed properly. Curious, I opened the door only to see Honami lying in her bed on her side facing the wall, covered from head to toe in blankets and refusing to come out of her little Honami made cocoon.

As I entered and moved to the bed, she shuffled. While before she was lying on her side closest to the wall, now she was bent into an L trying to take as much room on the single bed as possible to eliminate the possibility of me lying down or sitting on it. How childish.

I started to get annoyed again and was about to go for round two when I heard a sniffle. Instead I simply sighed, I was actually going to fold. This is what I have become, weak.

"Honami," I called gently as I sat down on the small spot that I could find on the bed. The moment my weight was on it, she pressed her feet against the wall and pushed back with her butt, trying to shove me off the mattress.

I tried to be comforting and started patting the mountain of blankets on a spot that I assumed was safe but she instantly straightened and pressed herself to the wall, as far away from me as she could go.

"I'm sorry for kissing you in public."

No answer, no movement.

"I'm sorry for asking Chabashira-sensei how many points it would cost me to tell you to shut up."

Wrong again, I've already lowered myself this far. What pride do I have left? May as well go all the way at this point.

"I'm sorry for trying to leave all the cleaning to you, I'm sorry for bringing up your promise to do everything for me and treating you like a slave."

Still nothing. Why did I decide to get a girlfriend?

"I'm sorry for insinuating that your feelings for me weren't genuine and that you only confessed to get out of having to work."

A movement. Okay, I was on the money with that one. Now that I knew what the problem was, I can work on manipu-... Convincing Honami to stop being mad at me.

"Of course I know that you don't go back on your word, once you give your commitment to someone you follow through with it. I know that, I was only annoyed at the time. I didn't mean to make you upset."

A shuffle. She was no longer facing the wall now, still wrapped in the cocoon of blankets but it was a start.

"I finished all the cleaning all by myself. I told Chabashira-sensei that you were in the bathroom and I cleaned everything. I scrubbed the toilets, I mopped the floors. I even wiped the mirrors down. It was a lot of work but I did it all."

There was a tiny crack in the blankets and I saw a blue eye peer out from the gap, slightly rimmed red but it was there nonetheless.

"You did?" Honami asked for confirmation, slightly muffled from the mountain of blankets.

"I did."

The crack in the blankets opened all the way as Honami held it open for me to get under too. She'd showered and changed herself, dressed in an oversize white t-shirt and shorts with her hair still damp from the shower.

"Am I allowed under there? I don't want to get blamed for anything. Are my eyes too lewd at the moment?" I joked lightheartedly.

Honami didn't huff or pout, she just looked down, averting her eyes while holding the blankets open for me.

"I'm sorry. It wasn't your fault, I just haven't been in trouble like that before. I was embarrassed."

When I crawled under the blankets, she turned around and I looped an arm under her neck and another around her waist. It was toastie, I don't mind being the big spoon. Now that she was facing away, she seemed to be a little more talkative.

"You know Kiyotaka, we haven't been together for long. I was so embarrassed when you kissed my cheek that time and I tried to hide it. Then you kissed me after I confessed... Now things are happening so quickly and we kiss a lot. On the school boards, they're saying so many things about me.

"They're saying I'm cheap. That I only got accepted into the student council because I did things with you. Disgusting things."

"None of it is true though, don't worry about it."

"It's easy to say but hard to do. If I don't do these things though... If I don't push myself to do more, maybe you'll think you made the wrong decision. Maybe you'll start liking someone else instead of me," Honami trailed off.

This again.

"I don't know, from what I heard you're reading light novels and manga. You're quickly moving up to S-tier. I don't know if I'm going to find any girl that's willing to do that for me," I joked.

"Who told you that!?" Honami sputtered frantically.

"Who knows,"

"It was supposed to be a surprise," Honami huffed and dug herself deeper into the blankets.

"What are you reading?"

I heard a muffled answer but couldn't make out what she was saying.

"What?"

"Baki the grappler."

Eh? Seriously? I expected Violet Evergarden or even Fruits Basket. Hell I'd even be less surprised with something like Death Note or Gekkou but Baki?

"What? Why Baki the grappler?"

"Because Baki looks like you."

I couldn't help but snort dismissively, that kind of aesthetic was near impossible. I'd need growth hormone and steroids coming out of my nose to get anywhere close to that. Apparently she was embarrassed at my snort of laughter because she turned around, face red with embarrassment and started sounding off.

"He does look like you! Not only that but he's strong and he loves his girlfriend a lot. He also..."

I just shut up and listened. It was nice to hear someone so passionate about one of my hobbies, even if she was completely wrong about my similarities to someone like Baki. Although... Now that I think about it, we're both pretty good fighters... Yujiro and Professor Ayanokouji were both nutbags.

Heh... Who would have thought? Maybe Honami was on to something there...

SS The Article

A/N: This was not written by me. I asked a far more talented writer to write this because I'm not capable of writing art like this.

Please check out CrimsonCelestial, they deserve far more recognition for how talented they are.

Iwao Naomi. (20XX).The White Room and Present: Falsities , Candours , and Reviews. Unpublished manuscript.

"I had been my whole life a bell, and never knew it until at that moment I was lifted and struck."

― Annie Dillard, Pilgrim at Tinker Creek

In history and life, there is often a law beset in the aether: 'to he that has, will be given; from he that has, will be taken'. None other than in the Japan of now, in this twenty-first century, that this law has struck the minds of masses from our nation. And even far beyond. I shudder out of disgust even as I pen the words. Hundreds of children have been robbed of their innocence, their lives, their future, and it's by the depravity of despotic wealthy men and women.

[…]

White Room — a so-called educational facility, in actuality an accursed spot of torment, concealed by the collusion of a galore of adults — was unearthed in the year 20XX. The nation cries, beholds the news of the injustice that sits heavy now. Here it is damning and unchanging as death. But it's those children, enslaved for years, who bear the true scars of this malevolence. For this to have gone unnoticed for years, where many children were abducted, were once named, then strangled in their souls; many to have died, been forgotten, irrevocably erased — how can one remain silent at this?

— — — —

Japan Today

The Prodigy

An expose on a secret facility known as the 'White Room'.

By Hotsumi Kojiri

TOKYO — We live under the shade of peace and security. A routine that speaks of the normality of the stability: early morning humdrum, clack-clack of keyboards, whistle of trains whizzing by.

A recent finding casts questions on the artifices enveloping us.

Unveiled by a fresh deployment of JSDF is a secret facility run illegally for years. A huge, abnormal site, with the structure's interior the colour white as far as the eyes rove. The sacredness of the colour there, however, is a lie .

Children numbering in hundreds were liberated for they were held captives. We have yet to know of the true count of those children, most of whom have no identity. No ties to our country. They share but one thing: suffering on our soil.

The abuse many children underwent in this place called White Room is chilling.

Mind in pain: probing at how from nothing from our universe emerged, know all that followed the first vivacious second which gave gravity and all forces governing physics, all beyond and expansive for words and conception of most adults; studying the limitation in the might of formal mathematical theories, prove as the great logician Kurt Gödel did the impossibility of proving completeness and consistency of a system, from within itself when sufficiently complex.

Body in pain: eight kilometres run as if simple stretching after leaving the comfort of bed; no pleasure on faces, same as the void of any want provided to their beings.

All these are but a speck of activities, abuse, that they were forced to endure.

To my great regret, though many children are saved now, it was too late for many others.

To take a life should never be easy, yet it has undeniably happened.

Comforting a child is an act equal in scale to ending a war. This is no hyperbole.

The end of life means the end of any good one can impart upon the world.

What man can quantify such a thing?

These people running this vile facility dared to assume they could do that, and more.

Crystallised knowledge and the strength of flesh can't be ascertained reliably, let alone the breadth and width of the goodness of children.

Lines of scars that make one avert eyes in revulsion. Flesh that gives the illusion of worn-off leather. Injuries that ought to be few was a norm found here.

It is sickening.

We believe this to be a time of peace, safety. But this great sin is a stringent stain on the pretty lie. Why should our children pay such a price, when there is not even a great war?

Gimu is the duty of repaying debts owed. It is endless and can never be repaid fully.

What has occurred is very vast an atrocity. It is abhorrently unique. Children were tortured for the lie of neccesity. For the lie of necessity, despicable folks killed justice and morals in cold blood.

Elevating our nation to a stature of superiority and competence was their so-called objective.

How many parents across the world lost their families for this farce? How many children for years cried for help but never received any?

One is too many.

The soldiers upon breaching the facility's insides discovered a lot: a huge and wide assortment of books, sophisticated equipment, abundance of nutritional pills and food stock, and children trapped like wild animals to be observed through a one way glass.

Upon further search they stumbled upon a sector, similar to the prior ones, where several other children were found and rescued. But this sector was worryingly barren.

Life, however, was present.

It was found, then, that this specific sector housed a single child. In the past it held more, but now those children are no more. For how many years was this one child, separated from any human contact, trapped like some rabid beast? For what worthless value were so many forced in this twisted torture?

The revelation was the start of horrors.

Ayanokouji Kiyotaka is the child's name. Hardly older than eight years. Caged alone, the JSDF found him alone in this sector.

He was alone, as if a miraculous survivor of a great calamity.

Few of the children younger than young Kiyotaka, the very children who survived that hellish prison, called him the survivor of "the demonic fourth generation".

In a place that was hell, was even another hell found.

We lack knowledge at present to the full extent of this. But one thing certain is that the creator of this wretched facility was a legitimate scoundrel. Every cell of him.

He was the one who established this cruel farce, the very blood father of young Kiyotaka.

It has been confirmed, too, that Kiyotaka was kept in the facility since infancy, and so were a few others. Many others were appended to different sectors, after illegally obtained from various parts of the world, on the basis of age.

From further forage into the encrypted logs, it was discovered that the "4th generation" at present only held records of young Kiyotaka. Moreover, a title "White Room Masterpiece" was present, and isn't yet understood what it entails, aside from the facility's goal being achieved.

The connotations remain grim nonetheless.

Barely viewed as human, their psyche is wounded.

The other children didn't greet the soldiers, didn't even smile. All they showed was a restrained confusion. Young Kiyotaka, on the other hand, was the picture of an expressionless sculpture.

He had proceeded through his life mired in a variety of hellish tasks.

Alone he was attempting to prove the Magic Wand theorem. A herculean endeavour.

For it he delved into many things: ideas of the low entropy method of M. Einsiedler, A.Katok, E. Lindenstrauss; results of G. Forni and of M. Kontsevichon Lyapunov exponents of the Teichmüler geodesic flow; attempts in iterative improvement of the properties of the invariant measure inspired by the approach of G. Margulis and G. Tomanov to the actions of unipotent flows on homogeneous spaces; and more — to no avail.

The logs provided, moreover, a mind-bogglingly high assessment of his physical fitness, agility, endurance, balance, muscle power, and body composition.

Kiyotaka persevered through a sickening volume of physically intensive training. It is a miracle that, at present, he hasn't shown to have any body impairments.

Mind and body were tormented in conjunction.

By fabricating an environment that led to the deprivation of any information they deemed unnecessary, an abhorrent and baseless method, the facility had aimed to transcend the limits of learning.

A possible hypothesis of the facility's procedural principles appears to be a complete elimination of all extraneous cognitive load, a concept from John Sweller's Cognitive Load Theory published in a science journal in 1988.

A massive mockery; shameless, cruel, and moronic.

One's heart is seized up in sorrow, which makes one wish this were all a ruined dream.

But this is a reality so grievous that how can a human possibly stand it.

We have failed against this brutality. There are names of children which will never be known. They were subjected to great terror all for naught but cruelty and selfishness.

Giri is the concept of moral duty. We all have duties: to families, to friends, to colleagues, to employees, and to ourselves. Giri is to maintain the myriad of these duties in balance, to give them all the weight they deserve.

In neglect, we failed our duty to these children.

Worse, the creator of this wretched establishment failed the obligation to his family, to his son, to his culture.

Who failed in the present time precisely?

Many people are immersed in a foolish discourse of assigning culpability for this man-made disaster. Some others are obstinate in their refusal that such a great sin has occurred in our land.

This is no time for such idiocy.

Children have been brought out from that now defunct bastion of systemic evil.

There is nothing discrediting the information released. Pieces of information aren't plenty, the logs being strongly encrypted. But it is a recent event and the insidious secrets are being unveiled slowly, surely.

But why does it matter that one needs the exact measure of sin? That should be left to the eyes of scholars and historians.

The strides of the kind and compassionate cannot be measured. Perhaps, it should never be possible. If you could measure love in kilograms, spite in hours, and pain in metres — the world won't be well anymore.

We, the people who are human by the act of our empathy and the burning shame that such a tragedy should occur, must vow to take actions that no child ever should face such torment.

No man in only superficial human skin should be able to grip life like this.

Such crime should have never existed.

But for now, the children who are saved, late as it might be, will be helped. The government is rightfully dedicating several facilities to help the children recover and assimilate into society.

The structures of greedy tyrants fall in time, but the acts of good can be felt to this day.

The children who have suffered must relish that comfort we have known.

We call this a time of peace and stability. Many call it the best time to be alive through all of human history. People enslaved no longer, ruled by cruel dictators no more, and neither are they restricted from the privilege of education for arbitrary reasons.

The chains that had bound these children away from our world must be broken.

They deserve it more than our yearning to forget this burning shame at another man's crime.

Power is a debt owed to the powerless. Do we understand it? Here we are powerless against the greatest sin of this decade, perhaps even century. Many powerful humans did as they pleased. Thus, however we may please to console the unease marring our hearts by this atrocity, it cannot be done.

Our nation will never forget this. Never forget this. Men cannot change history.

We can only give help to these nameless and named children. Shall it ever end?

Men have come to know when the stars shall die, but the knowledge of empathy, the weight borne by it, is what should never be lost. White Room inflicted a wound to the entire mankind that even the ravages of time might not heal. There are many such scars in our collective heart.

The personnel involved in the running of this White Room have been neutralised as per the orders of the general of the JSDF force leading the raid on the facility.

When asked the general replied with the actions being necessary. His exact words:

"We walked on the seemingly endless white land. One of the girls there, merely seven year old, asked us where in the world she would go. What direction to start out? She, who didn't even know where her home was... White Room is the definitive refutation of the grand illusion that humans become better by being more educated."

— General Amasawa Ichigo

This article is one of the many to come about White Room, as more details are uncovered.

Chapter 38

While it seems like a lifetime ago, there was a time when I didn't care about reaching Class A. These class battles, these people. I just wanted to enjoy a school life where I was normal and where I could be carefree. Where I didn't have to play games with people, where I didn't have to be cruel and lie.

Politics is an ugly arena, trust only gains value when there's a chance for betrayal. This school is a cesspool of betrayal. There are times when I look around this place and wish I was anywhere but here. I don't enjoy the competition or the cutthroat nature of things but I understand that it is a necessary part of life.

That's the big difference between Ryuen and I. We have similarities but it's the differences that make us fundamentally different people.

Looking around at the faces of my Classmates though, I can't help but feel a little bit of excitement. Not for myself, if we reach Class C with this result or not is irrelevant to me. I could care less if we remain as Class D for the next three years. They do though, Eiichiro does. Horikita wants to get to Class A more than anything. It's for that reason, I'm hopeful that the results are fortuitous.

I feel like a walking paradox. My life has never been in my own hands, all of my decisions have always been made for me. Even now as we sit and wait for the results of the Zodiac Special Test, this result wasn't by my own decisions. I was forced into acting, make no mistake. As much as Arisu is a meddlesome pain, she's my family. Even if she were the one to put herself in danger, I couldn't let anything happen to her and so I acted.

I likened Class D to a baby elephant who had been chained at birth to a tree stump. How they no longer had the fight or desire to pull at the stump to fight for their freedom. In a lot of ways, I am the same. While I continue to fight for my own sanctuary of normalcy, it seems like the ever growing pile of scrutiny continues to climb steadily.

There's an upside to this situation. If we're back in the fold and Class D doesn't give up, perhaps I can return to the middle of the pack. Perhaps they won't be so desperate to look for a savior, believe in themselves and each other and I can once again fade into being a background character.

The procedure is delicate, there's very little margin for error but if there's one thing that I have to have it's belief in myself. I need to trust in my abilities and my knowledge. Acknowledge the fact that there are ways, both dirty and honest, that I can finesse my way out of this situation.

At least until Arisu decides she's had enough of leaving me to my own devices once again.

Sometimes I like to just think to myself. Just compartmentalize different things, analyze my actions and thoughts to see what I can self diagnose. It's because there are times where I wonder to myself if I'm even my own person.

When I look at my personality and my actions, I've come to realize that I'm an amalgamation of the people that I've been closest to. There is nothing entirely unique about me, I've taken pieces of the people around me and made it a part of the persona that is Ayanokouji Kiyotaka.

There's the ruthless part of Arisu, where nothing matters but the goal. There's the protective side of my father, where family means everything. The carefree side of Tsubasa, where living in the moment is important. The loyal side to Eiichiro, where the happiness of those he loves brings him joy.

It's part of the reason that I'm so whimsical, these traits don't always mesh together well. Like fitting a square peg in a round hole, it only works when the peg is smaller.

So what am I? Who am I? What makes me Ayanokouji Kiyotaka when every aspect of my personality is borrowed from someone else?

These thoughts have been plaguing me since this exam started, I've begun to wonder whether or not this is all just a farce. Whether this is the mask and that lifeless husk is what I truly am. Whether I'm doing as Eiichiro is doing right now, faking it until I make it. Hoping that I can become a good person and not whatever the White Room has turned me into.

"Hello Ayanokouji-kun," Hirata greeted me with a small smile as he took a seat next to me.

The others continued to talk amongst themselves, all nervously biting at their fingernails. The moment of truth was approaching but it was as though time had slowed to a crawl at the mounting suspense.

"Hi. Where's Karuizawa?" I asked curiously.

He hesitated before looking around cautiously and leaning forward with his voice low.

"The ankle's still healing. She's really mad at the moment, at both of us."

"Why you?"

"I told her she should apologize, she's really angry that I'm not taking her side. She won't tell me why she's mad at you but I think she's angrier at you then she is at me if I'm being honest. She won't tell me why though."

"I see,"

"I saw your tie in her room. Is there something I should know?"

"I don't cheat, Hirata. You can relax, I'm not trying to move in on your girlfriend. I promise,"

Hirata looked at me strangely but didn't say anything else. It confused me, it was as though the thought had never crossed his mind and he was asking a different question.

It's odd, if I had found another guys tie in Honami's room, I'd be livid. I'd try to find out who it belonged to and I'd beat an answer out of them. Hirata had no such reaction, he even asked me as an afterthought. It was strange for reasons I couldn't quite put my finger on.

We were interrupted by Kushida, Matsushita and Wang who all arrived together. Mii-chan looked quite worried, chewing on her fingernails while Matsushita and Kushida both looked completely relaxed and worry free. On seeing Hirata, she blushed slightly before shyly greeting him.

"Hello, Hirata-kun. Ayanokouji-kun."

There was an awkward chorus of greetings between us before there was an awkward lull of silence and each of them eyed the other seats available awkwardly.

"We may as well all wait together. Come on Matsushita, come sit here." I smiled, moving to the other side of the three seater bench and patting the spot between Hirata and I.

She blushed and put her hair behind her ear before nodding meekly and taking a seat. Kushida had a blank look on her face but sat on the other couch next to Mii-chan.

I'm actually fairly well acquainted with Mii-chan, the girl insisted I call her that. While others used BUDDY in their own way, it would appear Mii-chan was quite the entrepreneurial one. Everyone either looked for tasks to be done or looked for part time jobs. Mii-chan on the other hand, made an abundance of Chinese dishes that weren't available on campus, froze them and sold them to others as pre-packed meals.

She was a fantastic cook, her dumplings were heavenly. Six in a box, fry them or boil them and you had a pillow of shrimp and bamboo filled goodness that warmed you all the way down to your toes. I was a frequent customer, her skills in the kitchen were well known to be almost legendary.

"I've been going crazy for so long without any of your cooking, I can't wait to get off this rust bucket and restock my fridge.

"Thank you, Ayanokouji-kun." Mii-chan said meekly, playing with her hands. "I'll make sure I give you the first batch."

"You buy from her too?" Hirata asked in surprise.

"Of course, the best food at the school. You'd be crazy not to."

"She really is a great cook, she'd be a great wife someday. Wouldn't you say so, Hirata-kun?" Kushida smiled happily, looping her arm with Mii-chan.

"Kushida-chan! Stop it..."

"I definitely think she will but I haven't been able to try it. I've been budgeting my points but I've heard from others that it's delicious." Hirata smiled kindly.

"I'll be happy to make some for you, you don't have to pay!" She said quickly before dejectedly adding. "I'll make some for Karuizawa too, if you like."

"I couldn't take advantage of you like that..."

"No! Really, it's fine, I don't mind. I want to."

"I'm sure you won't have to budget points anymore after we get the results," Matsushita offered confidently.

"I don't know, we took a huge risk. I trust Ayanokouji-kun but after finding out that he got the names from Sakayanagi-san," Hirata said uncomfortably.

"I'm not. I'm sure that the names are correct." Matsushita said with the same confidence.

Hirata gave a bit of a strained smile but didn't fight back as the occupants all started to talk amongst themselves. Matsushita stayed quiet and subconsciously she started to lean against me. It wasn't much, not like she was lying on my shoulder. Her arm was resting against mine as both of us were leaning back on the sofa, both with our feet up on the coffee table in front of us.

"Thank you, Ayanokouji-kun," Matsushita said quietly, trying not to be overheard.

"No, thank you. I'm really proud of you, you stood up to someone like Ryuen. You were trying to pull me away from him and you kept quiet at the restaurant. I'm really lucky to have you."

At the words 'kept quiet', Matsushita strangely looked uncomfortable. She suddenly rearranged herself to distance herself from me very slightly before clearing her throat.

"I'm sure you had a reason for saying what you said."

"I'm still happy you didn't say anything,"

"Stop saying that," Matsushita whispered. I could barely hear her.

"Stop saying what?"

"Nothing, don't worry about it," Matsushita said with more strength, waving her hand dismissively. "It was really intense that day, Matsuo-kun was really something. He had everyone agree to split the points and got us to submit the names. He didn't need to convince me though, I practically wrestled his phone out of his hand to get the name of my VIP."

"I can't imagine that," I said with a cuckle.

The mental image of this rather cowardly girl clawing at Eiichiro to get his phone seemed rather unbelievable. In my mind, I saw what I thought was a reenactment of how it happened. Curiously, chibi versions.

"What? You think I couldn't do it?" Matsushita scoffed.

"I didn't say that," I laughed, patting her on the hand that was resting on her knee.

It was only two pats, but Matsushita stared at her own hand that was resting on her knee as if in a trance. Perhaps I went a little too far with the gesture.

Not long after, our seats and coffee table were circled with the rest of Class D who were standing around and chatting amongst themselves. I oddly felt closed in and when I looked up, I noticed that all of my quick exits were blocked off by a wall of students. I looked up at Satou who looked down at me with a grin.

"Just in case you try to run,"

"I'm fast,"

"We have the numbers advantage. If we're wrong, I'll beat your ass."

I couldn't help but snort. Like that's going to happen.

"Are you confident that the names are right?" Yukimura asked with worry.

It wasn't the usual pompous tone that I heard from him so rather than ignore him like I usually did, I nodded while thoughtfully looking at the light above us.

"My sister's a genius, I'm positive the names are correct."

"I still can't believe that she would betray her class though," Miyake chimed in with a frown.

"My sister loves me more than anything."

We didn't have to wait much longer before the emails came through but none of them moved to take their phone from their pockets. I didn't want to be the one who looked first so I waited with the rest of them. I was patient, there was no reason to rush to check. The results were set, all that remained was to see what they were.

Unable to handle the suspense anymore, Horikita huffed angrily before taking out her phone and checking the results. The rest watched her warily, all with baited breath as her eyes went wide and she choked in shock.

"No... impossible. I d-don't believe it..."

"What!?" Shinohara yelled with a cracked voice, the suspense was too much for her too.

Horikita's hand was shaking, reading over the results again and again as though she couldn't believe her eyes. The rest weren't able to take it anymore, all collectively pulling out their phones to check. Eiichiro hadn't moved, he just watched everything unfolding and drank in every detail.

He hadn't spoken even once the entire time.

Realizing that now I would be able to check my phone and remain inconspicuous, I took out my own and checked, wanting to see what Ryuen had decided.

Rat: Outcome #3 The traitor answered correctly

Cow: Outcome #3 The traitor answered correctly

Tiger: Outcome #3 The traitor answered correctly

Rabbit: Outcome #3 The traitor answered correctly

Dragon: Outcome #4 The traitor answered incorrectly

Snake: Outcome #3 The traitor answered correctly

Horse: Outcome #3 The traitor answered correctly

Sheep: Outcome #3 The traitor answered correctly

Monkey: Outcome #4 The traitor answered incorrectly

Rooster: Outcome #3 The traitor answered correctly

Dog: Outcome #3 The traitor answered correctly

Pig: Outcome #4 The traitor answered incorrectly

Based on those results, the increase or decrease in class and private points are as follows. "CL" and "PR" are used to denote "Class Points" and "Private Points" respectively.

Class A: Minus 150 CL

Class B: Minus 150 CL

Class C: Minus 300 CL

Class D: Plus 600 CL; Plus 6 Million PR

Current Standings:

Class A - 854

Class B - 651

Class D - 600

Class C - 442

"... I don't believe it." Satou breathed quietly.

"We won."

"We swept everyone... We're Class C."

There were other bewildered gasps of shock before they all started to excitedly chat amongst themselves, hugging each other in pure elation. I continued to sit there and watch, enjoying as their excitement and happiness reached heights that I'd never seen before. They were reinvigorated, they were inspired. They had hope.

If my plans fall through and I was no longer able to stay in the shadows, at the very least, seeing them happy would be worth it. I was surprised when suddenly Matsushita turned in her seat on the couch and she jumped up and tackled me in a hug. There was no armrest next to me and I fell off the side onto the floor in surprise.

We landed with a thud, Matsushita straddling me and her face close to mine. Her hands holding her body up on either side of my head. The others were too distracted with their own happy celebrations that they hadn't noticed. When Matsushita started to inch forward, I turned my face away before gently pushing her back.

I felt sorry for her, she was caught up in the moment. I wasn't blind. I knew she had feelings for me and I'd hoped that they'd started to wane but it seemed like that wasn't the case.

As if she came to her senses, she hurriedly got back to her feet before holding a hand out to me to help me up as well. As I got to my feet, Matsushita's eyes were averted. Bowing with an apology, she moved next to Mii-chan who was jumping up and down happily, wrapping her in a hug.

Seeing everyone like this... it was nice. It was a beautiful contrast.

I remember the days like it was yesterday, when Chabashira-sensei went nuclear and broke everyone down. When Sudo was suspended. When they found out that we would be starting with less starting points at the beginning of the Island Special Test. When they realized we had lost. When they were broken.

It was like watching a dying man clawing through the desert and stumbling on the oasis right before the moment of death. Where he had become so dehydrated that he immerses himself, drinks in the moisture through his pores and becomes reinvigorated. The night is darkest before the dawn and for them, the dawn is now.

Horikita was one of the people who looked most elated but wasn't joining in on the celebrations. Ever the loner, my friend was by herself watching the excitement on her own with the smallest of smiles. Not wanting her to be alone, I moved beside her before wrapping her in a one armed hug while smiling fondly at the group.

"You're a liar, Ayanokouji-kun."

I didn't let the shock show on my face as I rubbed her shoulder absentmindedly and continued to watch our celebrating class.

"I am still in this school because you saved me. I won't pry if you want to keep it a secret so I'll only ask you once. Will you tell me how you did it?"

I looked down at her as she turned to look up at me. Rather than come clean, I did as I always do. I lied with a smile.

"Did what?"

Horikita rolled her eyes but the smile didn't leave her lips as we continued to stand in our own solitude away from the group. Even Eiichiro allowed himself some small bit of satisfaction as the others pulled him into the celebration they were having together.

"Bastard, I hate you." Horikita said without feeling.

"Got your compass?"

"I wish I did, now more than ever."

It wasn't long after that everyone insisted that we all go to the buffet together. I hate the buffet, there was always too many people but before I could go Horikita grabbed onto my sleeve to stop my escape. The smile did not leave her face, this time however it said 'if I'm going to suffer being in a crowd, you're coming with me'.

When we got there, everyone separated into their own cliques, excitedly chatting amongst themselves. Unlike when Class C had won on the island though, I was pleasantly surprised to see that none of them were gloating about their win to the other classes.

Perhaps it was because they felt like they hadn't really done anything, perhaps it was because they didn't want to sell Arisu out and were trying to keep their promise. Perhaps we had spent so much time at the bottom that they felt humbled. Perhaps they were concerned that the decision could be overturned and it was all a cruel prank.

All that I did know was that the moment we entered the buffet as a rambunctious group, we were met with curious and calculating stares from the other classes. Class A wouldn't take their eyes off me, not caring about the other members of Class D. Class B seemed to be eyeing me as well, just not as curiously as Class A. Class C on the other hand, was glaring at me with so much intensity that anyone else would feel uncomfortable.

"Too crowded, I'm going somewhere else," I said while turning quickly to make a hasty escape. Before I could get far, Horikita grabbed onto the collar of my shirt and I comically halted with an abrupt stop before I could be choked.

My humiliation reached new levels as Horikita dragged me to a table before shoving me in the seat next to Eiichiro. Before I could say anything, she turned and walked towards the serving area to fill a plate for herself.

We sat in awkward silence, Hirata was the only other occupant of the table but he was getting food himself. The rest of the table was empty, Eiichiro sitting there as a human placeholder to let others know that the table was taken. He sat quietly, not saying anything while picking invisible lint off the table cloth and pretending like he was busy.

I was getting tired of this tantrum that he was throwing, we're supposed to be best friends.

"Are you going to stop this or not? How was I supposed to know that they'd spring a special test on us?"

Eiichiro stopped pretending to be preoccupied and turned to me. He cautiously regarded me before asking me point blank.

"How did you manage to make Ryuen submit the wrong names?"

I never wanted this for him. After careful consideration I came to realize that one of the reasons why I kept procrastinating was because I wanted to preserve this part of him. The oblivious and carefree side to him that looks at the world with a positive outlook. I didn't want him to become like Arisu and I.

"Eiichiro," I started carefully. "There are times when a leader needs to trust the people under them to achieve a goal. Where the ends justifies the means, no matter the cost.

"There are times when a leader can't know how or why something happened. They allow others to dirty their hands with the blood of their enemies so that theirs can remain clean. Can you trust me? Can you trust my judgment that however I achieved this goal, that you're better off not knowing?"

I could see him hesitating, as though he didn't want to just let this go. Curiosity was a powerful emotion, something that Ryuen had just learnt himself. Knowing this, I had to distract him. I'd need to change the subject and hope that he'd forget about what was at the forefront of his mind.

"I just want my friend back," I admitted quietly. "People are learning my secret, more and more everyday. I don't have a lot of time left, I'm fighting to prolong it as long as possible. It won't be long until everyone in the school learns of that place."

"Who knows?" Eiichiro asked in alarm.

I couldn't help but smirk, Eiichiro was not amused.

"Not like that you idiot! You- Enough with your jokes! Who the hell knows?"

It was like putting lipstick on a pig. Eiichiro could comb his hair, fix his uniform and try to be the picture of composure all he wanted but throw a wrench into the gears and he reverted back to his panicky self. I was grateful for it. It felt like... normal.

"Matsushita," I started quietly, trying to calm him down. "Koenji and Kushida."

"Not the worst people who could know." Eiichiro frowned in concern.

Oh this sweet naive child.

"This is bad, Kiyotaka. Now that you've done this, people are going to get suspicious. What are you going to do now?"

"Let me worry about that," I said calmly. "I have it covered, you don't have to worry about anything. Just relax, enjoy this. You played a bigger role than you realized, you did a fantastic job. In fact, I have a present for you. I did a lot of shopping, there are a lot of books for you to go over.

"You read those and I'll do whatever I want while you're studying. You can ask me anything you want and I'll help. I promised you that I'd teach you everything I can and I will. If you don't want to wait until we get back to school, you can download the books that I bought for you. I'll email you the download codes later."

"Okay," Eiichiro nodded with determination. "Thank you, Kiyotaka. I'll study as hard as I can. There's things I need to do though, I want to warn you, I won't have as much time to hang out with you as we'd like. When we get back to school, I need to help Sudo."

"Sudo?" I repeated in surprise.

"He's not as bad as people think he is, he just has a temper. I helped him study for the midterms, he's just a little misunderstood. I think he's had a bit of a tough upbringing, he just needs someone to help him."

If there was anyone who could do that, I was looking at him. He had the patience of a buddhist monk, look at what I've been putting him through. It would be a monumental task but it was challenges like this that made a true leader. Leaving no man behind and making sure to support those that needed it.

I nodded but said nothing else. My stomach rumbled, I was hungry. Eiichiro noticed and put his arm around me, patting me on the shoulder. Two people angry with me both successfully placated, I was setting records once again.

"Go get something, I'll hold your seat. Hirata shouldn't be too much longer."

Just as I was about to stand, a steaming plate filled to the brim of my favorites was being placed in front of me and I looked up to see a smiling Honami. Like a genie that appeared and gave me exactly what I wanted right when I needed it.

"Marry me," I said gratefully to her before turning to my plate.

The plate dropped with a thud on its side, spilling rice onto the table. I quickly grabbed a napkin trying to salvage the food but to no avail. Wondering what the hell that was about, I looked up at Honami again only to see her completely red faced. Eiichiro wasn't much better as Mako slid into the seat next to him with a grin plastered on her face.

"At the rate those two are going, we should expect babies before we hit the end of our second year," Mako joked.

"I'm really sorry, but that seat is taken." Eiichiro frowned at Mako.

"It's fine, I'll move when they get back." Mako waved off dismissively before smiling mischievously at Honami. "Besides, I have to reboot my friend. You alright there, Ayanokouji-chan?"

The joke seemed to successfully 'reboot' Honami as Mako had put it as she suddenly shook her head as if to clear it. Sitting down with a huff, she crossed her arms and pouted, glaring at me.

"Why did you say that? She's going to call me that forever now,"

"What did I say?"

"Moron..." Eiichiro muttered.

It was at that moment that Hirata came back with his food. Hirata looked at Mako who was sitting in his chair before moving his eyes back to Eiichiro who was looking at him pleadingly. Hirata just smiled apologetically before taking one of the other chairs that none of the previous occupants had taken.

I was mildly impressed with Hirata, perhaps I misjudged him. Early on in the year I prayed for this poor soul, the one who had girls constantly tugging at him, always seeming to beg with his eyes for someone to save him. I thought it was kindness that made him act that way, sacrificing himself so that the rest of us could get away ourselves, a divine being. A pure soul.

Turns out Hirata really is mortal, capable of sacrificing someone else for his own safety. Oh how the tables have turned, Eiichiro's position as our very single leader was about to get him more attention than ever, especially with his newfound interest in maintaining his appearance and the fact that we'd had such a decisive win.

"We should get some food too, come on Matsuo-kun." Mako said before dragging him away from the table.

He looked at me pleadingly but I didn't notice. I didn't see it. I was focused on the food in front of me. I definitely didn't see anything.

"You should watch her," Honami started nonchalantly as she picked up a set of chopsticks on the table.

Apparently this plate was for the both of us. I started picking at the food myself, eating while watching Mako and Eiichiro from the corner of my eye.

"Why? He's fine, he can handle himself."

"She's determined to figure out what you're hiding, I had to sit through an inquisition. Mako-chan is very charismatic and quite persuasive."

"He'll be fine."

We continued to eat, mostly in silence. Horikita came back to the table and sat next to Hirata without a word, the two of them eventually striking up a conversation. It was nice to see, Horikita was slowly opening up to people of her own volition. I wanted to think that perhaps I had something to do with her being a little more social but it was probably more likely Hirata's doing.

Not too much longer after that, Eiichiro and Mako had returned. The two of them ate while Mako tried in vain to strike up a conversation with him. He looked incredibly uncomfortable, Eiichiro wasn't used to having random female attention.

"Hey, hey Matsuo-kun. Why are you so standoffish? Our best friends are dating, shouldn't we try to get to know each other? We're bound to spend more time together."

"Kiyotaka and I don't exactly spend a lot of time together though," Eiichiro said uncomfortably.

"Eh? Isn't that strange? Aren't you two childhood friends and stuff?"

"It's not strange. We just have different priorities at the moment."

"Oh, I guess you must be pretty busy with leading the class and everything," Mako said with interest.

"Yeah... I suppose you could say that," Eiichiro said while eying her suspiciously.

"Mako-chan, he's trying to eat. Don't be rude..." Honami tried to defend him.

"Eh? I'm eating too, it's just dinner table talk. Matsuo-kun doesn't mind, do you Matsuo-kun?"

Eiichiro looked at me for some kind of guidance with what to do with this ball of energy. I had to admit, I was thoroughly enjoying Mako's inquisition. It also told me a lot about her.

This girl was dangerous, much like me she didn't get embarrassed. I could see why Honami was such good friends with her, the very definition of a social butterfly.

"No... it's fine. I don't mind." Eiichiro said warily.

"See! He doesn't mind. We're going to be best buds," Mako grinned while putting her arm over his shoulders.

It was a little awkward for her, she was quite a bit smaller than Eiichiro who was fairly lanky. Somehow she managed to pull it off though.

"Where does she get all this energy from?" I asked Honami.

"Tell me, Matsuo-kun. Honami-chan never tells me any of the juicy details. Maybe Ayanokouji-kun told you something, anything interesting to share? Any juicy stories?"

Eiichiro turned to us with a grin. It seemed the question brought something to mind, a way to pay me back. I didn't like that grin, not one bit.

"Well actually there is. One day I went into Kiyotaka's room to ask him about something and when I opened the door she was i-"

"AHHH!!" Honami screamed, getting to her feet and throwing herself over my lap to cover his mouth. "I think that's enough dinner table talk."

The movement hit my shrimp that I just finished peeling onto the floor. Poor shrimp-kun. His death was in vain, I was going to savor his deliciousness. Now he's wasted, dirty on the floor. Three seconds had already passed, it was too late for him.

"I should have let you eat elsewhere," Horikita scoffed as she continued to eat.

"It's kind of fun, we haven't had a dinner like this in a while." Hirata smiled.

"I've never had a dinner like this, exactly how I like it."

It continued like this for a while. Eating, laughing, joking. While Horikita was pretending like all of this was beneath her, she did chime in to conversations from time to time.

Slowly but surely, Eiichiro's trademark grin was back and he was matching Mako's energy. Both of them seemed to joke back and forth about the most inane things.

Eiichiro almost exclusively hung around the guys in class. Almost as though he were betraying Tsubasa by being friendly with other girls. It was misguided but at the same time I could understand it to a degree. Any girls who developed feelings for him would have their hearts crushed, he only had eyes for Tsubasa.

Honami and I went to go and get some more food, leaving the two to themselves. It came with more bickering, over something that I thought was completely illogical but to Honami made perfect sense.

"Why can't you just get what you want to eat? We're at a buffet. You can take whatever you want."

"No, we have to get a variety so we can try each other's food. Taste everything."

"Okay so get your plate, get everything you want to try and eat it? Why do you have to pilfer stuff from my plate?"

"Because I want to," Honami said with a nod, as though that were the answer to all of life's questions.

I gave up again, this seemed to be a recurring theme with us. Honami would whine, I would push back and then I would just give up because it was just less effort to let her have her way. I could feel all the looks, staring at me from different angles and critiquing me curiously. More interruptions seemed to be in the cards as Ryuen stood in our path as we were just about to move to the next display.

"Well, would you look at that; Beauty and the Beast."

He looked furiously at me, angry beyond belief. It was understandable, I was fully aware of every detail of what I did.

It's not like I become a different person or an amnesiac, it's more like a state of mind. I'm fully aware of everything that transpires while roaming that White Abyss, I simply lock everything away while fulfilling a goal. Now that I had all of my senses, I could understand his anger; I could empathize. Even if I didn't have any sympathy for his position.

"This isn't over. I just wanted you to know that it wasn't me who submitted the wrong names. It was Ishizaki, I'll deal with him soon. If you think that you have me beaten because of what you did then you're mistaken. Now that I've found you. Now that you've revealed yourself for what you are, I won't stop. You're the one I've been looking for."

"What are you talking about?" Honami asked with suspicion, looking between Ryuen and I with apprehension.

"You haven't told her, have you?" Ryuen smirked in realization. "What's wrong, Vice President Ayanokouji? Are you afraid? Worried about what she'll think of you when she finds out what you did? I thought you said you weren't concerned."

"What is he talking about?" Honami repeated, now looking at me with all of her attention.

"Tell her, Ayanokouji. Tell her what you did to make us submit the wrong names. Go on, do it."

"Didn't you learn your lesson the last time you did this?" I asked in exasperation.

Ryuen just continued to smile confidently, looking at me challengingly while Honami continued to anxiously watch the interaction. She tried to hug my arm but I pushed her behind me, covering her with my own body. Honami was trying to be comforting, show support but she was naive. In a potential fight, I needed both arms and hands free.

His smile widened at what I'd done, tauntingly looking over my shoulder at Honami who glared up at him defiantly.

"Little Red Ridinghood can't tell a wolf when she sees one, can she? Or perhaps... that's what she likes and she doesn't even know it."

"Whatever you're trying to allude to, no one will believe you, Ryuen-kun. You should have thought about that when you stabbed us in the back on a technicality." Honami said firmly.

Ryuen just chuckled to himself as he turned to walk away, he achieved what he wanted to. He planted the seed, a virus that would spread unchecked unless addressed right away. This was his end goal, to make Honami question me without revealing anything himself. He wanted to see how I'd react and what I would do.

He seemed to have a short term memory, perhaps he needed to be reminded of the stakes.

"Now that I've found you, you're deluding yourself if you think that I'll allow you to slink back into the shadows like the snake that you are. Your peaceful life is over, Vice President Ayanokouji. I'll make sure of it. You and I, we're the same. You're just like me."

Once he turned and left, Honami didn't waste any time with putting down her plate and taking mine and putting it down. She dragged me by the hand out of the buffet hall before stopping in an empty hallway and turning to face me with her arms crossed.

"What did you do?"

"Don't ask me that, we agreed. That is that, this is this."

"Yes but- That..."

Honami struggled to find a counter argument before frowning in frustration. We already agreed, anything to do with special tests we'd keep separate. We wouldn't ask, we wouldn't let it come between us. It was fortunate that that agreement was made, I didn't think she'd be so accepting if she knew. Shiina Hiyori was her friend but even if she wasn't, she still wouldn't condone that I'd threatened an innocent physically and mentally.

I could see the gears turning in her head, she was at one point the leader of Class B. Despite what people may or may not think about her, she was capable. If she were still leading Class B she'd be formidable. If I taught her like I was planning to teach Eiichiro, Class B would be a frontrunner. It'd be a much tougher road, Honami was headstrong in her beliefs. It wouldn't be easy to convince her to throw away her morals.

Despite that, she wasn't stupid. She knew how to think outside the box.

"How about a trade then." Honami offered. "I'll tell you about the deal Class B had with Class C and you tell me what you did to make them submit the wrong names."

Interesting, appealing to my own curiosity in exchange. It was an opportunity on more than one front, I'd get a glance into the inner workings of Class B and get some valuable information that we were missing. It also served another purpose, if I could get Honami to give me information on Class B once, it'd be easier to get her to do it again.

"Okay." I agreed after some deliberation. "You first though."

Honami quickly looked around to see if we were alone before dragging me into the Private Pool. It was empty, curiously it was the exact same Private Pool that I had confronted Class A in. The motion sensors kicked in and the moment we entered, the lights were almost blinding as we sat on the edges of parallel sunbeds.

"Himeno sent us to scout for locations while she met with Ryuen. We agreed to share the costs of maintaining a base of operations. We also made an agreement not to submit each other's leaders names and work together to uncover the leaders for Class A and D. I was assigned to find Class D's leader while Class C would take Class A.

"Originally, we were only supposed to play host to Ryuen. He was going to spend his points and then send the rest of Class C to the ship to retire. On the second day he pivoted though, he met with someone and he changed his plans. Instead we all stayed together and it was my duty to find your leader and come back to reset the base.

"Ryuen gave us the points for maintaining the base but when I wasn't able to find the leader for Class D, he submitted my name. Since I wasn't able to find your leader to hold up our end, he was able to break the memorandum under us not fulfilling our end. He's within his rights to do it, Kanzaki already tried to invoke the penalty but Hoshinomiya-sensei told us that he hadn't violated the terms of the agreement based on how it was written." Honami explained.

"So you were trying to find our leaders from the start. You made out like you only did it after I challenged you that you wouldn't be able to find them." I said with a laugh.

"That wasn't part of the deal, I told you what I agreed to tell you now it's your turn. Don't try and get more information out of me then what we agreed on. I already gave you more than enough for the exchange, what did you do to make Ryuen submit the wrong names?" Honami said firmly.

It wasn't much but it was something. The details of the deal weren't as surprising as I was hoping, there really wasn't much there that I could use. There was one key detail that she had in there though, Ryuen was planning on a different zero point strategy but changed his plans when he met with someone.

It had to be someone from Class A, someone under Arisu's control.

Honami was starting to get impatient, tapping her foot expectantly as I went over the details she'd given me. The tapping was soon joined by a pout, then a glare. It was tempting to drag it out longer just to see how far it would go but I decided against it. We just made up after our first fight, I wasn't about to antagonize her again.

"Ryuen has suspicions that BUDDY is mine so I used that to my advantage. Based on how many points I imagine it was generating, I told him that if he didn't submit the wrong names then I would spend twenty million points per month expelling each of his classmates one by one."

The tapping stopped and suddenly the color drained from Honami's face. Her face changed from hurt to betrayed, she was probably friends with more than a few of them besides Shiina Hiyori. I knew it was one of the things that she was terrified of, losing her friends to random expulsions from the school.

"You did what?" Honami breathed in disbelief.

"It was an empty threat, I don't have the points to do that and it isn't possible. Ask Hoshinomiya-sensei, you can only overturn an expulsion. You can't induce one. I did it in front of others hoping that they'd take the bait and act rashly. I told them that you and Katsuragi were probably already trying to negotiate with Eiichiro and that if he made a deal before they submitted the wrong names, then I would go through with it."

"How could you do that?"

"Do what? It was an empty threat, it isn't possible. I can't get punished for it on that basis, there's nothing they can do about it. We played chicken and they looked away first."

"That doesn't make it right!"

"Oh grow up, Honami," I said in exasperation. "I already told you that I would lie, cheat and everything in between to win. This was nothing. It was an empty threat."

"That still does not make it right!" Honami shouted as she got to her feet. "There's a difference between misleading people, small infractions to get an edge and outright threatening people with expulsion, Kiyotaka!"

Before things could get out of hand, I stood as well and calmly put my hands on her upper arms. She slapped at them angrily at first but I persisted before rubbing my hands up and down soothingly while remaining calm. Eventually, the silence and calm nature of the private pool brought her back to equilibrium. The earlier frustration melted away.

She still looked at me annoyed but calmed down slowly and waited for me to explain myself.

"We just had our first fight and made up not long ago. Do you really want to do this now? What's done is done, I can't change what happened. You asked for an answer and I gave it to you."

I could see the turmoil but eventually her shoulders sagged. She didn't want to fight anymore either, the adrenaline from earlier dissipating as she looked at the floor. I knew the fight had left her, I hadn't lied. She asked for an answer and I gave her one. I told the truth. Not the complete truth but I told the truth.

So why did I feel guilty? Why did omitting details from my explanation to Honami feel like a betrayal?

There's a difference that I can't explain, when lying or manipulating Arisu it didn't feel like this. Perhaps it was because both of us were playing the game, Honami didn't want any part of it. It was as though I was taking advantage of the innocent, it didn't seem to feel right.

It doesn't change the fact that I would still do it. Winning is everything, sacrifices have to be made. Winners set aside their personal feelings to achieve the goal, losers cry about the fact that it wasn't fair. Hard choices needed to be made in this cutthroat environment and I was able to make those hard choices.

"I may not be able to lead Class B anymore, but I'm going to work as hard as I can to beat you. I'm going to beat you fairly. So that you can see that winning doesn't require you to do disgusting things like that ever again." Honami said with determination.

If this is what it took to drop this, I would accept it. Still, I'm a cocky bastard. I was arrogant. I'm self aware, I know it's one of my flaws but it's taken me this far and it's one of the only traits that I have that I know is solely mine and not borrowed from any of the people I'm closest with.

"You can try." I taunted her confidently.

Chapter 39

With the trip winding down and Class C(formerly D) all in high spirits, the trip was now in full swing and we were having a blast. Everyone seemed to be enjoying the ship to the fullest while I, Ayanokouji Kiyotaka, was enjoying the fruits of my labor. With the changing of the rankings, there was talk on the school boards. Everyone from the second and third years seemed to have an opinion.

It seemed that our year was the talk of the school, interested beyond belief at how close everything was. People discussing how cutthroat the competition seemed to be with a historically unique strategy for Class B in the midterms, then a clean win for Class C only for their efforts to be rendered moot with an absolute massacre by us. The discussions were quite in depth, we were on holidays so people had plenty of time to debate each other.

Interestingly enough, the school saw fit to refer to the classes by their representatives' names now. The possibility of the ever shifting of the rankings now made it difficult for them to call us by our designated classes so they had started to refer to us in a different way.

Matsuo's Class

Ryuen's Class

Himeno's Class

Katsuragi's Class

I hadn't seen Arisu commenting or liking any of the posts, I knew that the last one must have boiled her blood beyond belief.

It was actually quite comedic in a sense watching them all arguing over what name to call the classes. A few argued that ours should be called Ayanokouji's Class, staunchly believing that I was the reason for the last win, others calling them idiots.

The one that actually made me laugh was someone saying that Ryuen's Class should be called Ayanokouji's Class. It was actually highly upvoted with many laughing emoji's following below. I'm sure Ryuen wasn't happy seeing that, which made it all the more hilarious.

The debates were very in depth and it made me wonder who in our year was talking to the upper classes. They were surprisingly well informed, many of them knowing the chain of events. They'd heard about my confrontation at the Private Pool with Class A. There were even whispers of Arisu giving me the names of the VIP's.

Apparently my little secret that I'd shared with Class D and my accidental slip up with Mako had already made its way across the ocean to the students still at the school.

Enjoying my peaceful life was absolutely heavenly. Honami, now being referred to as Ayanokouji-chan by Mako, was with her friends from Class B enjoying a get together. Eiichiro was with Hirata, the two of them were almost inseparable now. Hirata was a little isolated at the moment, his fight with Karuizawa leaving him with plenty of free time. The vultures had started circling, many other females seeing this as their chance to cut into Karuizawa's spot.

It was good for Eiichiro, Hirata was a magnet for female attention. Eiichiro needed this, he needed to learn to socialize with a broader spectrum of people. Whenever he wasn't socializing, he had his phone in hand with a book open on it. Curiously, the first one he picked to read was The Art of War; my offhand comment on Sun Tzu peaking his interest.

While all of this was happening, I was enjoying a day at the poolside while lazily reading Shiina's book. I'd read it before but appearances needed to be made, I did make a commitment to giving it back today.

In an ideal circumstance, I would prefer to read this indoors. I'm not particularly fond of the poolside, despite the fact that I've spent a lot of time out here. It was mildly uncomfortable, especially considering that I'd been followed ever since the results had been announced.

Designations from Class A, B and C have all been following at a safe distance in an attempt to prevent me from noticing. Machida was never far behind me, always seeming to pop out somewhere in my field of vision. Kamuro was much the same, most likely on orders from Arisu. Ibuki from Class C was never far behind me either and a girl named Ando Sayo who I'd never had an interaction with.

While these four seemed to be tailing me on missions of their own, the rest of the first years always regarded me whenever I passed. Most of them don't even have the strength to offer me a good morning or a smile, always averting their eyes when I meet them.

Momentarily distracted, my eyes left my book and I looked up briefly to check out the occupants of the private pool. Machida was closest to me, just outside my direct line of sight. Kamuro was drinking a fruity concoction with an umbrella on an adjacent sunbed, her eyes covered with sunglasses. The other two couldn't be seen, either not here or behind me.

When my eyes met Manabe though, she looked back at me with a glare. My own eyes narrowed, she was someone who would be dealt with soon.

When I got the footage of the security camera, it hadn't come via Chabashira-sensei's email. It came directly from the IT department. Scanning through the 24 hours worth of footage, I'd found the confrontation and cropped it. When watching, I was furious. I don't care what Karuizawa had done, she was my friend and those four beat the shit out of her.

I watched. My blood started to boil as they slapped her, punched her in the stomach and then kicked her while she was cowering in the fetal position. I could understand now why Karuizawa was so mad at me, she needed support from a friend and I abandoned her. At the moment I was giving her time to cool off but once we were back at the school I'd enact my plan; Karuizawa would have justice.

Our staring contest ended when I was joined by someone on the sunbed next to me. I was surprised to see that it was Shiina, wearing her school uniform and looking to be mildly uncomfortable in the crowded setting. Despite that, she beamed with the largest smile at seeing her book in my hands.

"You're reading it! How wonderful, it looks like you're almost finished as well. Are you enjoying it?" Shiina asked excitedly.

I smiled at her which caught her off guard for a moment as she waited impatiently for my reply.

"Yes I am, it's interesting. I feel like I could read this book many times over and go deeper and deeper into the symbolism and the minutia. It's very in depth."

The surprise at my smile dissipated instantly as she leaned forward excitedly.

"Isn't it? It's beautifully written, everything weaves together almost like a symphony, doesn't it? I was surprised when you said you'd have it finished in three days though, I really wasn't expecting that."

"Why's that?" I asked curiously, flicking through the pages.

"That book is written entirely in english."

I'm fluent in many languages, English being one of them. I can read different scripts like it's second nature, the english alphabet, hangul, sino-tibetan script, romantic languages. Doesn't matter, I read them as easily as I can read Kanji or Hiragana. It would seem that Shiina Hiyori is far more perceptive than she looked. I've gotten sloppy… this is ridiculous.

"Which means, either you're fluent in english and capable of reading that or you've read it before," Shiina smiled kindly.

"It's actually a little simpler than that."

"Oh?"

"I searched online what the story was about and read a synopsis." I said with a shrug.

Shiina giggled with her mouth covered by both of her hands. It was cute, this girl was tiny and innocent. I could see why Honami would be friends with her, she was seemingly harmless. Shiina just seemed like the kind of girl you wanted to protect and put in your pocket, even Ryuen didn't seem to have the stomach to mistreat this girl.

"Ayanokouji-kun, you didn't have to do that. I have a Japanese version, you could have just asked me for it.

"Some of the details get lost in translation. It's not the same as reading it in its intended language but the story is still incredible. If you like, when we go back I can show you what I have that is translated, I'm sure we can find something you'll enjoy." Shiina continued to giggle as she spoke.

"That seems like a lot of effort, I wouldn't want to trouble you."

"It's no effort," Shiina refuted, shaking her hands in front of her. "Besides, not all of us are as lazy as you notoriously are. You really are spoiled, aren't you Ayanokouji-kun?"

"I really am," I admitted truthfully. "For example, I really want a drink right now but the bar is too far away to go get one. Honami is with her friends, normally I'd make her get it."

"You should treat her more nicely, it's mean to make her do everything for you." Shiina scolded me.

"We have a good thing going, she likes to help and I like to do nothing. Like a symbiosis, two halves of a whole."

"The bar is on the other side of the pool, Ayanokouji-kun. It's not that far of a walk, you don't have to wait for her to get here to get a drink. It's only about… thirty steps?"

"Well I don't really have to wait anymore. After all, you're here now, right?" I said with a smile.

Shiina looked down shyly, cautiously glancing around the pool area where everyone was staring at us. They weren't looking at her specifically, but for a reserved introvert like Shiina, they may as well be. I saw her wringing her hands nervously, looking uncomfortable in the crowded setting but staying because she wanted to talk.

"I avoid places like this, I don't think I can go to get you a drink by myself."

Perhaps today wasn't my day.

"That's okay, I need to stretch my legs anyway. Should we go together?" I asked as I sat up with a groan.

Shiina's eyes lit up before giving an enthusiastic nod and following beside me. Once we got there and ordered, we sat patiently while waiting for our drinks. Shiina varied from looking at me and looking at the other people who continued to unsuccessfully observe without being noticed.

"Ayanokouji-kun… you know. You're really different now compared to the other day."

"I am?" I asked, blinking owlishly.

"You are. You're a lot more like Honami-chan described you originally. It's difficult to explain."

I'd never heard of anyone's description of me when I'm like that, I was curious. It would be useful to hear from an outside perspective on what I was like, I knew what it was like for me but it was an interesting opportunity to hear what I'm like from an objective source.

Shiina continued thinking to herself, seemingly deep in thought at trying to contextualize her thoughts.

"Have you ever heard of the book 'Strange case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde'?"

Interesting, I could already see where she was going with this but I decided to play dumb. I've read that book before, several times. In English.

"No, what's it about?"

"Oh don't worry about it, it's not important." Shiina waved me off.

"Well, if you have a Japanese version of the book, I'd be happy to read it."

We talked about books, me feigning not knowing whenever she said a title and her listening with rapt attention to some of the light novels that I was interested in. She enthusiastically asked if she could borrow my copies of Death Note to which I agreed. She was nice, she was sweet. I couldn't help but feel guilty for what I had done, it was obvious that Ryuen, Ishizaki and Yamada hadn't told her about my threat.

This sweet girl, the way she covered her mouth when she giggled at some of my sarcastic comments. The way she seemed to hunch her shoulders in, as though the tiny girl was trying to take up as little space as possible in the crowded setting. Everything about her made me feel more and more guilty, more and more ashamed. I couldn't help but thank Ishizaki in my mind, if he hadn't submitted the wrong names…

I would have done it. I would have hated every minute of it but I would have done it. It would seem just like that fateful meeting between my father and Professor Ayanokouji had saved me, so too had Ishizaki's intervention. He would suffer for it, Ryuen seemed to be on the warpath now. There was nothing I could do for him though, we all have to live with the consequences of our choices.

Just as I had to live with this guilt every time I saw this sweet girl smile and laugh.

I was lost in the conversation, our drinks long finished before we had another and continued to talk as though we were old friends. As though we'd known each other for a lifetime. Soon after, Shiina looked over my shoulder before frantically patting me on the arm and pointing.

"Ayanokouji-kun! You left your phone with your stuff, Machida-kun from Class A is looking at it."

I turned slowly to look over my shoulder and sure enough, Machida was going through my phone. My towel and other effects were all lying around, it was obvious the space was taken but he had my phone in hand.

Without any real urgency, I stood up to go to him when Shiina grabbed my hand to stop me.

"Ayanokouji-kun, I'm going to go now. I… I don't like confrontations. If it's okay with you, I'll just leave now."

"Of course," I said with a smile, putting my hand on her head and patting her fondly.

Just like that day, her eyes went wide with surprise at the suddenly affectionate gesture. This time however, she looked at the ground as I continued to stroke her head. I could see the tips of her ears going red as I continued.

"That's the second time that you've done that," Shiina said bashfully.

"Does it bother you? I didn't mean to overstep,"

"No, no… it's fine. I… quite like it." Shiina admitted, embarrassed. "You shouldn't do that though, Honami-chan might get jealous. She may get the wrong idea…"

"She'll be fine. It's just a head pat between friends," I said, shaking my head and turning to go to Machida.

"...friends…" I heard Shiina repeat to herself quietly.

Machida was now tapping on the screen of my phone as he was going through it, not paying attention to his surroundings. He was engrossed in whatever he found. I was barely five meters away from him, just about to surprise him to find out what exactly he was doing when a beach ball suddenly collided with my side, covering me in water.

There was a shriek from the pool as I turned to see who it was. Nishi Haruka from Class A was looking at me with her hands together and bowing her head with an apology.

"I'm so sorry, Ayanokouji-kun! It was an accident, I didn't mean to!"

I've never had an interaction with her, she was one of the members of Class A who was in Katsuragi's camp. She quickly climbed out the pool before rushing towards me and inspecting the aftermath.

Nishi was quite petite, dressed in the standard issue school swimsuit. She wasn't particularly good looking but she wasn't ugly either by any stretch of the imagination. Brown hair that was tied up in a ponytail with a hime styled fringe. She was nimble on her feet, her rather lithe and underdeveloped physique made it easy for her to run on the tips of her toes so that she wouldn't slip over and fall.

"I'm so so sorry, Ayanokouji-kun!" Nishi said loudly. "Oh look at you now, you're all wet! I'm so so sorry,"

"It's fine, it's just water, it's alright. We're at a pool. Things like this happen, don't worry yourself. I'll just dry myself off," I said calmly before turning to go back to my sunbed.

Nishi frantically grabbed my arm and turned me back to face her. I raised an eyebrow, looking at her hands which were still wet from being in the pool, now the moisture was seeping into my Hawaiian shirt as she pulled me back.

Noticing, she quickly let go before trying to wipe the water away with her hand, effectively spreading it even more.

She looked over my shoulder at my sunbed before smiling apologetically at me.

"I'm just making it worse, aren't I? I don't know why I'm such a klutz today. It's free, but could I get you a drink or something? Maybe I can give you some points as an apology."

"It's really fine, honestly. You don't have to worry about it."

"I feel bad. I suppose you don't need the points though, after the results and everything."

"None of us can ever have enough points. It doesn't really matter though, it isn't necessary. Thank you but you really don't have to worry."

I was about to turn back to my sunbed before Nishi suddenly spoke again, looking past me at my sunbed once more.

"How's Sakayanagi-san? Has she recovered yet?"

At her mentioning Arisu, I turned back to her with a deep frown. I was disappointed, they were both in the same class. Why hadn't she asked her herself?

"You haven't been in contact with her? Not even a message?"

"Sakayanagi-san and I aren't very close. I doubt she'd even reply if I sent her a message," Nishi said with a shrug.

"That doesn't mean you couldn't have checked up on her, at least sent her a message of concern. She would have replied to that, I expected more from her classmates."

"Is that why she helped Class D with the Zodiac Exam? Is that why she gave you the names?" Nishi asked with a raised eyebrow.

I said nothing as I looked back at her, her whole demeanor had changed. Rather than frantic and ditzy, she now looked condescending. The upturned eyes had changed to narrow and calculating as she attempted to get a read on any change in my body language.

"She didn't do anything of the sort, she wants to win just like any of you. I figured it out on my own, you shouldn't think yourself better than anyone else. Arrogance like that will get you a one way ticket to Class D, the standings are quite close now, wouldn't you say?"

"I guess we'll soon find out," Nishi said cryptically before turning and returning back to the water.

I turned back to my sunbed to see that Machida, seemingly done with looking through my phone was staring at me. The two of us just continued to look at each other, waiting for the other to crack and speak first.

I was growing bored of this waiting game.

"Is there a reason you're going through my phone?"

Despite the fact that I'd caught him red handed, he stood calmly before tossing the device at me. Catching it without breaking eye contact, he didn't even flinch as we continued our visual war.

"I just noticed that it was left behind and was checking to see who it belonged to so I could return it," Machida explained calmly.

"I'm sure you already knew it was mine, you've been following me since the results were announced."

"I resent that accusation, I have better things to do with my time."

Seemingly done with everything, he walked towards me. I remained where I was until we were right next to each other, shoulder to shoulder as he spoke again quietly so we wouldn't be overheard.

"I knew I was right. Katsuragi was skeptical, but I know what I heard. I knew Sakayanagi gave you the names. There's no way that you could have been responsible for all of this. BUDDY, Class D's sudden success. You've shown no indicators that you're a secret genius in hiding. Sakayangi's plan of usurping Katsuragi's leadership isn't going to work. Now we have proof."

"What are you talking about?" I asked, seemingly dumbfounded. "I figured it out myself. It was easy to figure out the names. Perhaps Class A isn't as almighty as you think you are. If you guys couldn't figure out the key, maybe you're just as stupid as the rest of them."

"Nice try, Ayanokouji. You really played the part. You really had me questioning whether or not I was going crazy, whether you were actually a genius. Now I know, you're just good at following orders. Good at intimidating people and selling a story. You were a great actor, maybe next time you should keep your mouth shut instead of trying to score points with your girlfriend's friends."

"You're wrong," I said calmly. "I'm a genius. I'm the most gifted person in our year. No, the entire school. If I take things seriously, none of you stand a chance."

"Still lying and acting even when I caught you red handed." Machida continued to speak quietly.

"A word of advice, when deleting emails they don't get removed from your device. They go into a trash folder that gets emptied after thirty days, you have to manually delete them from that folder. If you're going to delete evidence next time, you should probably delete the emails there too.

"You're a phenomenal actor, you should consider it as a future career. At the end of the day though, you're not your sister. You belong in Class D. Now that I have proof that Sakayanagi gave you the names, Katsuragi's leadership is cemented. We will never trust her again. Without her help, you'd still be at the bottom in Class D. Remember that, Ayanokouji." Machida finished before walking away.

Machida was right about one thing, I was a phenomenal actor. I still had others eyeing me curiously so I didn't allow the smile that I wanted to spread across my face as I laid back down on my sunbed, now completely relaxed. Today was the last day we'd be on the ship. I may as well spend it relaxing at the pool after a job well done.

I decided check my deleted items but there wasn't anything there. He said he had the evidence so obviously he had sent himself something, he just had the foresight to delete it after he was done.

Instead the last email that I had sent to my deleted folder showed up on my screen. One that was time stamped just before the first meeting. The curious thing about these phones was that it was surprisingly easy to doctor emails. Unless you took it to the school to check the validity or asked for a history though, there were very few ways to actually check in real time if an email was faked or not.

Unless you're proficient at coding and know what to do to make a fake look just as plausible as the real thing, even if you looked at the source code.

The email was from my dear sister, one that Arisu had 'sent' me just before the first meeting.

Kiyotaka,

Whatever you do, make sure that no one sees this.

Attached is a file with the highlighted names of the VIP's from each class.

Katsuragi can never know that I helped you, it's important that you delete this immediately after you've memorized the names.

All my love,

Arisu.

A/N: With that, volume 4 is over. This part of the story was fun to write.

I know this one was short but it was just to wrap up the end of the Zodiac Exam. I know people were crying out for Kiyo to do something, hopefully he (for once) lived up to expectations ;)

Until the next chapter...

Chapter 40

"Ayanokouji Kiyotaka, I swear on my life if another flower delivery comes through that door..." Arisu huffed with annoyance.

"Just let me enjoy this a little bit. I was worried, I missed you." I said while stroking her hand with my thumb.

I was coiled like Usain Bolt the moment that the bus had pulled in early in the morning, taking us from the port back to the school. Honami had noticed, soothingly rubbing my knee the entire trip and telling me to be patient. Mako was once again sitting next to Eiichiro, laughing at my restlessness the entire time.

"Hey, Ayanokouji-chan. What's it like dating a siscon?"

"Leave him alone, it's really sweet..."

"Siscon isn't even the word," Eiichiro muttered under his breath.

I didn't chime in. I didn't even fight back or refute anything. I was too distracted, too excited. I just wanted to see Arisu recovered and safe with my own eyes. The moment we were dismissed, I bolted straight to the infirmary. The moment I opened the door and saw her sitting up in her bed, staring out the window at the morning sun I was relieved. When she saw me in the doorway she smiled.

Class battles didn't matter. Whatever happened on the island or on the ship was irrelevant. It was part of our relationship, whatever happens during the battle didn't matter once the war was over. I forgot everything this smug little schemer had done the moment that I saw her raise her arms, beckoning me for a hug.

At least, that was the case for me.

I hadn't left her side for the entire day except for going to the bathroom. I ordered lunch, ordered Arisu's favorite cakes only for the staff to take them away. Chastising me for being irresponsible, I was willing to bet that the fat pig who told me off and took my Arisu's cakes was stuffing her face in the lunchroom. A fact that I shared with Arisu only for her to laugh at my childish outburst, assuring me that it was okay.

So instead, I spent points on bringing in flowers and making sure every inch of Arisu's room that was available was stuffed to the brim. It looked like a jungle, a myriad of colors from vibrant reds and oranges to exotic pinks and purples. A part of it was for Arisu, to make up for my selfishness and her misfortune. Another was to stick it to the land whale who stole my Arisu's food.

"So, what are your plans tomorrow? Surely you don't plan to hover around my bedside for the remainder of your summer break."

"Why not? I get to stay here and do nothing and annoy you at the same time. You can see me enjoying lazing about and you can't do anything to stop it or leave. Win, win for me."

"Do you want to be single again? I'm certain that your girlfriend will have something to say about you being here for every waking moment until I'm discharged."

"She thinks it's sweet." I said with a shrug.

Arisu shook her head in exasperation but she didn't look as though she were angry. Rather, she was smiling fondly. I'm quite sure that my choice in partner was one that she supported, she seemed to like Honami quite a great deal.

Words really couldn't express how happy I was at the moment. Not only did I miss Arisu but I was scared. Scared that my actions and my selfishness had caused her ailment. Worried that something could have happened to her, something permanent. Perhaps even...

It doesn't matter, she's here and she's safe. The fact that she's almost ready to be discharged fills me with happiness. If only that wooly mammoth hadn't stolen her cakes.

It was nice being here, just enjoying Arisu's company. Even after the conclusion of the Zodiac Special Test, I felt as though I was in a state of constant stress. The prying eyes were unnerving, at least here I could hide out and not have to worry. Neither of us checked our phones, simply content to be in each other's company once again. Despite the surroundings, it was almost like the time that we spent in the manor.

I miss our home, far more than I thought I would. Life was so much simpler. There are other times when I enjoy being at Advanced Nurturing High School but everything that happened while we were away was... different. It was a unique experience, one that I'd never imagined possible. At first I was excited, then we were dropped on an island and we were all quite literally in survival mode. While everyone did their best to keep their minds from snapping, it was rather easy for me. Any environment is easy to deal with compared to that place.

Despite that, I struggled. I hadn't anticipated just how much my sister's health and well being tied into my own psyche.

Arisu's good mood was confusing though. I thought that she would be angry that despite the fact that she had me cornered, once again I had outmaneuvered her. The phone resting forgotten on her lap hadn't vibrated even once, hadn't let out an alert the entire time. It made me curious, Arisu was fairly social and rather popular. It was odd that her followers hadn't even been in to visit yet.

"Where's Hashimoto, Kamuro and Yamamura?"

"Surprisingly those three have been rather quiet and distant since the conclusion of the Special Test. I've left them to their own devices, they deserve a break for a job well done," Arisu smirked triumphantly.

She didn't know. She had no idea. For some reason Hashimoto, Kamuro and Yamamura had kept her in the dark, stopped speaking to her for some time.

Arisu had no idea what I had done.

"I'm ever so curious, how did you do it?" Arisu smiled happily.

"Do what?"

"Oh ho, look at you being coy," Arisu gloated. "You'll tell me eventually, not that it matters. Now that you've been exposed, do you know what that means? You will not avoid me any longer. The next special test, we will finally go head to head. I allowed you time to frolic with your little band of nitwits for long enough."

Before we could continue with the conversation, the door to the room opened and one by one my beloved 'band of nitwits' as Arisu had called them all started to file in. All of them smiling and happy, gushing over Arisu and looking all about the room at the abundance of flowers.

"Sakayanagi-san! You've recovered!"

"Look at all the flowers!"

"Are you feeling better?"

The girls all congregated around the bed, all taking turns to fawn over Arisu. She was blushing faintly, chatting with the class who had all stayed and bonded with her on the island. The boys were standing in their own little group, all looking uncomfortable at the abundance of estrogen that was permeating the air of the room.

Surprisingly, Sudo was there. Standing uncomfortably away from the group with Eiichiro by his side. He looked incredibly meek, it was a very strange sight to see. He wasn't his usual boisterous and confident self, simply looking at everyone with discomfort and looking as though he felt out of place.

The room was far more lively than it was when it was just the two of us. Yamauchi was suddenly shoved away when he too tried to greet Arisu, asking if she had recovered. Memories of that cursed day when Arisu was flirti... Oh God, I never want to remember that day again for as long as I live.

"Ayanokouji... Hey," Sudo greeted me awkwardly as I approached them.

"Hello Sudo, how are you doing?" I asked.

"Good, good. I haven't really been able to leave my dorm. Haven't really spoken to much of anyone. I just sort of stayed by myself... thought about things."

I just nodded, the whole interaction was incredibly awkward. I didn't really know what to say to that, I wasn't angry with him. There just wasn't really much of anything to add.

"Hey! Actually, I wanted to talk to you about something... I already talked to Matsuo about it but I really don't really deserve to get a split of the points from the special test you guys just had. I decided that I wanted to split my share up between Matsuo, Horikita and Kushida for trying to help me.

"I also wanted to split off a portion to give to Ichinose. She really tried to help, it even made her lose her representative spot and all that... It's just, I haven't had much to do except reading and looking at stuff on the school boards. I saw that you guys started dating, I didn't really want to talk to her behind your back or anything... Would you have a problem if I spoke to her? You know, to offer to give her the points?" Sudo asked awkwardly.

Horikita wasn't exactly close but she'd overheard and broke away from the group to move to my side before addressing Sudo.

"Sudo-kun, that won't be necessary. I will not be accepting any points from you. At the end of the day, we were not able to assist you in avoiding punishment and this is a clean slate for all of us. Please keep the points for yourself, I have no need for them." Horikita said kindly.

"I'm not taking points from you either." Eiichiro agreed, clapping him on the shoulder.

Either Kushida wasn't listening or she was too far away to hear. I didn't hear her say anything about not taking a cut herself.

"I'm sure Honami won't be taking any points from you either. You already served your punishment, don't punish yourself even more." I assured him.

I don't know what reaction I was expecting but his eyes widened. It looked as though he wanted to protest but the earnest and heartfelt refusal from Horikita seemed to make it die in his throat.

Instead he simply nodded humbly.

"Thank you guys, it won't happen again. I'll give you my best from now on, you won't have any more trouble with me." Sudo promised.

"Still, have you heard from your teammates? Do you still have your spot on the line up?" Eiichiro asked with concern.

"No." Sudo said sadly. "They haven't reached out to me but I got an email from the club captain that I've been removed from the starting line-up. I'm lucky to still even be allowed to come back, I should have expected this. I just hoped..."

He trailed off sadly, looking dejected again. Upon seeing Eiichiro and Horikita looking crestfallen, he quickly clapped Eiichiro on the shoulder before trying to cheer them up.

"Hey guys, come on. We're supposed to be celebrating, you guys really came through in the clutch."

"What does that even mean?" Horikita asked in confusion, looking at me for an explanation.

"It's a basketball term. It means you guys came back in the final minutes when the chips were down. How the hell did you guys manage to pull that off?" Sudo asked with renewed energy.

I expected them to suddenly blurt out Arisu's name, she was now sitting up with interest. The smile on her face was so unbelievably smug. They surprised me though, instead they simply shared a knowing look before Satou spoke up.

"We can't talk about that right now, we promised to keep it a secret. Although... It's part of the reason why we're all here..." Satou said with a smirk before turning to Arisu.

"Give it to her, come on! I can't wait anymore!" Shinohara said excitedly.

As I looked around the room, Karuizawa and I made eye contact. She had come in with the rest but stayed glued to Satou's side the entire time. Hirata was on the other side of the room, apparently they hadn't made up yet. When our eyes met, she glared at me before breaking eye contact quickly.

Women. Honestly.

"Give what to who?" Arisu asked in confusion.

"We have a present for you," Mii-chan said shyly.

"We all chipped in what points we had left over. The transfers haven't come in yet but we wanted to do something for you as soon as possible. Wang and Sotomura donated the bulk of the points, many of us are still kind of poor." Yukimura explained in embarrassment.

"A present for me? Why?" Arisu asked in bewilderment.

The Class all shared a look, all of them smirking at the supposed insider secret. Arisu continued to look around at them all, completely out of the loop.

"For staying with us at the camp!" Kushida suddenly said, coming up with an excuse on the fly.

"Exactly!" Onodera chimed in, recognizing what she was doing. "We really had fun with you, we're really happy you decided to stay and bond with us."

There was a chorus of agreement from everyone, the girls all giggling conspiratorially while the guys just grinned in silence.

Arisu just looked at them all like they were all nutjobs.

Satou took that as her queue to hand her a box. It looked expensive, with the jewelry shop's logo embezzled on the delicate paper that covered it. An ivory ribbon held it all together, tied into a bow at the top. It was far too large to be any form of jewelry, I had no idea what they had bought her.

Arisu looked at the box suspiciously before carefully taking apart the ribbon and removing the wrapping paper with the care of a surgeon. Careful not to rip it, she opened the side closest to her when she suddenly gasped and tore off the paper to reveal quite possibly the most beautiful chess set I've ever laid eyes on.

It was marble with gold trimmings and fasteners. Her hands were shaking as she opened the box to reveal crushed blue velvet liners with all of the pieces held in place in their own little nest. The pieces were incredibly intricate, all carved in ivory and obsidian in very detailed carving. You could even make out the facial features of the king and queen, curiously both pieces looked individual. Neither king looked like they were pressed out of the same mold, one looking menacing the other wise. Both queens were different as well, one striking and malevolent while the other looked regal and prim.

Arisu's eyes lit up as she ran her fingers over each of the pieces, her hands shaking. It was for good reason too, the set must have cost a fair amount of points. Well over a hundred thousand, easily.

"Karuizawa picked it out," Satou told her, trying to fill the silence. "We just wanted to show our appreciation to you, thank you for everything."

Arisu was broken from her spell, looking at Satou with the same confusion as before but simply nodded, still too spellbound by the expensive gift. The chatter started up again but Arisu was in her own little world.

No longer was she awestruck by the gift, she was staring at it in contemplative silence. Trying to piece together what this was about from the small details that had been given from the group. Everyone seemed to split into their own little topics as the room was filled with chatter.

There truly was a great benefit to being the children of someone influential, Arisu's room wasn't stuffy even with forty one people. Even with the flowers everywhere, none of us were cramming together in the room. The chatter was lively and infectious, there wasn't any sort of butting heads with anyone either. The only thing close to a confrontation was when I stopped Yamauchi from using the ensuite bathroom, making him go out in the hall.

I'm not letting that pervert use my sister's toilet, the dirty bastard couldn't be trusted. Especially considering Arisu's laundry was probably in there.

The room turned tense when Katsuragi unexpectedly opened the door before looking at the occupants of the room. His eyes roamed over everyone's faces slowly before he carefully regarded the chess board in Arisu's hands and then the surrounding flowers that adorned the room.

Eiichiro noticed the intrusion as everyone went silent, cutting his conversation with Sudo short before clapping his hands loudly and addressing Class C.

"Alright everyone, let's get out of here. We've taken up enough of Arisu's time, let's go."

At the use of her proper name and not the nickname she hated more than everything, Arisu's eyes widened in surprise. One by one they all took turns hugging Arisu or waving goodbye before exiting the room. I waited for my turn, eager to make my exit but as I kissed her cheek and turned to leave, Katsuragi put his hand on my shoulder and halted my retreat.

"You can stay if you like, we'd like to talk to you as well."

"We?" I repeated in confusion as the last of our class left the room only for all of Class A to enter as the room emptied.

Machida smiled proudly as he entered, Totsuka was looking anywhere but at me. Clearly he was still frightened after our confrontation. The others followed in as the room filled, curiously none of the girls were as friendly towards me as they were in the past. Kamuro was the picture of stoicism, not giving up a hint of emotion while Hashimoto seemed to be a little torn. Yamamura was staring only at her feet, right at the ground in front of where she would take another step.

I watched as they all formed a half-moon around the foot of Arisu's bed, my dear sister's face smirking in triumph at what she thought was a victory.

It was good fortune for me, watching everything unfold in front of my eyes instead of waiting for a second hand recount. I've never enjoyed beating my sister, I've hated watching the anguish in her eyes every time I mercilessly destroyed her in chess or any other arena. In fact, I hated it. I love this frail little girl with all my heart, there's no one in the world who means more to me.

That doesn't change the fact that for the first time in my life, I was angry with her.

Despite the fact that I was relieved to see her fine and well, despite the fact that I doted on her as I usually did and despite the fact that I loved my dear sister just as much today as I ever have, I was angry. Not because she had tried to expose me, I expected that and accepted that this would be the game between us.

I was angry at the fact that she had used herself as a tool to push me and put herself in danger by giving someone like Ryuen the information that she was my biggest weakness.

For once, in all of my life, I was going to thoroughly enjoy watching as the realization crossed her features while I watched her devolve into despair.

"Sakayanagi, it's good to see that you are well." Katsuragi said.

"Well, of course. A mild bout of Pneumonia is nothing in the grand scheme of things. I would rather be laying here in this bed than being torn apart in two special tests back to back. How are you feeling, Katsuragi? Having trouble sitting down?" Arisu smirked.

"None of which would be happening if it wasn't for you." Machida spat.

Katsuragi put a hand on his shoulder to stop him while Arisu hadn't caught on to what was going on, instead she laughed melodically. Leaning on the headboard of the bed, she truly was the epitome of pride.

"How did you come to that conclusion, Machida? I made no demands of Katsuragi to facilitate my tenure with Class D on the island, he did all of that of his own volition. I stayed within the bounds of what was agreed, I gave them no names and I did absolutely nothing to assist them.

"Now look where it has got us." Arisu continued. "Your little pet over there was so excited that a girl finally showed him any modicum of interest and sold us out. Then you come up with some hair brained plan where no one says anything during any meeting. You actually thought that would work?

"You think that simply because we decide not to speak that the other classes would sit on their hands and blindly follow along with you? How delusional. Your penchant for the modest approach will cost us dearly in the long run. Fortune favors the bold. If you truly believe in our peers then you would have some courage and be assertive. Your lack of backbone will destroy us simply by attrition. Never winning and slowly wearing down our advantage."

Arisu seemed to be talking to everyone in Class A, all of whom were strangely quiet. None of them seemed to refute any of her claims yet none of them had voiced any support for that matter. They all seemed to just listen, as though they had already made up their mind about something but simply allowed her to have her say.

Yamamura seemed to be the only one who looked to have any sort of emotion, continuing to look at the ground in silence. Kamuro was as stoic as when she entered. Hashimoto hadn't shown any of his usual mannerisms, he simply watched.

"Some of what you have said may be true, perhaps even all of it. The fact remains that this war between us is tearing our class apart and we can't continue on as we are, this battle for leadership between us has to end." Katsuragi said simply.

"I wholeheartedly agree with you," Arisu smiled. "Now more than ever. Now that my dear brother here has shown what he is capable of, our only chance for victory is through me."

Now that I was brought to the forefront of attention, Class A's eyes turned to me. They remembered, they saw. All of them were there when I met with them at the private pool, all of them had seen me for what I was.

Despite that, it would seem that they rationalized it as exactly what I had fed to Machida. That I was merely acting on Arisu's orders, capable of intimidation but nothing more than a goon that was good at selling the part. It was logical, to them I was Class D fodder. The Vice President of the Student Council, purely based on nepotism. The idiot son who scored zero. The handsome physical specimen that trained rigorously but was never seen with a textbook in hand.

They convinced themselves of a lie because the truth was far more frightening.

Machida stepped forward ready to speak again. Katsuragi seemed to be expecting it and shot him a hard look before he fell silent and stepped back again. The rest continued to watch in silence, it would seem that they had a conversation already. Discussed how they were going to approach this confrontation while our class was here.

"We understand. It's part of the reason why I asked you to stay behind," Katsuragi said as he stepped forward and approached me.

"I don't really know how I can broach the subject so I'll just be direct. Would you be interested in transferring to our class?"

Arisu had taken the opportunity to try and make eye contact with Hashimoto, Kamuro and Yamamura who were all avoiding meeting her gaze. At the question asked by Katsuragi, her head snapped in our direction so fast that I swore I heard her neck crack.

"Why?" I asked curiously.

"As long as the two of you are separated, Sakayanagi's loyalty will be split. You care for her immensely, I can see that the two of you have the deepest of bonds. It must be hard to be separated, we've all discussed it. We are willing to draft a memorandum committing to accruing enough points to pay for your transfer, if you're willing to accept."

"My loyalty!?" Arisu spat angrily. "What the hell are you talking about?"

"Isn't it obvious?" Katsuragi frowned as he tore his gaze from me and looked down at Arisu. "You figured out the code and gave him the names for the VIP's."

Arisu stared at him, looking at him as though he were the stupidest person to ever walk the earth.

"That's preposterous, he did it himself you buffoon! I've been trying to tell you from the beginning he's a genius, you absolute halfwit!" Arisu yelled angrily, pointing at me right in my face.

"Really? You're going to deny it? Matsuo's class just suddenly decided to gift you with all of this simply because they enjoyed your company?" Katsuragi asked, indicating the flowers all around the room before pointing at the chess set in her hands.

It was as though the pieces of the puzzle aligned as suddenly Arisu's eyes went wide, repeating the earlier events in her mind as she froze in shock. All at once, it all made sense to her. My class visited, giving her an expensive chess set, all of them thanking her and being friendly with her. As she figured everything out, Arisu glared angrily at Katsuragi.

That beautiful nurse, I can't believe I misjudged that beautiful woman. Her taking Arisu's cakes and me filling this room with flowers was a happy accident, the sheer amount of them all made it look like it had come from the rest of the class. My plan to annoy that absolute saint had made it seem as though it was an overwhelming show of gratitude from our class, seemingly grateful for her assisting us in conquering the Zodiac Special Test.

That delightful woman, I'm coming back with a whole apple pie just for her.

"They really are stupid, aren't they," Machida snorted. "We could hear them from outside the room while we waited. If they wanted to keep it a secret that you helped them, they should have just given you points. Gifts like this make it obvious."

"Be quiet, Machida." Katsuragi snapped.

"We will not blame Sakayanagi for this. Everything that has happened has unfolded because we are divided, this has to end. The longer we continue with these frivolous tit-for-tats we are allowing the other classes to make up lost ground. If we continue like this, constantly bickering amongst ourselves then we could very well put ourselves so far behind that even with our talents we won't be able to catch back up." Katsuragi continued diplomatically.

"I didn't do this," Arisu repeated desperately. "These flowers weren't from them, Kiyotaka bought them for me."

"Just stop, Sakayanagi-san. This is getting embarrassing," Nishi said, rolling her eyes.

"This set was a gift, I will admit it but he lied to them! I didn't do this, I didn't help them! You're making a mistake, he's manipulated them! If you all really want to remain in Class A, he is the threat! Kiyotaka is more of a genius than you couldn't ever imagine, you simple minded peasant!" Arisu spat.

"Princess, please. Stop..." Hashimoto said weakly.

"NO!" Arisu screamed desperately, hitting her bed with her fists. "I will not let this happen! I refuse!"

She was suddenly furious, glaring at me with so much anger that the others started to cower back.

"Tell them! Tell them, you bastard! Tell them the truth!" Arisu screamed at me, grabbing my shirt and attempting to shake me.

"Arisu please..." I said gently, leaning down and prying her fingers from my shirt only for her to pound her fists against my chest in anger. "You're still recovering, you need to relax."

"You lazy, manipulative, lying bastard! Tell them!"

"We found the proof already, Sakayanagi-san." Tanihara said quietly, the normally meek bookworm with thick glasses decided to speak up. While she was another that was in Katsuragi's camp, she seemed to look like she wasn't enjoying watching Arisu's meltdown.

Arisu stopped hitting me and screaming at Tanihara's voice, her breath labored from the exertion. She turned to the class as they all continued to watch. It seemed like they'd already made their choice, this display wasn't helping her case.

"What proof?"

"I accidentally stumbled on Ayanokouji's emails when I found his phone unattended and I was trying to see who it belonged to," Machida said, lying about it being an accident to avoid me reporting him. "I found this, I took a screenshot from his phone but also forwarded the original. This came from your phone."

Machida walked over confidently before handing his phone to Arisu, showing the email she 'sent' to me. As she read over the email, her eyes turned cold and dark before she opened the attachment and saw the key that I had figured out to the selection. Instantly, she could see how the VIP's had been selected. It was a surprise to her as well, she hadn't figured out the clues that were given to us.

"It's authentic," Machida continued as she stared at the phone in complete disbelief. "I did the usual checks, everything seems legitimate. You could have helped us with this, we could have made up for what we lost on the island but instead you used it as an opportunity to try to sabotage Katsuragi.

"Maybe next time you should be more specific and add instructions to delete the email from the deleted folder as well." Machida taunted her.

"This is fake, you idiot! Check my phone, I've never sent an email like this. I've never even tried to figure out the key. You just went through his phone because he left it out in plain sight!? Who here ever leaves their phone unattended? How did you even know the passcode to his phone?"

"There was no passcode, completely unprotected. What's the point of checking your emails? You're smart enough to cover your tracks."

"If you think that was a coincidence then you're even stupider than I thought. He left that for you to find, he's framing me! I. Did. Not. Help. Them!" Arisu punctuated with frustration.

"Why would he do that? Everyone in this school can see that Ayanokouji-kun loves you more than anyone, why would he frame you? Why would he make you look like you'd betrayed us if it isn't true?" Inoue asked skeptically.

"Show me one idiot in this entire school that doesn't have even the most basic security features set up on their phone!"

"Look right next to you," Kenta spat angrily.

"Everyone, please. Like I said, we have to stop this bickering between us. I have a sister as well. If I was in Sakayanagi's situation... I couldn't say that I wouldn't do the same if my sister was in Ayanokouji's position.

"It's part of the reason why I want us to bring him to our class. If we can have the two of them together, we can prevent this from happening in the future. I've already discussed this with Totsuka, we're prepared to let bygones be bygones if you can do the same. I understand that the two of you don't get along but if you can find it in yourself to let it go it would make things a lot easier.

"Please, Ayanokouji. Please consider it. Would you like to join us in Class A?" Katsuragi asked.

I took my time with answering, carefully looking over the occupants of Class A as I seemed to 'think' over my options. I wouldn't transfer, that much was obvious to me. I simply wanted to see who wanted me there, who was against it and who was indifferent.

Totsuka looked like he was firmly against it. While he still couldn't look in my direction, a large portion of it seemed to be fear. He was still firmly supportive of Katsuragi and right now his standing within the class had taken a hit with what happened on the island. Ever the follower, he kept his silence and went along with Katsuragi's plan.

Machida was smirking at me, completely confident that he had cornered me. With Totsuka losing standing, it seemed that he was now Katsuragi's right hand man. While he'd never been rude to me and he wasn't a bad guy, his confidence in himself bordered on arrogance. Still, he had never been rude to me or my sister. He was just seemingly angry and upset over the fact that Arisu had 'stabbed' them in the back.

The most interesting one was Hashimoto. He was begging me with his eyes to say yes. He seemed like the ambitious type, I always had my suspicions that his friendship with Arisu was purely based on convenience and his own self interests. This exam had opened his eyes, he realized what I was capable of with this experience. This whole charade right now just accentuated that.

"Please say yes, Ayanokouji-kun," Yamamura said quietly, finally looking up at me as they waited for my answer.

As our eyes met, I couldn't help but think of how she resembled Matsushita in that moment.

I looked down at Arisu only for her to look back at me with teary loathing eyes. She was furious, far angrier than I'd ever seen before. She was so smug, so confident that she finally had me right where she wanted me only for me to turn everything in my favor once again. Not only that, this time it cost her dearly.

"I can't... I'm sorry, but I can't leave my class behind. I can't leave Eiichiro..." I said reluctantly.

"Not even for Sakayanagi?" Katsuragi asked in surprise.

"She doesn't want me here," I said simply.

Katsuragi took one look at Arisu before sighing in defeat and giving a reluctant nod.

"Well, if that's your decision then there is nothing that I can do about it. Please think it over and if you reconsider then let me know.

"I meant what I said, Sakayanagi, this war has to end. That's why I'd like for all of us to take a vote now, so we can end this. All of us need to make a choice. Not tomorrow, not next week, not next term. Now.

"I want to call a vote, a final vote. If the vote ends in a draw then I will concede and give nothing but my full support to Sakayanagi. Whatever the decision is, I'm willing to set aside our differences and work as hard as possible to ensure we keep our position as Class A, at the top of the school system.

"If you wish for me to serve as the sole representative for Class A, please raise your hand now." Katsuragi said firmly.

I moved next to Arisu with a comforting arm over her shoulder. At the very least, it looked like a comforting gesture to the rest of Class A. In truth, it was a malevolent gesture.

You tried to expose me, you put me through hell. You took a risk and now I'll be right here by your side to watch it all come crumbling down around you.

We stayed there side by side. Arisu watched in powerless defeat as one by one, every single person raised their hand. Her features hardened in anger when she made eye contact with Kamuro who simply looked back without any emotion. It was done, Class A had made their decision.

"Get out," Arisu said quietly.

The rage was rolling off her in waves, her tone dripping with acid. She spoke so softly that it was almost a whisper but in the silence of the room and the poison in her tone, one by one they all left in the same silence that they were standing in. Katsuragi took one last look at Arisu before he looked at me, calculating and suspicious. It was barely a moment before he exited the room with the others leaving Arisu and I alone in the crippling silence.

I said nothing, my arm still over her shoulders as she slowly started to come to terms with what had just happened. Analyzing every decision, every move, every possibility before she turned to me with the hardest of glares.

"You bastard."

"Don't get angry with me, you lost. That's how it all works, there's always a winner and a loser. You had me cornered and I found a way out. I wasn't angry when I was on the backfoot and you have absolutely no right to be angry with me now that you lost. Again." I said coldly.

I watched as she discreetly took her phone in her hand before tucking it under herself in the bed. In a school like this, many of the more cunning students had figured out that you can reassign the few buttons on the phone itself to serve different functions. A feature no doubt put into the phone by the school to facilitate the various forms of strategy used for subterfuge.

Most people would simply leave it on default, others would reset it to various other functions. Like voice recording.

"I'll never stop," Arisu vowed. "I'm sick of this facade, sick of you pretending to be an absolute ape. If you think I'll just take my foot off your throat and allow you back into that lazy, meaningless lifestyle of yours then you are fooling yourself! You bastard! Why!? Why won't you just be proud of who you are!?"

"This is who I am, Arisu. You just refuse to accept it.

"You already took your foot off my throat, Arisu. You were impatient. You celebrated too early. You made an enormous miscalculation; you can't be in control of things if you're separated by an ocean. You assumed that you had exposed me the moment that you forced me to take everyone down but you forgot one important detail. The game is never over until the king is taken.

"You should have continued to put pressure on me and never stopped until you saw with your own eyes that I was exposed, instead you took rumors and debate as evidence that you had won. You made a critical miscalculation. You forgot that while you're a genius amongst everyone else, in comparison to me, you're nothing more than average." I whispered in her ear.

I removed my arm from her shoulders before reaching towards where she had her phone hidden, her whole body shaking with pure rage. As I reached underneath her to grab at the device, she attempted to shove me away. Her palm desperately shoved at my face as I continued to reach for it before she panicked and bit me as hard as she could, desperate to stop me from taking her device.

The pain was irrelevant as I pried the phone from its hiding place, deleting the recording that was ongoing before opening her browser app and typing my name into a search engine. Once I had the results page open with all of the articles about me, I copied the link and opened the school boards before pasting the link into a drafted post. All that remained was for her to press one box, one tap of her finger and she could have everything she wanted.

"You know deep inside that you'll never win. Any plans that you try to enact, I'll always be five steps ahead of you. Any scheme you come up with I've already considered and discarded as worthless. There's only one way you can expose me." I said coldly as I put the phone into her hand, taking her by the chin.

Arisu fought against me angrily trying to turn her face away but I held on and forced her to look at me. I'd never seen so much anger directed at me from her, so much frustration. So much hatred. It was the first time she'd ever looked so angry at being defeated by me and for the first time in my life; I liked it.

I've never enjoyed beating Arisu in anything except for right now, right at this very moment.

"You want everyone to see me for what I am, then you know what you have to do. You'll never be able to outsmart me, the only way that you have to expose me is to post that. Go on, do it. Admit that you'll never be able to do anything that I can't stop and press post. Betray me. Show me that ruthless side of you..."

The turmoil and hesitation was obvious, I never broke eye contact with her. Still having a firm hold of her chin I saw from the corner of my eye as her finger moved to the little blue box only for it to stop and move away again. Arisu continued to battle herself, wrestling with how far she was willing to go to get what she wanted.

Instead, she deleted the post. Pressing the button to switch off her screen, she continued to breathe heavily until she couldn't take it anymore. Ripping her chin from my grip she angrily threw her phone against the wall and I heard the sickening crack as the screen broke from the force, the now fractured glass face up as it lay on the tiled floor.

She continued to glare at the now broken device in fury as I stood from the bed, making my way to exit the room.

"I will cherish this gift from your class, Kiyotaka. Every time I use it, every time I see it, it'll renew my resolve. I will never stop coming for you. Never."

"This... this is not over," Arisu seethed.

I didn't say anything back, I just left. After all, I had things to do. I have an apple pie to purchase for that wonderful nurse after all.

A/N: Hey guys, new chapter. We had a few familiar faces returning to the story :)

Checkmate by Kiku_6037 is quite possibly one of if not the best currently active works at the moment. There are some things in there that make people uncomfortable, I'll admit there were even some parts that were hard to read for me. However, in terms of skill and interesting ideas, I think that this story is CRIMINALLY under appreciated and under read and I think it may have something to do with the fact that it probably has the mature tag.

This story is incredible and the author deserves far more reads and recognition than they have. If you're not against a story that has some rather uncomfortable themes then feel free to give it a read if you haven't. Kiku_6037 works incredibly hard, is consistent and deserves to have far more reads than their story has currently.

(Has a lemon and other rather strong themes. If that is not your thing or you're under age please disregard this :))

SS Why didn't I choose you?

I really hoped from the bottom of my heart that this would be a fresh start for me. The moment that I found out about Advanced Nurturing High School and the fact that I could leave my past behind me, that I could run away from the bullies and the pain that I endured and start a new life...

It was all just a pipedream. I'll forever be weak, forever be a loser. My fate has always been determined, I will always be bullied no matter where I go.

It's as though my body tells a story of everything I've been forced to endure. As I stood naked in front of my mirror and inspected the tender bruises that were finally at the tail end of healing, it was as though every mark and scar tells another story of yet another time when I was the victim.

The pockmarks on the soles of my feet from when they put thumbtacks in my shoes and forced me to walk. The faint marring on my hands from when I was dragged through the gravel by my hair, the ugly scar on my abdomen from when I was stabbed and almost died. It's a constant reminder of my shameful existence.

That's how worthless I am. This scar is a reminder that I couldn't even die properly.

It hurts because almost every action that I've taken thus far has been to ensure my safety, to ensure my survival. Even still, once again, I've failed.

My popularity has nothing to do with the fact that people like me. Being targeted back then helped me in a way, I constantly analyzed ways that I could make it stop. How I could avoid being tortured yet again? In all of my years of being tormented, it was the one thing that I was able to do, I studied my oppressors and how they functioned.

I did all of this in the hopes to make it stop but as time went on I realized that it wouldn't happen, I had already been labeled. Once I'd been branded as worthless, there was no way for me to get out from under that title. Instead, I just watched and I learned. I hoped that once I came here that I would finally be free. I'd make sure that I wouldn't be a victim again, no matter the cost.

As I continued to look at the now fading bruises I could feel the tears start to fall again. What was it all for? I studied them for nothing, I did everything I thought I was supposed to, and after barely more than a few months in my new school I was bullied yet again. I can already feel my stature in the school slipping, being beaten like that has affected my psyche. Satou and Shinohara can already see that something's been affecting me even though I try to smile through the turmoil I'm going through.

Manabe's been taunting me at every turn, smirking viciously whenever I pass her. I hate her so much, I just want her to leave me alone.

I didn't even do anything wrong, did I? I may have pushed Morofuji but I was just acting the part, doing what I had to do. Did that deserve what I got? Is there something to the way that I am that just shines like a beacon for bullies to see me for the weak, pathetic girl that I am?

Is that why the only male in this school that I can genuinely call my friend abandoned me when I needed him the most?

I don't know why but it hurts me so much more that Ayanokouji-kun left me when I was at my most vulnerable than when Hirata-kun didn't have my back. I think it may have something to do with the fact that I expected Hirata-kun not to do anything. This deal between us was just a deterrent. We're not even really that close as friends, we're just seen as a couple but we're no closer than when I first met him.

We spend time together, we talk. There's just this wall between us. If I hadn't approached him and asked for him to pretend to be my boyfriend, I doubt we would have become genuine friends. We're so different as people, I don't even know why he agreed to help me with this now that I think about it.

I only had two options to choose from at the time; Ayanokouji-kun and Hirata-kun.

Ayanokouji-kun was the one that I was going to approach in the beginning. I just had a feeling that he would be the one that would be more dependable. He warned those perverts at the beginning of the year, threatening to beat them up if they perved on us in our swimsuits while we were having our lessons. We talked at the pool, he teased me. He makes me laugh. I thought he cared about me.

I changed my mind and went to Hirata-kun for two reasons in the beginning.

The first being that he was the easier option. I didn't think it'd take much to convince him and I was right. I shared my story and my concerns and he listened. He looked on with sympathy as I gave him details of what had happened to me and why I needed him to pretend to be my boyfriend. Just like that, it was done and he agreed.

It wasn't until I spent more time with him that I realized that I wouldn't be as protected as I thought. He would deter people but he wouldn't actively keep them away.

He wouldn't fight for me.

As for the other reason why I decided to approach Hirata-kun instead of Ayanokouji-kun... Well... Do I need to point it out?

It's just sad that I was proven right. I just wanted him to stay with me while I was scared and he couldn't even do that for me. How could I have expected him to protect me when it was too much effort for him to even keep me company? I saw firsthand when Ichinose-san was being targeted by Class C during the meeting, he didn't even step in to help her.

Ayanokouji-kun couldn't even be bothered to protect his real girlfriend. So why would he protect a fake?

I'm not surprised but I'm angry. I'm angry because, although everyone has criticized or looked badly at Ayanokouji-kun, I've always supported him.

I've supported him in every way. I believed in and encouraged his relationship with Ichinose-san. I tried to talk everyone into letting Ichinose-san into the camp on the island, I put what little points I had into the pool. I spoke up and told people to leave him to his thoughts when Sakayanagi-san was sent back to the school with pneumonia.

I kept the class from trying to make him contribute to the class. When the girls would complain about his lack of contribution, I supported him.

I didn't even tell him or ask for recognition. I thought we were friends...

It doesn't matter anymore. He's on his own now, screw Ayanokouji-kun. I hate that lazy bastard. I'll never speak to him again. Ever...

Who am I kidding? He's popular. He's the Student Council Vice President. I'm parasitic, I feed off the strength of others. I'm incapable of standing alone, even as I try to now I'm struggling on my own and I know I'll die if I don't have a host. As angry as I am with Ayanokouji-kun if he would just try... If he showed even the smallest amount of remorse or sympathy, I'd be so happy. I'd pretend like it wasn't what I wanted and that I was doing him a favor by forgiving him but inside I would be dancing with joy.

It's part of the reason why I was elated inside when I received a message to meet him in the Special Annex of the Science Building. After changing and leaving my dorm, when I arrived and opened the door, I was surprised to see Ayanokouji-kun already waiting for me. I vaguely wondered if it was a coincidence that he was wearing an outfit I made him buy on our first shopping trip during our first week of school.

Despite how happy I felt inside, I couldn't help the defensive nature that crept up inside. I wanted us to be friends again, more than anything I wanted to talk to someone who knew what happened. I hadn't told anyone, not even Hirata-kun. I wanted to free myself of this burden but my pride wouldn't allow it as my body moved by itself. As though I were trapped in the body of a puppet that simply moved as the strings were pulled.

As though I were a prisoner in my own mind, a scared creature that only knows how to try to protect itself.

"Why am I here? What do you want?" I found myself snapping at him.

"Thank you for coming, Karuizawa..." He said gratefully, breathing a sigh of relief at seeing me.

I felt my heart skip a beat. I had no idea what this was about but I was relieved. While my pride wouldn't allow me to seek him out, he called for me. I should be angry with him, he was being an ass even before finding me on the ship. Taking those space cadets' sides in the meetings, glaring at me to shut up when I had my say. I've done the same to Shinohara on several occasions but it's different.

Well, I thought I was different. Perhaps I am just on the same level as Shinohara, perhaps worse. Maybe Ayanokouji-kun saw through the act.

"I brought your tie," I said robotically, throwing it at his feet dismissively. "Is that what you wanted? Did you ask me here to laugh at me? Am I here so you can threaten me? Extort me? What do you want?"

He looked sad and remorseful, looking at his tie with regret but not bothering to pick it up. He wasn't angry with how rude I was being.

No! Stop doing this Kei! Stop... He's sorry, look at him! Don't mess this up. Not now...

"Just wait, they'll be here soon. Stay here with me while I take care of this and after that, you can go back to hating me. I'll leave you alone, I won't speak to you again if that's what you want."

No... That's not what I want. Say something Kei. Tell him that's not what you want!

I stared at him as he leaned against the wall, waiting for whoever was coming through the door to the room we were in. He was an enigma, a puzzle. For the life of me, I couldn't understand this boy. It's as though I'm with a completely different person yet again and no matter how hard I stare and try to piece it together, I just can't seem to understand.

The day that he found me on the fire escape, he had such little care for me. He carried me but he almost smashed my head when walking out into the halls near our rooms. He spoke but his voice was different, his eyes were cold and lifeless. Even his voice, which is normally a sarcastic bored baritone, was strange. His posture, his demeanor, even his aura. Everything was different and it was as though the old Ayanokouji-kun that I'd always known and hung out with was back but even now he was different.

We stood there in silence, I was doing everything I could to not look in his direction while he continued to stare at his tie on the floor. When I heard the door open and the same four girls who beat me up on the ship walked in my heart leaped into my throat and I started to hyperventilate. I felt the same feeling of dread that I'd always felt whenever I was about to be bullied as my eyes widened in fear and my knees went weak.

Never in my life had I felt so betrayed. How could he do this to me?

It wasn't until I looked at Ayanokouji-kun that my fear gave way to confusion. He was almost like a completely different person yet again. Like the one who found me that day. Not the same sarcastically, bored, and lazy Ayanokouji-kun. He looked cold and ruthless, he looked at the Manabe, Yamashita, Yabu, and Morofuji like they were insignificant.

It was like I was locked in a room with a wild animal, the most dangerous kind. One that wasn't showing signs of aggression but gave off an aura that they were capable of ending your life at any moment simply because they wanted to. His movements were robotic, his posture was completely stiff and rigid. When he spoke, I heard that same monotone voice that I had heard when he callously told me that he didn't have time to stay with me.

He straightened from leaning against the wall, slowly. Purposefully. I watched as he looked at the four coldly, walking towards me before standing protectively in front of me. Just by that one action, I was relieved. As though a calming draft washed over me and whispered in my ear that everything would be okay.

This, here and now, was everything that I could have ever hoped for. The one experience that if lightning struck me down right now then I would die a happy and content woman. Someone, just one person, stood up for me. Protected me. I had a friend, one that cared about me, a real friend.

A true friend.

Although we weren't connected at all physically, it was as though I were a leech that attached myself to the power he emanated. Greedily drinking from the strength his aura oozed like the sweetest of blood that permeated the air and nourished my diminishing confidence until I was full and content.

For the first time in what felt like weeks, I stood with conviction. For the first time in what felt like a lifetime, I didn't feel like the Kei that was bullied and beaten and spat on like a leper. I felt like Karuizawa Kei, a student of ANHS. The popular queen of the girls of our class. The 'girlfriend' of Hirata Yousuke.

The friend of Vice President Ayanokouji Kiyotaka.

Only then did I see the situation for what it was. As though the Maya had been removed and the illusion that I was seeing that was given birth by my fear was no longer there. My oppressors didn't look like vicious piranha that tasted blood in the water and tore at my flesh as though I were a sumptuous feast for their carnal desires.

They looked like they were the ones that were about to be devoured.

"You're late," Ayanokouji-kun said coldly.

Yamashita and Yabu looked at him fearfully, both of them looked scared and apprehensive. Morofuji was shaking with her eyes firmly on the ground, refusing to look up and trying to make her body as small as possible.

Manabe glared at Ayanokouji-kun with so much hatred that if it were me I would be cowering on the ground in the fetal position. He looked unphased though, with no fear. No emotions. While she was looking at him with the most obvious disdain and hostility, he looked at her like she didn't even exist.

"We weren't going to come at all," Manabe said flippantly, dismissive as though this were a complete waste of time.

"So she fed you a story? Something about the four of us doing something to her? We didn't do anything, she must have tripped and fallen over. Now she's trying to blame us for it, we're the victims here. This is just like Class D, they cause problems and then blame us for it with baseless accusations.

"We're the ones who should be making the complaints. Karuizawa shoved Morofuji on the ship while she was waiting in line and then refused to apologize. We're the ones who should be reporting her for bullying instead."

"Class C," Ayanokouji-kun corrected her calmly.

"What?"

"You referred to us as Class D, we're Class C now. I'm surprised you forgot, you were so proud during the meeting. As you said, the results speak for themselves. You're all losers."

Manabe went silent, unable to refute what Ayanokouji-kun had said. The shame and humiliation of their loss during the Zodiac Special Test were all over her face as she gritted her teeth to not lash out again in haste.

"Why don't you do so then?"

"Do what?" Manabe snarled.

"Make a report for Karuizawa shoving Morofuji. You have the Vice President of the Student Council standing in front of you, would you like to put forth an official complaint?"

"Maybe we will. If we do, it won't be to you. We'll report it to our homeroom teacher. At least if we make the complaint to Sakagami-sensei, we'll know that it'll get reported. Student Council Vice President, what a joke. As if you wouldn't be biased towards your friend." Manabe spat.

Ayanokouji-kun nodded calmly as if he were expecting that and I started to panic again.

No! Please, Ayanokouji-kun. I did it! If they report me and ask around, someone will speak up against me! If that doesn't happen, those three will lie and say that they saw it! Stop them, please! Please!

I couldn't get the words out. Even now I am a coward. Instead, I reached my shaking hand to grab onto his sleeve to try and get him to look at me. So I could plead with my eyes to stop them.

I'm not sure whether it was coincidence or some spiritual force that intervened but before I could grasp the fibers of his shirt with my fingertips, I heard his voice again. Every time I would start to revert, I would draw strength from him and continue to desperately put my faith in him.

"You have proof though, don't you?" Ayanokouji-kun asked, tilting his head owlishly at her.

"Eye-witnesses, we all saw it. Didn't we?" Manabe smiled condescendingly as she turned to the other girls who nodded.

Morofuji hadn't looked up from the ground once but the other two followed along with Manabe, allowing her to take the lead.

"Excellent. If it's true, then I'm sure you will be able to have Karuizawa punished. The truth always wins in the end, look at what happened with Sudo." Ayanokouji-kun said as he took out his phone.

Manabe nodded with finality before glowering at me as she turned to leave, the other girls following behind her. There would only be a few more steps before they were out of the building, now I was in even worse of a position than before Ayanokouji-kun set this up...

No, no! Ayanokouji-kun! What was that!? Ho-

'No! Stop! Please, it hurts! STOP!' I heard my voice screaming from the speaker of the phone in Ayanokouji-kun's hand.

'What's wrong, bitch? Not so stuck up now, are you?'

'Wait, no! Please, I'm sorry! I'M SORRY! I DID IT! I'M SORRY, PLEASE! JUST LEAVE ME ALONE, I ADMIT IT!'

'Too late now,' I heard Manabe's voice, it was as though the audio had brought the memories to the forefront and I started to shake uncontrollably. As though I were reliving that moment right this second. As I heard my screams, I felt Manabe's hands dragging me by my hair. I could feel the tears, I could feel my fingers clutching at the roots near my scalp. Desperate to keep my hair from ripping at the roots where it was freed from my ponytail only to realize that it wasn't happening.

It's just a recording, you're safe. You're not alone, Ayanokouji-kun is here. He's protecting you. You're safe.

The voice in my head wasn't comforting, it was doing little to save me from the natural reactions my body was going through. I was hyperventilating again, I could feel the near-healing bruises start to ache again as I heard every sickening crunch, every slap. Every word of encouragement, every breath of laughter.

I was just about to fall to my knees but before the strength left my body, Ayanokouji-kun had put his arm over my shoulders in comfort. He didn't look in my direction, he didn't offer any calming words. He simply held me while he watched Manabe and the others turn around in fear, the screen held up facing them as the video of my assault filled the pixels.

The four stood frozen, completely petrified. Morofuji was shaking so violently that I vaguely thought she was having a seizure. Manabe's mouth was open in shock, completely stone still as Ayanokouji-kun removed his arm from my shoulders and stalked forward. His steps made no sound but it was as though every step thudded with gravitas, the earth was quaking in fear from his callous movements.

Although he was the cause, he tenderly lifted Morofuji's line of sight from the floor. She looked up at him terrified, as though she were looking straight into the devil's eyes as he looked back with the wrath of hell in those golden orbs.

"Did you enjoy it?"

I watched as Morofuji stopped breathing, not having the strength to answer or look away.

"You stay away from her!" Manabe said angrily, snapping out of her trance and stepping between them.

Ayanokouji-kun took half a step back and looked down at Manabe. He did not react, nothing. He just looked at her.

"You don't have to worry about me. I don't hit girls, I have no interest in doing anything to you like what you've done to my friend. I find it interesting that you still dare to speak to me like that when the four of you are about to be expelled."

"What do you want then?" Manabe spat pompously.

"What do you mean?"

"You could have sent it into the school already and the four of us would have been expelled. Instead, you called us here. You want something."

"Not from you I don't. I didn't do any of this for you or me, I did it for Karuizawa.

"You beat and humiliated her. You were right about one thing, Karuizawa is my friend. It's only right that she gets to see her aggressors right before they get expelled.

"Now that that's over with, as a member of the Student Council, I wish the four of you the best of luck with your futures. Not that you deserve it, I'll just send this to Chabashira-sensei and we can get the ball rolling. You may want to take this opportunity to say goodbye to any friends you'll be leaving behind." Ayanokouji-kun said before beginning to tap on his screen.

All of a sudden, Manabe turned feral. She lunged at him like a wild animal, clawing at his arm as he simply raised the phone over his head.

Manabe was desperate, clutching at his arm with both hands and pulling down with all of her body weight, her nails digging into his forearm. I knew that Ayanokouji-kun trained rigorously but even I underestimated his strength. His elbow didn't even bend from the savagely wild Manabe.

"Ayanokouji-kun, please! We're sorry! Please, let's talk about this!" Yamashita suddenly spoke up, fear and desperation in her voice.

"No... I can't get expelled. No, this can't be happening..." Yabu murmured to herself in disbelief.

Morofuji continued to shake in silence.

"Give. Me. That. Phone!" Manabe screamed desperately, still clawing at his arm.

"Stop, Manabe-chan! Please, w-

"Did you listen to Karuizawa when she asked you to stop?" Ayanokouji-kun asked, still holding the phone up high.

The video had ended and the sounds were no longer playing. All I could hear was Manabe's struggles as the energy left her and she fell to her knees, crying in defeat.

Yamashita seemed to change tactics, pushing past Ayanokouji-kun and running desperately to me. She clutched at my skirt on her knees at my feet as she started to beg. I was in a position of power, this was the first time in my life that I had someone who bullied me on their knees in front of me.

The roles were reversed, how many times had I been in this position? On my knees, desperately begging for solace. Pleading for mercy. The same girl that viciously kicked me in the ribs while laughing all the while was begging with such desperation, the tears were falling like waterfalls as though there was no end to the stream.

"Please, Karuizawa. PLEASE! Stop him, we're sorry. We'll do anything, don't let me get expelled..." Yamashita cried desperately.

The trauma of my life was real. Instead of seeing Yamashita, I saw myself. It was my face, my tears. My own body looked back up at me, begging me for mercy. Ayanokouji-kun wasted no time as he walked over to Yamashita and pulled her off me. Yamashita desperately tried to hold on, continuing to beg pitifully.

"It's in your hands, Karuizawa. What do you want to do?" Ayanokouji-kun asked me, still pulling a thrashing Yamashita away from me.

The girls went silent, three of them watching me in fear. I stood there like a deer, blinded on a highway with the light in my eyes. I've never been on this side of the situation, never had the power that I had right now. Never have I been in control, I was always left to the whims of others.

"Right now, where we stand, is where Sudo was framed. There are no cameras here, you can do whatever you like.

"Say the word and I'll send the video. They'll be expelled before the end of the day. Alternatively, you can give them back what they gave you, just like them. You pushed Morofuji in line, they beat you until you were a broken mess on the floor. They escalated it, would you like to give them the same?" Ayanokouji-kun asked me with a raised eyebrow.

Yamashita froze, looking up at me in fear of the potential physical beating I was being offered to give her. Yabu was just as shocked, looking up at Ayanokouji-kun like she couldn't believe what she just heard. Manabe was furious.

"How in the hell did Ichinose-san fall for a monster like you?" Manabe seethed.

"You're talking out of both sides of your mouth. You paid Karuizawa back tenfold for whatever she did and now you're judging me for offering her to do the same back to you?"

Manabe fell silent, nothing she could say now would help her in any way. The seconds stretched like elastic and I had no idea what to do. I didn't want to physically hit them but I didn't know what to do. If I didn't do it, would I look weak? Did I need to do this to keep myself safe in the future? Should I try it? Just to see what it was like on the other side?

I couldn't do it. It was a line I wouldn't cross.

"If any of you ever come near me again, I'll report you. You're lucky that I'm feeling generous or the four of you would already be gone," I said feigning confidence, flipping my hair to my other shoulder.

"Get out before I change my mind. I still might if you tell anyone about what happened. Either on the ship or what happened here. If Ayanokouji-kun or I hear anything from anyone about this incident, I'll send that to the school right away, got it?"

While Yamashita and Yabu both nodded with relief, Manabe was gritting her teeth with frustration. The three of them got up and were ready to leave, all moving around Morofuji to support her.

For the most part, I felt sorry for Morofuji. I know what I did to her, I know what it's like to be bullied. The other part of me was jealous of her. No one ever stood up for me, no one was willing to fight my battles before.

Until today.

"Wait," Ayanokouji-kun called to them before they could leave.

They turned to him fearfully. Just when they thought everything was over, they were pulled back in.

"Don't you think you should thank her before you leave?"

One by one, they all walked back and approached me individually. Yamashita and Yabu both thanked me and apologized. Manabe did the same but did so with gritted teeth and no sincerity at all, looking like she swallowed a piece of lemon as she did. When Morofuji shakily approached me and forced herself to look at me, I felt horrible.

I wanted to stop her and tell her it wasn't necessary but I couldn't look weak. Like the coward I am, I retreated into myself and let my body do the rest. As though I were taken over, I looked down at her pompously as though she were a worm and she meekly apologized and thanked me. I felt horrible but I did nothing, I am what I am.

Once they were gone, I stood motionless. Staring at the door and wondering if all of this was a prank and they would come flying back into the hall to beat me again, Ayanokouji-kun being in on the act this time. I was frozen as I continued to stare at the closed door, completely petrified. It wasn't until Ayanokouji-kun moved that I was broken from the spell.

My eyes followed the movement as I watched him close his. He breathed deeply a few times before his whole body relaxed and that stupid lazy smile came to his face. He winced and grabbed at his head as though the whole ordeal had given him a headache before he nodded once at me.

"They won't come near you again. I'm sorry... for everything. For leaving you, for waiting this long. I'll just leave you alone now, see you around." Ayanokouji-kun said as he turned around to leave.

I watched as he made his way to the exit, only a few steps from reaching the door. If I let him go now, I would never have this chance again. My pride was strong even when I had nothing to be proud of. If I let this opportunity go, I would lose the only person who I genuinely considered my friend. My savior. The only one who ever stood up for me.

What are you doing Kei!? Stop him, tell him you forgive him! Thank him! Do so-

"Ayanokouji-kun!"

He paused just as his hand reached to open the door before turning to face me. Before I knew what was happening, I was flying. Running at him with all my strength as I jumped at him. Wrapping my arms around him, crying with all my might.

I didn't care what I looked like, didn't care about my image. I didn't care if someone saw this moment and saw me for the weak, pathetic parasite that I was. I was selfish, I didn't care if someone told Hirata-kun. I didn't consider if this was something Ayanokouji-kun was even comfortable or okay with.

I'm weak. I'm useless alone. I'm selfish.

As I continued to cry and wail, Ayanokouji-kun simply wrapped his arms around me and soothingly patted me on the back. I cried and cried as I buried my face in his shirt, trying to hide away from the world in the comfort of my one true friend.

As I continued to release all of my anguish, I could faintly smell Ichinose-san's citrus perfume on his shirt. I was supportive, but right now I envied her. I was jealous. She had the best guy in the entire school. The most capable. The most handsome. The most reliable.

He was my friend, I couldn't see him in that way anymore. He was in love with Ichinose-san and any chance of anything romantic between us was long gone. I would be the supportive friend, I would be there when he needed me just like he was there when I needed him. I would do everything in my power to make sure no other girls would try to get between them and ruin their happiness.

Even if it meant that the fluttering in my heart as he held me never went away. I had my time to choose, and I chose poorly. I could only hear one thing echoing in my mind as the energy left me and my crying started to subside.

Why didn't I choose you?

Chapter 41

A/N: I had a different chapter written but decided that it needed more set up. Sorry it's late, I hope you enjoy it :)

Word of warning, Hornykouji is making an appearance.

With everything finally winding down I was finally able to relax. For the love of God, please. PLEASE. No more Special Tests. What kind of Summer Holiday was this? Someone should sue the school for false advertising.

I was enjoying the greatest nap known to man. Barely after 7:00 am, I was back in my room and sleeping with the soothing cold from my air conditioner running full blast.

It was heavenly, in that little pocket of the world where I wasn't quite asleep and not quite awake either. I could feel myself drifting off into that abyss, I could already feel what my dreams would bring. I could already smell the delicious smell of Omurice that my dreams were taking me to, smell the delicious scent of citrus filling my nose as I hugged my body pillow closer. The dreamworld was calling to me, I could feel my body pillow give a slight squeal in surprise. The fibers tickled my face as the air conditioner blew.

The dreamworld was taking hold, my body pillow was peppering my face with feather-light kisses on my cheeks and jawline.

Hang on a second...

Cracking my eyes open, I suddenly realized I was never in the dream world at all. Those bright blue eyes crinkled in happiness as I looked down to see Ichinose Honami beaming with joy.

"I was surprised when you suddenly just grabbed me out of nowhere in your sleep and dragged me into your bed," Honami laughed.

"When did you get here? How did you get in?"

"About an hour ago. You gave me a key, remember?"

In my sleep-muddled mind state, I vaguely recalled giving her the spare key to my dorm around the time that she joined the council. It was originally intended for her to do my shopping for me. I truly am a horrible person, I had BUDDY to do all of those things for me and I still gave her a key to do even more.

"Don't you have plans today?" I mumbled, closing my eyes again and hugging her closer.

"We do. I made breakfast for you AND I have an amazing itinerary that even you are going to love." Honami gloated proudly.

"Does it include me sleeping in silence?" I asked while burying my face into her neck to escape the light.

"Don't be like that! It's early morning, there's so much to do while we're on break!"

"Sleep," I mumbled as I started to drift off.

Honami sighed in exasperation but relented. Running her fingers through my hair soothingly I dozed off not long after. I fell into dreamland, reality giving way as the contrast of the cool air on my back and the warmth of Honami's body heat on my front comforted me. At some point, she dozed off as well.

We stayed like that for hours, both sleeping the day away in complete laziness. If my stronghold was going to be breached by anyone then I'm alright with it being her. That smirking bastard had better stay away, I was off the clock. I've done far more than enough the entire time during the cruise, I didn't want to hear anything about duties. Not a word about Special Tests. I most definitely didn't want to hear any gloating about my eventual participation.

I was a little dejected at first when I realized that the smell of food and hugging a body pillow wasn't an actual dream but reality mixed in with my drowsy mind. Lately, I haven't been sleeping well. For the first time in my life, I was plagued with nightmares.

While the events were different, the setting is always the same. Back in that place, that white hell. That lifeless bed, the glow of those LED lights.

At times I'm just alone, others I'm studied by the staff. It feels like I'm there, as though this were the dreamland and that was the reality. I'd always awaken in the same way, dripping with sweat and gasping for breath heavily with my hands shaking.

Perhaps the constant strain of locking everything away to achieve a goal was taking its toll, all of this started after the confrontation with Manabe and the others.

This time it was different. At some point Honami turned her back to me, clutching my arm that was draped under her armpit and resting between a valley that every other boy in this school would kill to have their arm. She nuzzled her cheek into my open palm, my other arm was under her neck and lying limp on the mattress. My leg clutched between both of hers, like pieces of a puzzle that fit together perfectly.

I was almost dead to the world but stirred when Honami readjusted herself, burying her face into my neck and clutching me with her body draped over mine when I readjusted to sleep on my back as well.

This was the peak of a peaceful life.

When I woke up I felt refreshed, the small nap doing wonders to recharge my batteries that were running on empty.

No nightmare either.

However, one problem solved caused another; I needed to go to the bathroom.

I was careful, incredibly careful. Prying myself from under Honami as gently as I could so I wouldn't wake her. Just as I was almost free, she stirred and whined in her sleep, reaching out and grabbing my torso and hugging me tightly.

"Why did you get me to take a nap if you're just going to leave when I fall asleep?" Honami pouted with her eyes still closed.

"I need to go to the bathroom," I said apologetically.

Honami groaned in frustration but let me up so I could go to the bathroom. After relieving myself and washing my hands and face I came back to see my bed made and Honami in my kitchen.

"I made you breakfast but it's cold now and it's lunchtime. Are you hungry? I can make you something."

"No it's fine, I'll eat what you made me for breakfast." I shrugged, reaching for the now cold Omurice.

"No!" Honami said quickly, grabbing the plate before I could pick it up. "It won't taste good, I want it to be perfect. SIT! I'll make you something for lunch."

Holding my hands up in surrender, I made my way to the couch and sat while Honami pulled an apron out of the bag she brought with her and started preparing the ingredients she brought with her for our lunch.

It wasn't the only bag, I only just realized that Honami had done all of my grocery shopping. I watched as she tied her hair into a ponytail before getting to work, preparing a nice piece of salmon and setting it on the stove to cook before putting the perishables away in the fridge. I started to stand to help her only to be stopped in my tracks by a glare before sheepishly taking my seat again.

I tried to do something only to be scolded into being lazy. Was I still asleep?

Honami hummed a tune to herself as she worked, flipping the salmon before coming over with a bottle of cold water and holding it out to me.

"Thirsty?" Honami smiled.

"Very..." I smirked before snaking an arm around her waist and pulling her onto my lap.

Honami giggled as she toppled over, rearranging herself so she was facing me with her knees on either side of my lap on the couch, straddling me as she sat on my knees.

"I meant for a drink, not for me."

"What's the difference? I'm still thirsty."

"Stop! You're turning into a complete pervert. I'm going to start limiting your touching privileges."

"You are?" I asked challengingly, pulling her forward.

"I am... tomorrow." Honami grinned playfully before closing the distance as our lips met.

The practice was paying off, I'm a quick study. I learned quickly what Honami liked and didn't like. It was like learning the steps to a choreographed dance, with two partners that knew their roles and played their parts.

Even still, there's always room for a little bit of adventuring.

She tasted of caramel, it was different. As the fight for dominance continued I found the source. A piece of candy that Honami was eating, I was outraged that she hadn't offered one to me. Instead, I stole hers straight from her mouth.

The battle had just begun, Honami's tongue fought back, angrily hunting down the stolen sweet before she had to retreat temporarily to breathe.

Honami gasped as she pulled away to catch her breath only for me to follow. I pulled her closer, grazing my teeth over her neck as she tugged my hair and pulled me closer at the same time. It was always dangerous when the two of us were alone in a room lately. Things were starting to escalate dangerously as my hands snuck around the apron to attempt to venture into forbidden territory.

Honami went completely rigid suddenly and she shoved me away as she frantically got back to her feet. At first, I thought that I'd gone too far, ready to apologize and attempt to restart our war...

"No!" Honami cried as she ran to the stove to rescue the now-burning fish.

Only once the distraction known as my girlfriend flew into the kitchen did I notice the smoke from the burning oil and the now black charcoal that used to be our lunch. Quickly turning off the flame and taking the hot pan off the burner, she looked down dejected at the cremated mess.

Getting up from the couch, I made my way to the kitchen behind her and soothingly rubbed her back as she stared sadly at the aftermath.

"I guess it's not my day today, is it?" Honami joked, trying to cheer herself up.

"It's okay, leave it. I'll clean it up and we can order lunch."

"No, I'll clean it. I'll order our usual. I don't know... I just wanted to cook something for you for the first time." Honami said dejectedly.

"If it makes you feel better, if I eat that right now I can assure you that's better than anything I'd be able to cook for you." I joked lightheartedly.

"I know, Sakayanagi-san told me that you're a menace in the kitchen. Something about you being capable of burning water." Honami chuckled as she put the ruined food in the garbage.

Thank God she was distracted, if she wasn't she would have seen me flinch at the mention of Arisu. She'd finally been discharged but went back to her dorm alone. I haven't received a single message or call, she was livid.

For the first time, I didn't care. I didn't try to reach out, didn't try to cheer her up. I hope this defeat was bitter, I hope it stung and cut deep. What she did was reckless and I was annoyed. It didn't change the fact that I missed her but I knew this time it would be quite a while before any reconciliation would be had, both of us would be stubbornly digging in our heels this time.

It was something to be concerned about though, hell hath no fury as a loli scorned. The next attempt would be more grandiose and this time, Arisu wouldn't be letting up if I was on the ropes. No one was safe, Arisu would be ruthless. It made me a little concerned about my strawberry blonde companion, she was far too innocent and trusting. Arisu was capable of crocodile tears and lies as if it were second nature, Honami would be an easy target.

Things not going along with her plan didn't seem to hold Honami down though, she simply scraped off the burnt bits that hadn't solidified as best she could before filling it with hot water and leaving it to soak before taking off the apron and putting it back into her bag. I watched with mild amusement as she suddenly turned around, brandishing a USB stick as though it were the Holy Grail.

"We can still do the rest of what I had planned," Honami said proudly.

"Here in my hand, I have an entire season of an anime that was recommended by one of my classmates. I have the rest of the day just for you, we can binge-watch the whole thing together."

"Well, well, well. Ichinose Honami, a woman with the keys to my heart. What are we watching?" I asked curiously.

"It's a surprise," Honami wheeled me back to the couch before searching for the USB port on the TV mounted to the wall.

I'll admit it, don't judge me. I was looking, trying to sneak a peek as she got up on her toes and searched the sides of the screen. I'm not even going to deny it anymore, I'm a pervert when it comes to my girlfriend. Judge me, I deserve it.

My admission to myself brought on a new realization as I suddenly recognized the position I was in. The events of earlier, what was happening on this very couch just mere moments ago.

In my research on how to be a good boyfriend, what I should and shouldn't do, different activities as a couple... there was an activity that was mentioned. An activity that seemed to be talked about by some older members of the forums, more experienced wise men who had already been to the summit that I was desperately trying to climb towards.

A situation that they referred to as the 'Netflix and Chill'.

The opportunistic, machiavellian side to me was suddenly in full force. This was a golden opportunity, I'd have to play my cards just right.

This was the perfect situation, the only thing left to do right now was to analyze the facts that I had in front of me right now.

Honami mentioned that we had the rest of the day to watch this series. That meant that there was a possibility that it was only a mini-series but most seasons were twelve episodes long. At the minimum, I had two hours to reach the desired outcome. This was important, any misstep had setbacks. More important than anything I'd had to accomplish in the last few weeks, which meant that I would need to do that.

The nightmares I'd been having for the last couple of days filled me with apprehension and uncharacteristically, I tried to disregard resorting to such drastic measures.

You're a genius, Kiyotaka. You can figure this out without that.

No... the stakes were too high. There was no margin for error. With Honami momentarily distracted, the change just happened. Everything turned white with one goal in mind.

The seduction of Ichinose Honami.

If it were a mini-series, I had four episodes worth of time to make things happen. Episode One's time should be strategic; get into a position of power. Lower her guard, make her comfortable. Make sure that I was in a position for easy access to escalate things.

Episode Two, light displays of affection. Ones that I knew that she was already comfortable with. Wait for a lull in the episode for my time to strike, ask her about what she thinks, etc. Distract her from what was happening on the screen and bring her focus to me.

"What kind of anime is it?" I asked.

With Honami playing around with the settings and trying to find the file, she hadn't noticed the monotonous tone.

"I think it's a romantic comedy, Shibata-kun was laughing when he told me about it. It's rare too, I had to get it from a third year. Shibata-kun said you couldn't buy it from the campus stores." Honami said distractedly, fiddling with the remote while standing in front of the coffee table.

Perfect, a romantic comedy series. Sets the tone... Sets the mood. By the third episode, if there was a confession of some sort, I could use it to my advantage to progress things when those emotions were brought to the forefront. Perhaps talk about our start as a couple, mention our kiss. Light petting and the like.

Episode Four... Who knows.

With the mission set, everything went back to normal as Honami turned and bounded back to the couch. Everything was set up and ready to go. I sat in a relaxed position, off to one side of the couch with one arm on the armrest and my feet up on the coffee table. On the outside, I was the picture of calm poise but inside I was excited. I never lose, I am the masterpiece of the White Room. I have had my education funded by the government, and I've learned how to maneuver myself from the best.

It wasn't like it was one-sided and I was taking advantage of someone. This is my girlfriend, she was just as physically attracted to me as I was to her. I wasn't doing anything wrong, merely helping things on the road of natural progression.

My plans are absolute, nothing can go wrong.

Honami sat with her legs folded on her side of the couch, leaning against me with her arm draped over my middle. From my position, I could see all aspects of her body. I could see down her top, the curve of her body. The cleavage was right there for my perusal, the swell of her breasts. Her flawless creamy thighs were right there on display for me to see. Now that I had a bird's eye view, I could see that Honami's bra matched her panties that I barely managed to peak at while analyzing my plans. Blue, in case you were wondering...

Good lord, I really am a pervert.

Every boy has an inner beast, surely I'm not the only one doing things like this. It's puberty, I can't be held responsible for feeling like this.

At least that's what I tell myself so that I won't feel like a complete degenerate.

Irrespective of whether or not I'm a hopeless slave to my biology, the stage had been set. The goal was in mind and the prize was in sight. The anticipation was palpable inside me, I felt like I was on the hunt...

Damn it, I should have put my tie on the door.

As I looked down at Honami, she noticed and she looked up at me and smiled in adoration. She loved me, I knew it. It wasn't like it was when she first confessed, that was affection. Recognition that I was someone special, this was different. I could see without a shadow of a doubt, Honami loved me.

As I looked down at her, I could feel the change myself and I realized at that moment that I loved her too.

I didn't have time to contemplate the revelation, didn't have time to analyze what it meant. All because from the corner of my eye I saw the TV in front of us, the file name of the show we were just about to watch. I suddenly felt the icy hand of fear gripping my heart. For the first time in my life... I panicked as I read the file in foreboding white against the black backdrop of the screen.

boku_no_pico_Ep-01.avi

It was as though everything happened in slow motion. Honami's eyes went wide in shock and confusion as I suddenly pushed her up off me and moved so blindingly fast that she didn't have time to hold herself up, falling to the space that I'd just previously occupied as I shot to my feet.

I grabbed the remote with the desperation of a soldier who just had a grenade with the pin pulled and dropped in front of his face. I stared at it, just like the said soldier who was about to die. The smart thing to do would be to press pause or stop. Or turn off the TV. Any of those options would have been fine. In the very first bout of panic that I'd ever experienced though, I did none of those things. Instead, I threw the remote as hard as I could at the screen, breaking the screen as the pixels suddenly splashed inside the monitor from the impact. The familiar starburst that usually showed when you dropped your phone on full display on the large panel.

God was on my side this time, as the remote fell it landed on the power button. The sound was gone and the cursed images would never be seen. I had a broken TV now that would need to be replaced but that was a far better outcome than having to watch... that.

The adrenaline was coursing, I was on autopilot from the near-death experience. My legs lost strength as I almost collapsed in a heap on the couch to sit in my previous sitting position as Honami's hand shot up and stopped my butt from colliding with her face. Realizing what I was about to do, I stopped, pausing for Honami to sit up so I could finish collapsing in relief on the couch. Honami couldn't speak, unable to comprehend what I'd just done.

"...What was that? Why did you do that!?"

"The anime..." I said in a daze, my eyes unfocused as though I just avoided being hit by a bus with no brakes. "You didn't say it was Boku no Pico."

"It was supposed to be a surprise! What's wrong with Boku no Pico? Shibata-kun said it was a romance, do you not like watching stuff like that? Even still, why did you smash your TV!? We could have just turned it off..."

"Honami... Please, look up the synopsis for Boku no Pico on your phone... I have to... get a drink." I said in a daze as I stumbled like a zombie to my kitchen to get a glass of water.

My heart was pounding as Honami frowned and took out her phone, tapping away on the screen on a search engine to read. I watched as her eyes scanned the screen, reading the synopsis. She started to blush, it intensified to the point where she was so red I was worried she'd short circuit. Not long after, I saw her discreetly wipe her nose. The aircon was blasting, I guess she was getting a sniffle.

"O-oh... Oh my," Honami stuttered.

My brain was fried and all thoughts of my earlier plans were completely out the window. All I could think of was how close I was to seeing something cursed, something that would scar me for the rest of my life. The shock wore off for Honami though, who switched off the screen and put her phone down on the couch. While before she was trying to salvage every bad turn that her home date plans had taken, now she just looked defeated.

"Nothing went right today... I really tried..." Honami said sadly.

A boy becomes a man when he sets aside his fear and trauma to take care of the one he loves. Rather than dwell on what just happened, I did just that and went back to the couch before taking Honami's hand and rubbing my thumb over the back of it soothingly.

"It's okay... We can look back and laugh at this one day. Besides, the day's not over." I said reassuringly.

"How about we go to the movies now? We can still catch the afternoon session and when it's done we'll have dinner at a restaurant. My treat."

"I guess..." Honami trailed off sadly, looking at the remnants of her failures.

For some reason, the food trap that I fell into on the island came to the forefront of my mind. Everything here was things that I wanted to do, as though it were an offering to appease me only to ask me to do something that I wouldn't want to do afterward...

"Did you do all of this because you wanted something from me but thought I'd say no?"

Honami had the decency to look a little embarrassed, scratching her cheek with her index finger and averting her eyes.

"Possibly..."

I stared at her as she continued to fidget.

"Maybe..."

Honami finally looked at my unchanging deadpan expression before sighing and admitting defeat.

"There's a fortune teller that's coming to the school... It's only for couples... I wanted us to go... It's silly, don't worry about it. Sorry..." Honami bumbled, continuing to fidget and play with her fingers.

This girl... I have become weak. Seeing a fortune teller seemed ridiculous but Honami wanted to go. There was the tiniest part of me that was curious but not enough to leave my lazy haven. Still, if Honami wanted to go then once again I would join her. Simply because this girl has me wrapped around her finger.

"It's fine, if you want to go then we'll go," I reassured her, pecking her on the forehead and patting her head.

"Really? You don't have to if you don't want to," Honami mumbled, still looking at her wringing hands.

"I do, don't worry it's fine. You can tell me all about how this lady will be able to figure out whether my birthday has any sort of connection to whether or not I like pineapple pizza on the way to Keyaki Mall. Let's go before we miss the session time."

Honami beamed and nodded with enthusiasm as I got up and picked up my things to get ready to go. I'd need to shop for a new TV and have it brought over while we were out, at least this excursion would kill some time for that.

As I gathered the last of my things and changed my shirt, out of the corner of my eye I noticed Honami discretely tiptoeing to the TV and slipping a USB stick into her pocket.

Chapter 42

A/N: I needed a break, sorry it took so long. Since I haven't written anything all this time, I'm a little rusty so this one may not be so good. Sorry for keeping you all waiting.

I commissioned an artwork for the story, a picture of a scene in Chapter 27 when Honami and Kiyo were in his room while he was reading the manual for the island exam. If anyone wants an artwork done for anything related to cote, please contact Alya_l16 on her twitter. I love her work.

If you guys want to use the picture for your own stories or anything like that, please feel free.

Hope you enjoy the chapter.

Couples... Couples everywhere. It was the first thing I noticed the moment that I saw the line in the blistering heat. It radiated off every surface to the point that I could actually see it. Why would anyone put themself through this to listen to some old bat pretend to see your future...

Despite this, here I am. Why? All because of the excited strawberry blonde glued to my arm next to me.

"Thank you, Kiyotaka. Thank you so much. I know this isn't your thing but I really wanted to try it at least once." Honami said shyly while looking at her feet bashfully.

"Happy wife, happy life. Or so I've heard," I said nonchalantly as I looked around the other couples who seemed to scorch in the heat.

Turning back to Honami, I looked down at her as she flushed heavily. The unbearable sun was doing a number on her as she glowed red to her ears. I frowned in concern before moving her fringe away from her forehead with the back of my hand.

"We're in direct sunlight, why didn't they set up the line in the shade? You're going to get heatstroke, you're all red."

Honami broke from the spell of the blistering heat before shaking her head and reaching into her bag. She took out a thermos of chilled iced tea before taking a sip and handing the bottle to me. I could see beads of sweat slowly falling down her forehead under her bangs. As I took a drink, she rummaged through her bag again before reaching up and wiping my face with a wet tissue.

"I should have brought an umbrella."

"It's fine, we're at the front of the line. It would have been better if you let me follow through with my original plan..."

I suggested paying someone to stand in line for us so that we could stay in for the morning. I was rebuffed for two reasons; Honami said it was mean for one. Insisting that it would be fun for us to spend time together outside. As for the other reason...

'If we stay in the dorms you'll never let us leave... Pervert.' Honami said, sticking her tongue out at me.

Option two didn't sound so bad to me though, I must admit.

If there was a name for my alter ego for when I was in the White Room Condition, I'd have to find a name for my alter ego whenever I was alone behind a closed door with Honami lately. Hornykouji, Pervytaka. Something along those lines. No matter the circumstances, my eyes always seemed to wander and my thoughts always arrived at one activity. It was a strange experience, as though all rational thoughts would leave my mind. As though I wasn't thinking with the head on my shoulders.

It wasn't as though I was the only one, it takes two to tango.

Still, I was never like this before.

Oh, the wonders of youth and biology.

Honami wasn't even dressed provocatively, a loose-fitting light blue top and a pastel pink skirt with a black choker.

A loose-fitting top that still gave me a bird's eye view from my height...

I was content to be spending time with her today, regardless. Last night's dinner was by far one of the lowlights of my summer holidays. I would have rather been back on the island doing another special test if I can be frank.

Yesterday, I tried and failed to dodge that smirking bastard. I was adamant, this was the remainder of my summer holidays. I didn't want to see that arrogant shit but he was relentless.

Unfortunately, he found my one weakness. The one loophole I had in my otherwise master plan.

I knew he was finding me through the GPS function on my phone, I could have switched it off but that's no fun. At first, I needed a few necessities so I put up a listing on BUDDY. That smirking bastard took the job immediately, knowing that I'd be waiting for my purchases before I rapidly canceled it during the available timer. When I left quickly to go to the grocery store to get it myself, that bastard was already waiting there. He even predicted that I'd go to the one further away from the dorms, knowing I'd anticipate him going to the closest location.

Quickly turning and changing course, I was about to go to a different one only to see Bunbun-senpai waiting outside. It would have been a coincidence, if not for the fact that her body language screamed like she was on a mission, standing with feigned disinterest and scrutinizing every entrant into the store. Making another tactical retreat, I ended up going back to the dorms and borrowing the essentials from Eiichiro.

I had everything set up, everything was perfect. I spent the remainder of the morning carefully selecting a playlist of anime episodes with my volume just low enough to make it seem like I was hiding out in my room. I left my phone there and locked the door before making my way to Honami's room to spend the afternoon there for as long as possible, hoping that the bastard would be knocking on my door in vain for hours on end.

I was about to pat myself on the back for a job well done. Until I pressed the doorbell for Honami's door and she opened it with an apologetic smile, pushing the door as far as it would go to reveal that bastard sitting on her couch with a cup of tea.

It's why we ended up eating dinner at The Pavillion. A restaurant known by almost every student on campus but one that not many people go to regularly. Why? It's ridiculously, absurdly expensive. Not just in terms of the price of the food but also the dress code. I've never set foot in this place and quite honestly it isn't my style. I like simple, relaxed environments.

I did plan on taking Honami there at some point though, maybe on some kind of anniversary or special occasion of some sort.

Instead, I'm stuck here and eating dinner with two people I'd rather not be eating dinner with. A smirking bastard and... a bastard in general. Quite possibly the three most powerful students currently active in the school all sat at one table and we ate the most pretentious meal possible.

The Student Council President and his Vice Presidents.

"I'm surprised that you asked us to eat here with you, I assumed that you'd want to take BunBun-senpai instead," I said nonchalantly.

Nagumo snorted with barely contained laughter while Manabu glared at me over his Duck Confit. I scowled in discomfort as I pulled at the collar of the dress shirt. My clothes fit tighter than I remembered and I vaguely wondered if my clothes were shrinking.

Black Pinstripe, a matching vest with a white shirt, and a black tie. It reminded me of the times I was forced to dress up for all of those inane dinner parties that my father was forced to organize.

"Enough with you and your jokes."

"Who's joking? Just think about it, she'd put two hairpins in instead of three. Far easier for you to take out after dinner. Maybe if you helped her let her hair down, she'd be less of an uptight bitch..."

Nagumo didn't even try to hide his smile or laughter. Manabu gave me a withering stare before continuing to eat.

"My apologies for picking a place that you'd want to take Secretary Ichinose. I believe I deserve some credit in that regard, shouldn't you thank me for allowing you to confess?" Manabu countered nonchalantly.

Bastard.

"Number one, you can't take credit for that. I did all the work and that's saying a lot, you bastard. Second, I didn't confess, she did." I said with a proud smirk of my own.

As I continued to eat my pork chop, I noticed that Nagumo was suddenly hacking away at his Blanquette de Veau. It's supposed to be a tender cut but he was sawing at it with such ferocity that you'd think the baby cow was still kicking around in the field or something.

A fancy french restaurant apparently serving a less than perfectly cooked piece of meat, how embarrassing.

"How disrespectful. I don't know why you put up with it, Horikita-senpai." Nagumo scoffed while glaring at me balefully.

"Don't be jealous that dad likes me better,"

"Since when was I your father," Manabu snorted.

"Not mine, you're his," I smirked while pointing my fork at Nagumo.

Nagumo glared at me while Manabu continued to chuckle to himself, shaking his head in exasperation.

"Alright children, that's enough. We're not here for you two to take potshots at each other. This is the first time that we've gone out for dinner together, can the two of you pretend to get along just for one night?"

"I'd rather eat broken glass than dinner with the two of you."

"That's something that we can agree on," Nagumo muttered under his breath

"What is it with you and your fascination with broken glass?" Manabu asked with a raised eyebrow.

I shrugged and continued to eat while ignoring the polite conversation between Manabu and Nagumo. While I wasn't sure what this dinner was about, I knew that whatever they were talking about wasn't interesting to me in the slightest.

Manabu insisted that the three of us eat together, possibly wanting the other students to see that the Student Council was united, and wanted to use this as an opportunity to build rapport between Nagumo and me. After all, once he was gone, he couldn't be the stopgap between us any longer.

"Would you like dessert, Nagumo? Order as much as you like, Ayanokouji is paying after all." Manabu offered graciously.

"How do you expect me to pay? I'm broke," I said in feigned shock, annoyed at the sheer gall of the shameless Student Council President.

"I'm sure you'll survive, you managed an incredibly impressive result on your most recent Special Test. You have a substantial amount of points coming your way, surely you have enough on hand to cover a simple meal." Manabu smirked knowingly.

I. Hate. This. Bastard.

"I couldn't help but notice that my balance is a little low at the moment though Nagumo. Has our wager slipped your mind?"

"Of course it hasn't, he didn't do anything impressive." Nagumo scoffed dismissively.

"What wager?" I asked in confusion, not following what was going on.

"We made a bet while you were gone that you'd do something remarkable before I graduate. Something that would show Nagumo here what I saw in you when I recruited you. I would have thought an annihilation in a special test would have qualified." Manabu said bluntly while taking a sip of his tea.

"Please, his sister gave him the names. It's already been confirmed, Class A removed her as the representative, and Katsuragi's taken over. There's nothing remarkable about taking advantage of a brocon."

Although it was my own doing and I set Arisu up, hearing Nagumo speak about her in a degrading manner made my blood boil. On the outside, I was the picture of a calm disposition. On the inside, I wanted to jump over the table and snap his neck.

Manabu noticed, clearing his throat and giving me a surreptitious shake of his head.

"If you truly believe that then I'm disappointed in you, Nagumo. It's impressive to wipe out all of your competition, far more impressive to do so when none of them know it was you to begin with."

On seeing Manabu shaking his head in disappointment, he turned to me with a piercing gaze.

Nagumo stared at me deep in thought, trying to go over the details in his mind to see if there was something he missed. He frowned, seemingly coming up empty before intertwining his fingers and leaning his chin on top of them with his elbows on the table.

"How did you do it then?" Nagumo asked, eyeing me curiously.

Finishing my porkchop and checking my points, I put my phone on the table face down before wiping my mouth with a napkin and throwing it over my empty plate. Nagumo continued to wait impatiently for an answer while I continued to stall.

"Alright fine, I'll tell you. You have to promise you won't tell anyone though."

Nagumo just continued to eye me curiously, not giving an answer or agreeing before leaning forward as I motioned for him to come closer. When we were as close as the table would allow us, I spoke quietly while pretending to cover my mouth so that no one could read my lips.

"I'm a wizard."

Manabu snorted, spitting his tea just like he had when we'd met at the tea house. This time he was ready though as if he were expecting an answer like that. He coughed roughly before dabbing at his mouth with his napkin while Nagumo wasn't impressed in the slightest.

"Do you think this is a game?" Nagumo snarled.

"Don't tell anyone," I reiterated, winking at him as though we were sharing a secret. "I'll show you my wand if you like."

"Alright, that's enough." Manabu chided me, barely stifling his laughter.

"Well, it's more like a staff really..."

"Enough!" Manabu scolded me, getting to his feet and continuing to try and fail at holding in his laughter. "Pay for the food..."

Nagumo hadn't risen with us, continuing to sit while staring at me with a calculating gaze. Eventually, he waved me off when I went to take the check.

"I'm meeting someone here, interviewing a potential secretary. I have this one kohai."

It wasn't until we were halfway to the dorms that Manabu got a notification that made him smirk at me. I felt like I'd been used. Bastard.

Stingy prick didn't even tell me how many points the bet was for. Even refused to give me a cut even though I'd done all the work.

As Honami and I continued to wait at the front of the line, a friendly-looking attendant was combing through the lines and speaking to lone customers. It didn't take a genius to figure out what they were being told, sadly one by one those patrons exited the line looking crestfallen.

While I didn't really care for this experience, it was saddening to see people who wanted to have their fortunes read being turned away simply because of their lack of a partner. It seemed like a bit of a cruel and strange criterion, why would you turn down paying customers simply because they lacked a companion?

I could understand if this was for some sort of Valentine's event or something to that effect but it was just the summer holidays.

It seemed unfair.

Not far behind us, I spotted Akito and Hasebe who were waiting in line side by side. They seemed to be arguing about something, both of them holding an ice cream that was melting quickly as it sat in their hands uneaten.

Deciding to kill some time, I asked the couple behind us if they could hold our spot before taking Honami's hand and walking over to them.

"... why I have to be here. Grow some balls and ask that senpai you're always fawning over from your stupid Archery Club." Hasebe huffed.

"I did, she said she was busy today. I don't understand what you're so angry about, I just need you to come with me. They're only letting couples in. If you don't want your fortune told then just sit there while I get mine done."

"Sure, because every girl wants to hear that they were a last resort. I can't imagine why she said no, you're such a ladies man."

"Hey guys," I said with a wave as Honami and I reached them.

"Yo," Akito said with a wave of his own, bumping his fist with mine after. "You guys here to get your fortune told too?"

"No, they're getting a tan. Why else would they be here?" Hasebe scoffed, rolling her eyes.

"What is wrong with you?"

"...idiot." Hasebe said under her breath.

"Good morning Hasebe-san, Akito-kun," Honami greeted them, nervously scratching her cheek.

Hasebe quickly moved to her side before wrapping her arms around Honami's and firing off rapid fire questions. Honami stood still in shock as Hurricane Hasebe rattled off questions faster than she could answer.

"Ichinose-san, what's it like? Has he told you he loves you yet? I saw you guys kissing on the ship, is he any good? Has he tried to get in y-"

"I'm really sorry about her," Akito sighed in embarrassment.

"Actually, it's nice to see someone else on the receiving end that isn't me." I joked with a laugh.

"I know how you feel," Akito grinned.

Honami looked at me with desperately pleading eyes, begging me to save her from the Maelstorm who was firing off rapidfire questions while seemingly never taking a breath. Pretending I couldn't see anything, I continued to chat with Akito while glancing at the tent from time to time to see if the line moved forward.

"Are you going to the courts tomorrow? Hirata, Matsuo and Sudo wanted to play some basketball. A few of our classmates are coming to watch."

"Yeah, Eiichiro sent me a message already." I said, sighing in defeat. "I wanted to sleep in, summer holidays my ass."

"I have no idea how you have the patience to deal with how lazy he is." I heard Hasebe mumble from Honami's side.

"He's not that lazy, he just grumbles about doing things but he's quite diligent." Honami chuckled.

"Not with us he isn't," Hasebe scoffed. "The only time I've ever seen him do anything was when he was carrying Sakayanagi-san around the island. Every other time he's just sarcastic and sleepy."

"I think it's cute," Honami defended me.

"Oh God, you're so lovestruck. It's adorable." Hasebe gushed excitedly.

I watched as she suddenly started slurping at her fingers at the now melting ice cream that was dripping down her fingers. Honami wasn't around Class D all that much, seemingly amused by the antics of my two classmates who seemed like two halves of a comedy couple.

"Ah, shit! Damn it!" Akito shouted suddenly.

Shocked by the sudden outburst when I wasn't watching, I turned around to see Akito's ice cream all over his shirt as it fell from the cone and splattered. It made quite the mess as it hit his front before rolling onto the molten asphalt. It was already dripping before, the tissues in his hand that was wrapped around the cone was already drenched.

Swearing and cursing while looking at his shirt in dismay, I turned to Honami to get one of the wet tissues from her bag only to see her completely stiff and frozen as she stared wide eyed at Akito. Her face was flushed again from the blistering heat of the mid morning sun, sweat pouring from her forehead as she seemed to be suffering from heatstroke.

Suddenly, her nose started bleeding.

"Maybe we should come back another time. You're getting heatstroke and now your nose is bleeding," I pointed out, frowning in concern.

The suggestion of us leaving the line broke Honami from her coma as she wiped quickly went through her bag while holding a finger to her nose to stop the drip. Just as she got the tissues from the bag and wiped her nose, Akito stopped with his tirade before waving his hands to stop her.

"Don't bother, maybe this is a sign to just let it go for the day. I'll go back and change."

"So I stood out here sweating my ass off for nothing?" Hasebe said in frustration, throwing her hands up.

"Come on already, give me a break. Let's go back to the dorms and I'll get changed. We'll go to Keyaki and walk around in the airconditioning or something." Akito barked, already making his way from the line.

Hasebe apologized with a bow before chasing after him, chastizing him loudly as she bounded after his retreating back.

Looking at Honami as she quickly went to the trash to throw out the bloody tissues, I couldn't help but feel concerned as she hurried back.

"Maybe we should come back another day too..." I started.

"No, no! It's fine... I'm fine! Don't worry about it, let's go back to our spot." Honami insisted, seemingly flustered.

What was that about?

After making our way back to our previous spot in line, we didn't have to wait much longer before a voice called out to us as a couple exited the tent excitedly chatting between themselves. The girl took one look between the two of us before winking at Honami and giving her a wolfish smile. I vaguely recalled seeing her with Asahina-senpai a few times.

"Nice work, Ichinose-san."

Honami blushed and fumbled for my hand before pulling me towards the entrance of the tent as the voice called out to us again impatiently.

"Next, please!"

When we entered, I couldn't help but scoff at the ridiculous theatrics. It was set up as one of those cliche eerie old witch rooms. Like something out of a television show. The elderly woman sat at the table with her face obscured, shuffling her tarot cards and fixing her table from the previous patrons. To her left sat a large tome and a crystal ball in front of her.

As the two of us took a seat, the elderly woman stopped with her tasks and looked up at us. Her face was completely obscured, the only way to know that she was elderly was the wrinkles and varicose veins that were strikingly visible on the back of her hands. Once we were within her field of vision, she appeared to be shocked and she dropped the cards in her hands. They hit the table before scattering, most of them falling onto the floor.

"A-Ayanokouji Kiyotaka," The woman breathed in shock.

Honami looked bewildered. She looked back and forth between the two of us, wondering how she knew my name.

The madame shakily got to her feet before removing her hood, I could finally take in her features. Kind old cloudy eyes with wispy grey hair that looked unkempt and frayed but clean. She gingerly got to her feet before slowly making her way around the table and taking my hand in hers.

My mind was in overdrive. She recognized me.

This wouldn't have been an issue if I had been alone. I have no issues with politely indulging people who recognised me, it was something I was used to outside of school. I'd had to indulge the curiosity of strangers so many times, meeting new people whenever they invited themselves to our home. I wasn't normally permitted to leave the manor, at the height of the controversy I was kept at home for fear of being constantly mobbed in public.

It's the driving force for why I wanted to be normal when coming here, I've figuratively been moved from prison to prison to prison. The conditions and locations have been different but it's always been a prison.

First the White Room Facility, then the manor. Now ANHS, I've never been out in the public alone. Always chaperoned even when going to the park to play, never allowed in crowded areas that were frequented by the populace. So many years had passed and I'd been in this school for months. Finally tasted anonymity only to be reminded that outside of this cocoon, I will never be a nobody.

"Oh my dear child, it warms this old heart of mine to see you happy and well with my own eyes..." The woman said tearily.

"I'm sorry... Do you two know each other?" Honami asked, confused.

Before I could say anything, the woman looked back at her and enthusiastically took her hand as well, smiling warmly.

"Is this your girlfriend? Oh, she's beautiful!"

Honami looked completely perplexed, I wasn't showing it but inside my mind was a whirlwind. It all happened so fast. I don't know how it happened but I'd begun to become lazy even in trying to safeguard myself from being exposed, this was a situation that I would have foreseen in the past and right now my complacency was uncharacteristic and dangerous.

Arisu had taken advantage of my comfort and now Ryuen was aware of me. Honami had made observations due to my carelessness, Mako was the same. This experience was a wake-up call, it wasn't catastrophic. I intended to tell Honami everything at some point, just not right now. If this were a public setting things could have been far worse.

If I asked for us to leave now or vocalized anything to this woman, Honami would be even more suspicious. All I could do was remain silent and pray. The elderly woman seemed to notice that Honami had no idea about my past and guiltily looked away. It only lasted for the barest of moments before she resolutely pulled her hood back over her face.

"Now!" The madame said excitedly, taking her seat and clapping her hands. "Let's begin with your reading, shall we?"

She carefully gathered her cards again while Honami quickly got up from her seat and picked up the remainder from the floor. I inconspicuously tried to sneak a peek again as her skirt fluttered when she bent to pick them up.

Honami smiled warmly at the elderly lady while handing her the cards. As she retook her seat, she smacked me on the arm before taking my hand.

"Honestly, Kiyotaka. It's not that much effort to help the elderly. How can you just sit there?" Honami lightly scolded me.

"That's quite alright, child." The madame laughed.

Honami picked up the price list from the table to look over it but before she could show me anything the elderly woman snatched it from her hand before placing it on the side table next to her.

"Your points are no good here, child. Please consider today's reading as complimentary. Now, what are your birthdays?"

"Hers is July 20th," I said quickly as Honami grinned.

"His is October 20th,"

"I also need your name, child." The elderly woman requested, not looking up from the page she was writing on.

"Ichinose Honami,"

After that, it was relatively uneventful as she asked to see both of our palms. She asked a few innocuous questions here and there as she continued to write before taking out her cards and doing a reading without saying a word to us. The two of us were rather restless at the silence after a while.

As a joke, I nudged Honami's leg with mine under the table only to pretend I'd done nothing. Her eyes narrowed at me as she nudged me back.

I poked her with my elbow only for her to hit me back immediately after. Then another, it turned into an all-out war of us playfully nudging or poking each other in a back and forth, both of us wanting to be the one to get the last hit in. It was only when I snuck my hand onto her thigh and squeezed her knee that she muffled a squeal before slapping me on the arm.

The reading was taking far longer than I thought this would take, twenty minutes had passed and she hadn't said anything to us aside from asking us questions. The other two couples that came in before us had barely lasted fifteen minutes. I wished she let us pay, I would have bought the basic package if I knew it would take this long.

The elderly woman was so engrossed in her reading that she hadn't noticed the battle unfolding in front of her.

"Now..." She started before clearing her throat. "Before I begin, I'd like to warn the two of you. You may not like what I have to say..."

"We didn't sit here for twenty minutes in silence for the ambiance," I scoffed.

"Kiyotaka!"

"Not everything I tell young couples are what they want to hear," The elderly woman said uneasily. "Things that I say here could have a profound effect on your relationship moving forward. I wish I could say that everything I'm about to say would be good but alas..."

Reaching across the table, she motioned for both of us to give her our hands before holding them side by side.

"Your love lines are identical. I don't foresee either of you having many partners in your lifetime. If anything, from what I can see here; the two of you will either stay together or you may not get into another relationship ever again.

"Both of you are unbelievably loyal, you have a very strong connection. From what I can see here, it was love at first sight for both of you. Unfortunately..." The woman trailed off hesitantly, glancing at me.

"Unfortunately," She started again after sighing heavily. "The two of you are deeply flawed and scarred people. Neither of you are very honest or forthright with each other.

"Both of you are very rooted in self-hatred. Ironically, it's the things that you hate about yourselves that you each love about each other. Both of you have a very deep admiration for certain traits, ironically it's the things that you both dislike most about yourselves that the other adores.

"You lie to yourselves and each other. Both of you pretend to give the other privacy. You do this because you believe that if you give the other the privacy that you're affording them, the other will do the same for you. Your foundations are built on sand. You dance around and avoid the more serious topics, only really knowing each other on a superficial level. Both of you are afraid that the other sees what you see in yourselves. Fearful that when the flaws are apparent that you will be rejected and discarded."

I wanted to scoff at the ridiculousness of the analysis. She'd let go of our hands during her explanation and I sat there with my arms crossed. A physical manifestation of my rejection of her observations. This whole thing was a sham, her predictions, and analysis of me were surface-level.

Anyone could have predicted what she said about me, everything about me was public record and she'd already shown that she knew exactly who I was. It was easy to predict that I'd be a damaged person, that I had reasons to hide things from Honami because I wanted to shield her from my realities. Honami was naive, she looked at the world as a glass half full. Hearing of my past would destroy the rose-tinted worldview that she had that I wanted to protect.

I was annoyed with this old bat. It was one thing to project these things onto me but to insinuate that Honami...

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Honami looking down at her lap in worry. Her hands wringing in nervousness, the telltale sign that she was hiding something.

No... Honami was perfect. She may be a little naive and too optimistic... too trusting and self-sacrificing but Honami was an open book to me... right?

"When the two of you reach your lowest points, you will only have each other. Soon, many will turn against you and the two of you will be each other's rock. It will be a life-altering experience for the both of you, but it will ultimately bring you closer together and in the end, make you better people.

"The two of you have a turbulent road ahead of you. Some people are very interested in driving the two of you apart that will do their utmost to get between you. Whether they succeed will be up to you."

By then the two of us weren't listening anymore. I had no idea what was going through Honami's mind but I was distracted for other reasons. I know Honami well, I've studied her carefully. Both from when we were getting to know each other to when we became lovers. I know when Honami is hiding something and that reading brought something to the surface for her.

The old bat was right about one thing, our relationship is very surface-level. Most of the things we've shared in conversation were limited only to school, our general likes and dislikes, and things of that nature. Aside from knowing about the fact that Honami was the Student Council President in middle school, I know next to nothing else about her.

Nothing about her family, whether she has any siblings or anything like that. Nothing about her friends outside of coming to this school. I'm certain I'm her first boyfriend, she told me I was her first kiss but I have no idea if she had a previous love interest or anything like that.

Judging by how pale Honami was as we exited the tent though, there was something she was hiding from me. Something about her past that was important enough to her that she avoided speaking to me about. I wouldn't ask, I would wait until she was ready to tell me. We haven't been together long, there was plenty of time to share those things. I wasn't ready to tell her things about myself either.

As though sensing the demeanor and depression emanating from Honami, she had tried to point out our positives but it fell on deaf ears for Honami. Honami had only sat in silence, staring at her hands in her lap until it was time for us to leave. This experience did nothing for me, I didn't believe any of it. When I wheeled Honami out of the tent, the elderly lady gave an apologetic smile as we exited.

"Always remember the future isn't set in stone. Your future is entirely in your hands."

Honami walked while staring at the ground, seemingly deep in thought before looking up at me with the brightest of strained smiles.

"Well, that was different," Honami joked.

"Are you okay? You seem a little upset, none of that means anything. You know that, right?"

"Of course! It's just for fun, it's not like she knows anything about either of us. Probably just guessing, right?"

I could see she was lying, she was more shaken up than she wanted to admit. Purposely ignoring the fact that the elderly woman knew my name to reinforce the lie she was telling herself. That what she heard affected her.

"Oh... We didn't get to ask her about pineapple on pizza." Honami laughed, hitting her head with the palm of her hand.

"Honami..."

"Let's go to the cafeteria! I'm hungry. At least we didn't have to pay, right? Let's get some cold noodles..."

I was concerned, I didn't know what to say. So instead, I pretended like nothing was wrong as I followed obediently while Honami resolutely kept her eyes glued to the road ahead of us.

It was a stark contrast as we took a seat at a table and started to eat our meals. While the cafeteria was alive with excited chatter and laughter, ours was silent. Honami hadn't met my eyes, eating her noodles with poise. To those who didn't know her as well as I did, she seemed a little quiet but normal. I could see the differences, I know Honami better than anyone in this school.

Or so I thought.

While the first time I'd ever seen her was when she came with Arisu to our classroom when I had scored zero on our mock test, the first time I'd spoken to her was at that tea house. Where she proudly proclaimed that she would be my secretary. That she knew what it entailed and that she would do all of our work without question or apprehension. I remember thinking to myself, what was her secret? What was she hiding? That everyone had an agenda and everyone had a reason to do things.

So why would she offer to be my secretary knowing full well that she would be shouldering an enormous burden without any recognition except mine?

In spending time with her, I found her to be a genuinely honest and good person. Kind-hearted. I attributed and justified all of her actions to those characteristics without thinking that there were layers to her just like any other person. That perhaps this kindness was born from a trauma that I wasn't aware of.

People are molded by their experiences, both positive and negative. In adolescence, something as innocuous as leaving an infant to cry for too long can have a profound effect on their development in their later years. Not nurturing them or giving them any kind of love can have deep scarring impacts on a child as their brain develops. I would know. Despite being rescued from the White Room, the lingering ramifications of my earliest years are still there.

It matters not whether anyone else believes these experiences to be profound or not, only the person who experiences that trauma and lives through the consequences can attest to their lingering wounds.

If I love her like I believe I do, I would have to make myself vulnerable and open the door just slightly. While I can't tell her everything now, I can give her something. If not for my sake, then for hers. I've already suffered the consequences of procrastinating and the price was almost losing my best friend. I wouldn't allow it to destroy my relationship with Honami.

"I've never met my mother."

Honami looked up from her bowl of noodles, eyes wide in shock at what I'd admitted to her. I watched as her eyes turned happy at learning something so profound about me but watered in sadness at the same time. The war of emotions raged on her features, happy at the progress in our relationship when we were brutally shown how superficial it had been up til now but sad at the painful realization of what the information meant.

"Do you have a picture of her?" Honami asked with teary eyes.

"No. I've never met her, I don't know what she looks like... I don't even know her name. I have no idea if she's dead or alive." I said with a shrug as I continued to eat.

While Honami didn't sob or show any outward effects of crying, a tear dropped down her cheeks from her right eye. It was followed by another and then another from her left as the salty clear liquid dripped down her cheeks and pooled at her chin. She didn't sniffle, she didn't show any signs that she even realized that it was happening.

Putting my chopsticks down, I wiped at them with my hand. The napkin that came with our food lay forgotten, there was no need to use it. The tears were a gift, a raw response from sharing the pain of your past with the one who loves you sincerely. A gift that I would reverently accept.

Instead, she put her chopsticks down before reaching for my cheek and pulling me to her for a kiss. It wasn't as passionate as the ones that we'd shared in the past, not one filled with lust or physical need. Even still, although it was chaste and lingering, it was the most heartfelt kiss that Honami had ever given me.

As we broke apart and she rested her forehead on mine with her eyes closed, I could see as she finally came to a conclusion and she opened her eyes and stared into mine. Looking as vulnerable as I'd ever seen her. A look that I'd never seen on her face ever before.

"My father left us when I was a child," Honami said in a small voice.

While those were the only revelations of our past that we shared as we quietly continued finishing our lunch with the fingers of our nondominant hands interlaced, it was profound. This was no longer a superficial relationship purely based on physical or illusions. While it wasn't sexual, it was the most intimate experience that I'd had with a person in my life.

My life was an open book, I had never been able to share anything before. I didn't want to. It was something I didn't want to talk about and yet my privacy was always breached. I was always naked and exposed, my shame was always on display for anyone who wanted to violate my desire to be obnubilated.

For the first time in my life, I shared something because I wanted to. Not because I was forced. Not because of the impertinent, but because I decided to.

Chapter 43

"Alright, alright. Is everyone here yet?" Eiichiro asked again.

"We're still waiting on Matsushita-san!" Satou called loudly.

We decided to meet in our classroom, the chatter around the room was palpable. Even Chabashira-sensei was there, I had no idea how she knew about our meeting but she did. I suppose Eiichiro might have told her about it but there was every possibility that it was someone else.

I didn't know that she had any other clothes aside from the business attire that she wore to classes, she looked like a student. A pale yellow sundress and a large wide brimmed straw hat in her hand. Yamauchi was panting like a dehydrated baboon that couldn't find water in the savannah. To be fair, he wasn't the only one. Sotomura and Hondo were both trying to be discreet but they were inexperienced.

"Why are you here, Sae-chan-sensei?" Yamauchi asked excitedly.

"I was informed of your plans today, I wanted to be here to join in on the excitement. Do I have your permission?" Chabashira asked frostily.

"I'm here!" Matsushita said frantically as she opened the door and ran in, saving Yamauchi from having to answer.

September 1st, the day when the points had come through. It was early morning, everyone was so desperately excited for their share of the points. Despite the fact that I'd given them the keys, this was a team effort. The names had to be submitted from within the group, which meant today we were all meeting so that we could distribute the points.

I didn't really need the points, I just needed the illusion that I needed the points so that I could do some shopping without it looking out of place. Everyone knew I didn't work, if I did it would stick out even more than spending like a complete degenerate.

Six million points distributed forty ways. The class was excited, they'd all been poor since the first month had ended. Some of them before the second week had started.

"Okay, now that everyone is here we should all discuss what is going to happen with the points." Eiichiro said firmly.

"What the hell are you talking about?" Yamauchi said angrily. "Six million points split forty ways. That's... that's..." Yamauchi frowned, doing the math in his head.

"One hundred and fifty thousand." Yukimura said, rolling his eyes.

"If we're only counting the six million points then yes, it would be. However, there are other things that need to be taken into account." Eiichiro pointed out before continuing.

"First of all, the two million points that Kushida got for us in the second month. Whoever the senpai's were that gave us the points so that we could have something should be paid back. Which is why we're going to deduct two million points to give to Kushida to repay the debt."

To his credit, he hadn't looked in my direction once. He knew it was me, he knew that I was the one who distributed the points. He also knew I wasn't starving for points but he wanted to repay me. My best friend, despite the fact that I'd been a complete pain in the ass, still looked out for me. I could feel the tiniest bit of guilt creeping up but at the same time as much as the gesture was appreciated, I didn't need or want the points. I'd give up all of them to have fewer interactions with Kushida, especially now.

Kushida smiled angelically before nodding enthusiastically from her position by his side.

"How considerate of you, Matsuo-kun! I have to admit, I'd forgotten about paying them back. I feel horrible." Kushida said sadly.

"It feels like it happened so long ago, even though it was only a couple of months. Don't beat yourself up over it, Kushida-san. I agree with Matsuo-kun, we really should thank them. Perhaps we should consider paying with interest?" Hirata proposed.

"Hell no! They probably don't even want the points back, it wasn't a loan anyway! They gave points to us to help!" Yamauchi protested.

"That doesn't mean that we shouldn't return them..." Mii-chan rebuffed meekly.

"This isn't up for discussion. We're returning the points." Eiichiro said firmly while glaring at him.

"Everyone here got paid sixty thousand points this morning now that we're Class C. Missing out on fifty thousand a piece to pay back someone who helped all of us when we needed it without asking for anything in return is the right thing to do. If we ever expect them to help us again, we should repay them without them having to ask for it.

"I wasn't asking for permission, I wasn't asking for opinions. We pay back the people who help us. I'm leading this class and I'm the one whose reputation is on the line. I'm telling you, not asking. We're paying them back." Eiichiro said coldly, glaring at him as though daring him to argue.

Yamauchi looked like he was about to argue before Ike and Sudo both stopped him, shaking their heads for him to let it go. Realizing he was outnumbered, he fell silent again.

"Kiyotaka, you will pay the Nineteen Thousand Five Hundred points for missing roll call. I didn't account for him on the island so give him my five hundred points. You'll have to pay next month as agreed as well."

"Done." I agreed with a nod.

I've been a menace lately, it's the least I could do. Even if I was the sole reason they were all getting the points, it was a meager amount for me. I'd part with it just to keep the peace. Besides, I got a pretty hot strawberry blonde in return...

"What do we do about Sakayanagi-san though?" Shinohara asked with a frown.

"What do you mean? We already bought her the chess set!" Yamauchi was clearly getting annoyed with the dwindling points.

"A chess set that cost us a hundred and thirty thousand points when she gave us the names to get us six million points and six hundred class points? Stop being so greedy!" Satou shouted at him from behind Shinohara.

"It's not like you put up any points, Mii-chan and Sotomura-kun both paid the bulk of the points." Karuizawa glared at him.

"I'll take care of Arisu on my own end." Eiichiro cut them off before the arguing got any worse.

"All of us have suffered a lot these past months. I have a lot of that blame to shoulder because I haven't been leading this class, I've been managing it. I've passed responsibility over to others and relying on you guys to function on your own for long enough.

"A ship without a captain can't stay the course. I'm inexperienced. I lack confidence. I've never done anything like this before but I want you guys to know that if it's possible, I will get us to Class A. I won't rest until we put our best foot forward and I'll do everything I can.

"We haven't had a win yet that's ours. We had Arisu bail us out, we've had zero points from the beginning. We have something that the other classes don't have though, we're hungry. We've been given a new opportunity, a second chance at life. Himeno's class is only fifty one points ahead of us, Katsuragi's class is two hundred and fifty four points in front. If we band together and give it our best, I promise you. I will drag us to Class A even if it kills me." Eiichiro promised.

Chabashira looked like a proud parent as she watched over his shoulder at his speech. Her smile was... strange. I've seen her smile and laugh once and the normally stern woman looked so foreign with her teeth showing. The speech had worked though, the rest of the class were stunned into a strange silence.

"Wow..." Hasebe breathed in awe. "I almost want to jump out the window to see if I can fly after that."

"Please don't, I'm pretty sure you haven't grown wings." Eiichiro smiled. "Now we all have points, we're on summer holidays. Let's go out and enjoy it! The ones who got the transfers, send it all over to Kushida and she'll divy up the points. Let's make sure that the next special test, we all get to proudly call ourselves Class B. If we're lucky, maybe even Class A!"

As the class split apart, chatting to each other excitedly, Eiichiro sidled over to me as the rest were off in their own little groups.

"How many drafts of that speech did you go over before you decided on that one?" I asked with a chuckle.

"Please, I came up with that on the fly. I've been studying all the material you gave me. Give me some credit." Eiichiro scoffed.

I stayed silent, watching him with amusement as he started to fidget uncomfortably.

"Six." He finally admitted bashfully. "Was it obvious?"

"Only to me," I laughed.

"Still, I'm really sorry. I've been spending time with Hirata and Sudo and Mako, studying and everything else. I haven't really been spending any time with you..." Eiichiro trailed off guiltily.

"It's okay, really. I understand, don't worry about it."

Chabashira cleared her throat loudly, silencing the class as Kushida continued to complete the transfers. The room obediently quieted down, a testament to how much had changed in the past three months. While before they were disobedient and undisciplined, now... well they were still disobedient and undisciplined but improvements had been made. Improvements that Chabashira seemed to notice as she continued to smile at us.

"Ike... Sae-chan-sensei is smiling... Sae-chan-sensei never smiles..." Yamauchi said warily.

"I'm fully capable of smiling," Chabashira frowned at him. "It's just that none of you have given me a reason to smile until today.

"All of you have made tremendous progress. You've gone from absolute zero to functional. It isn't enough to reach Class A at this stage but it is progress. You have all been given a second chance of life in this school, I don't think any of you realize how fortunate you truly are. You have a leader in Matsuo who really cares about all of you and wants you to flourish. Do not take his hard work for granted, all of you need to strive forward and work together to make your dreams a reality.

"However, make no mistake, it was a team effort in terms of having the courage to submit the names. Let's be frank though, all of you were carried in the zodiac exam. All of you have Ayanokouji to thank for this victory."

This. Woman.

"Regardless of how he got the names, he was able to get them to afford you this win and bring you back into the competition. As someone who has been frustrated with him on numerous occasions, the fact that he has done something to aid you all at your lowest point is something that needs to be commended. Opportunities like this do not come often, sometimes not at all. You can not continue to rely on one person to save you, all of you need to do better. All of you must contribute.

"I was once a student here. I have been a teacher in this school since I graduated from college and have had numerous homeroom classes who have never had what it takes to reach Class A..."

"That must mean she's thir-." I started only to be interrupted with a glare.

"How old I am is of no consequence!" Chabashira cut me off angrily.

"I have never had more faith in a group than this one. If you continue to work hard and work together, I have no doubts that all of you have the potential to graduate from Class A. If that is to happen, it must be a team effort. All of you need to contribute, you can not continue to allow Matsuo to shoulder this burden alone. He needs your help or his efforts will be in vain.

"What I will say now is harsh but regardless of whether or not you believe it is unfair, Yamauchi is correct. You have purchased a gift in gratitude for Sakayanagi and that should be enough. Do not give up Private Points needlessly, they are essential strategically moving forward. Do not be naive in thinking that you must always square debts and pay dues.

"You have friends, siblings and partners in other classes. The road to Class A is climbed off the shoulders and bodies of the fallen. If you continue to be charitable and fair minded, you will fail." Chabashira finished.

"That... feels wrong. It seems unfair." Hirata frowned.

"Life is not fair." Chabashira said simply with a regretful smile.

There were only a few smaller less sombre conversations had after that, most were itching to get their points so they could leave. Realistically, I knew what was going to happen. Most of them wouldn't have any points at the end of the month. I'd be surprised if Karuizawa and her friends would have anything left by the end of the week, they were all excitedly planning their shopping for the day and where they'd have lunch. The sound of their planned purchases didn't seem like they were cheap, including their plans of eating dinner at The Pavilion.

What was surprising was when Kushida made the transfer to me but said nothing aside from giving me a nod and a friendly smile before moving to Karuizawa's group. She'd been strangely quiet and seemed to back off after our interaction on the ship. I didn't trust it, something didn't seem right with this entire situation. She was up to something, I could feel it. I just couldn't put my finger on what this ploy was all about.

Between our monthly allowance from the six hundred Class Points, my cut and the return of the two million points, I checked my balance that now boasted three million, one hundred and forty thousand points.

Shrugging to myself before opening the app, I sent the two million to Eiichiro before reading my now left over balance.

1,140,520

The notification came as Eiichiro was checking his own balance after Kushida's transfer to him, his eyes widened in shock at the amount on his screen before he looked at me in awe.

"Kiyotaka..."

"For the war chest. You'll do the right thing with them, I believe in you."

"Kiyo... I don't know what to say." Eiichiro said, stunned.

"Say I won't have to do anything for the next special test."

Eiichiro's touched demeanor changed instantly, looking at me with a playfully deadpan expression before waving his phone at me.

"Is this a bribe?"

"Did it work?"

"...yes."

"Then it's a bribe."

"What are you two whispering about?" Karuizawa said as she came over, crossing her arms and looking at us with critical eyes.

"We have points now, we're going to go read manga and watch anime at the Student Council office." Eiichiro said, putting his arm over my shoulders with a grin.

"Ahh mou! That's boring! What's with you two? You have the hobbies of losers even though you're popular!"

"He's popular?" Both Eiichiro and I said at the same time, pointing at each other.

"You two are like two halves of a comedy duo," Mori said jokingly as she came to join us.

"Come shopping with us. We have to get a present for Inogashira-san's birthday anyway." Hirata offered hopefully.

"Eiichiro will go with you, I have things to-"

Eiichiro's grip on my shoulder tightened and I could feel his fingernails digging into my upper arm. Turning to look at him, he glared at me with the hardest of looks.

"You are not leaving me like this." He hissed.

I wanted to bring someone else to suffer with us but the moment I caught Horikita's eye, she quickly left the room with a tactical retreat. By now almost everyone had left the room leaving Eiichiro, Hirata and I with the group of rowdily excited girls who were all itching to start shopping. Kushida left not long after, chatting with Ike, Yamauchi and Sudo alongside Mii-chan.

"I have to go meet with Hona-"

"Ichinose is having lunch with Mako, Shiranami and Ando." Eiichiro cut me off.

"...I have student council duties?"

Almost all eyes were on me with complete disbelief at the weak excuse. I sighed with resignation as we all went to Keyaki Mall together. As we walked, the girls were chatting excitedly amongst themselves while Hirata, Eiichiro and I followed. Lagging behind slightly, we all walked in relative silence while beginning to sweat in the blistering sunlight.

It started with clothing stores, then accessories, a shoe shop after that. I wanted to poke out my eyes and take a drill straight to my brain in boredom. This wasn't what I had planned for my summer vacation.

Despite all of that, it was different. I hadn't been spending a lot of time with my classmates, I'd barely spent any time with Eiichiro lately. It was a change of pace. Even if I wasn't enjoying myself as much as I would be if I was doing something else, a change was as good as a holiday.

It was nice to see them all excited, I wondered how long it would last. A point injection like we just had wasn't going to be the norm, it would be prudent to save some points. I knew that it would be a futile effort though, they would spend until they had nothing left and then budget with nothing as though it would all fall into place again next month. They didn't have the foresight to consider being a little frugal just in case there was a set back.

I wouldn't say anything, it wasn't any of my business. I could have covered all of their purchases with ease. Despite the fact that the balance I had on my phone was more than any of them had, it was tiny in comparison to what it was when I joined the Student Council. I didn't spend a lot of points, mostly in trying to stay obscure. I couldn't exactly spend like a Class A student when I was trying to hide amongst the median. I didn't even know how many points I had on the other phone.

The only one who I was interested in monitoring was Eiichiro, despite the fact that he had a large point injection that he wasn't expecting, he seemed to be modestly frugal. I was happy, it was better than I expected.

It wasn't until we went into the gift store to buy the gift card that I spotted Katsuragi. The moment he noticed me, he put down a box of chocolates he was eyeing before coming to greet me with his hand out to shake.

"Ayanokouji, I was hoping I'd run into you at some point."

"You were?" I asked in confusion.

"Yes, actually. I was planning to text you to see if you were free. Would you be interested in dinner at the Pavilion tonight? My treat." Katsuragi asked.

Lately, I had been careless. Honami had attempted to get me twice, she succeeded once. It was for that reason, I prepared myself. In an unbelievably uncharacteristic act, I made preparations just in case I smelled something coming and prepared a counter measure.

Opening my BUDDY app, I sent over a document that was tied in with a hyperlink. Katsuragi looked at me in confusion as he pulled his phone from his pocket.

"I'd love to, I just need you to sign that and send it back to me before we go." I said with a smile and a nod.

Katsuragi frowned as he opened the hyperlink and read it out loud while looking at me incredulously.

—--

Memorandum:

I, Katsuragi Kohei, am inviting Ayanokouji Kiyotaka to a meal in which I will pay with no ulterior motives and with no expectations of anything in return. I concede any expectations of reciprocations in the form of a meal and/or personal/professional favors either immediately or in the future.

By signing this document, I acknowledge that I am inviting Ayanokouji Kiyotaka to eat with no expectations and am only inviting said party of my own volition for the pleasure of their company.

X_

Signed

—--

"You can't be serious." Katsuragi said with a look of disbelief.

"I've been caught too many times, I must insist."

Katsuragi continued to stare at me as though he were waiting for me to say it was all a joke. We stood there for several moments before eventually he sighed and put his phone back in his pocket.

"Unfortunately, I can't sign it." Katsuragi admitted sheepishly, averting his eyes with the tips of his ears dusted pink.

I knew it wasn't a wasted effort, food trap successfully avoided.

"If it's something I can do, feel free to ask. If I can, I'll help you."

Katsuragi was a prideful man, someone who took the lines drawn between Classes very seriously. If he was coming to me for help with something, it had to be important. He helped Arisu and I on numerous occasions, I'd be willing to at least listen to what he wanted.

"My birthday just passed..." Katsuragi started.

"Ah... I see. Happy Belated Birthday, Katsuragi. Was there anyone who celebrated with your sister?" I asked curiously.

Katsuragi relaxed as he looked at me, shocked that I'd asked about his sister. He only mentioned it once in passing, Katsuragi had a twin sister that wasn't here. No one can know someone's circumstances. As a big brother myself, birthdays were important to me. Arisu and I hadn't spoken since that day in her hospital room but I missed her and I still love her dearly. I was waiting for her to reach out to me, I was still angry with what she had done.

Women. Honestly.

"No, she's alone... I've celebrated my birthday with my sister every year. When I came to the school, I wasn't aware of the strict rules of no outside contact. I was hoping to send a gift but with the school rules... You're on the Student Council, I was hoping to send a gift. Chocolates only, I won't have a letter or anything like that so it shouldn't violate any school rules.

"I just... I didn't help you on the island with any ulterior motives. I wasn't expecting anything in return when I agreed. I just hoped you'd be able to help me, as a brother. Surely you can understand my situation, Ayanokouji..."

I did understand and I empathised with him a great deal. If Arisu and I were separated, nothing would stop me from giving her a gift and a letter. School rules be damned, I would get expelled if necessary.

"I do and I'll help you. A box of chocolates though? No letter? What's the matter with you? I'd be pissed if that's all I got from Arisu," I scoffed.

Once again, I had Katsuragi shook from my proclamation. I was surprised when he seemed to stammer slightly, unsure of what to say.

"But the school rules..."

"Let me worry about that. Get a real gift, honestly what's wrong with you? You send something late and you didn't even bother to write a letter? I'm disappointed..."

Clicking my tongue with annoyance, I called Eiichiro over before telling him I had to leave.

"Katsuragi and I are going to the jewelry shop. I'll catch you later?"

"I thought we agreed to suffer together! Don't leave me with them!" Eiichiro pleaded with me.

"Relax, come past my office tonight. We'll get pizza and watch something there."

"No... Please. Don't leave me wi-"

"Matsuo-kun!" Mori shouted over at him.

Katsuragi and I slipped out with the distraction, making our way to the jewelry shop in relative silence. I could tell that he was grateful but didn't seem to be able to come up with the words, seemingly in disbelief at the turn in events. He'd come expecting to beg to send a box of chocolates, now he'd got more than he bargained for. No doubt, his mind would have been in overdrive, thinking about what I would ask for in return.

While he looked about the numerous bracelets, I was searching for something of my own. The reminder of birthdays triggered a memory as I looked through the glass at the various styles of heart shaped necklaces. I'm not very finicky, I had my choice relatively quickly.

After placing my order and sending them a photo of Honami and I, I made my way back to Katsuragi as he seemed to be deep in thought. The expense of the two bracelets were vastly different.

"This one, please." I said suddenly, taking the more expensive one of the two.

"Ayanokouji, that's almost all of my points." Katsuragi said apprehensively. "I can't buy that and repay you..."

"Who said I wanted to be repaid? Who said you're even paying for that bracelet?" I asked dubiously, handing over my student ID to pay.

"Don't be ridiculous! That's more than eighty thousand points!"

"I won't tell if you won't. Consider it partially a gift for your birthday and partially repaying you for helping Arisu and I on the island." I waved him off as though the matter was over with. "I'll insist though, you're not to tell anyone that I have that many points."

"I already knew," Katsuragi admitted. "It was one of the things Machida checked when he went through your phone..."

"I see, there you go. You know it didn't make a dent so don't mention it." I shrugged. "Seriously, don't mention it to anyone."

"I won't," Katsuragi promised as we continued to wait.

It wasn't long after that we had our purchases and we exited Keyaki Mall. Katsuragi was still in stunned silence, mulling over what had happened. The rather stoic man didn't show much but it was obvious that he was emotional. It must have been hard to be separated from someone you've had by your side all your life. We walked towards the dorms before the path diverged to the Student Council, both of us shaking hands as we parted.

"Write a letter, write everything. Leave nothing out, you won't get another chance like this until Christmas." I said seriously.

"Christmas?" Katsuragi repeated in confusion.

"You're not seriously going to not send anything for Christmas, are you?" I deadpanned.

My opinion of this bald idiot was dropping by the moment.

"Ayanokouji... I don't know what to say..."

"There isn't anything to say, just write the letter and bring it to my dorm tonight. I'll get the gift out tomorrow." I promised him.

"I still don't understand why you're doing so much... What do you get in return?"

"Good Karma? Who knows... Family is everything. Anyway, I'll see you tonight. Happy Birthday, Katsuragi." I said kindly, making my way to my office.

I couldn't hear him leave, I assumed he was staring at my retreating form. I felt good, today was a good day. Eiichiro was happy, everyone had points and I did a good deed. If this were a video game, my positive karma bar would be full. I'd be walking the town with everyone praising my greatness.

This is real life though, none of that really mattered. All that mattered was my opinion of myself and right now I felt like I was becoming a good person. Doing something kind for someone and expecting absolutely nothing in return. I selflessly gave Eiichiro points and fondly remembered everyone happily getting their share of the points.

Making my way to my office and humming a tune, it wasn't empty like I'd anticipated. Bunbun-senpai and that smirking bastard were in, the lights were on in his office. I snorted as the mental image of them came to the forefront. Bunbun-senpai would be blushing while standing behind him, seemingly in awe that he was able to pick up a pen as though it were the most amazing thing she'd ever seen. Jesus could walk on water in front of her but Manabu would readjust his glasses and she'd fawn over him like it were an incredible achievement. She should just confess already, it was beginning to get old already.

As I opened the door to my office, I was surprised to see that it wasn't empty. Honami was on my couch reading Baki with her feet up, lying down like she owned it. Her eyes darted up as she noticed me in surprise as I walked in and sat on the coffee table beside her.

"What are you doing here?"

"Working, Student Council duties don't stop just because it's summer holidays." Honami laughed. "We had paper work to catch up on from the cruise, I came here after lunch to finish it. It's on the desk."

"Oh, I had no idea." I frowned as I looked over at the desk.

Putting it out of my mind, I decided not to give her the gift right away. I made a mistake not knowing her birthday, this wasn't the setting that I wanted to make up for it. I'll give her the necklace at dinner some time, somewhere more intimate on a date or something. Instead, I stood back up to put the bag in the desk. Bending down to give her a kiss, I walked to the desk as Honami continued to read without asking what was in the bag.

I sat down to put it into the drawer when the door opened and I looked up to see Bunbun-senpai waltz in with her clipboard in hand, reading something in front of her.

"Honami-chan, I need that paperwor...k..." Bunbun-senpai trailed off as she looked up to see me sitting at the desk.

She blinked rapidly as though she couldn't believe her eyes before looking at the couch to see Honami reading Manga, not even looking up from it to address her. I looked at the paperwork that was sitting in front of me that Honami had just completed before picking it up and holding it out to her. I was okay with doing this much, I was in a good mood from all the good karma I was spreading about. I wasn't even going to tease her like I usually would.

"Is this what you were looking for, Bunbun-senpai?" I asked as I held out the completed paperwork.

Bunbun-senpai continued to stare, her eyes looking at the paperwork in my hand in disbelief. It looked like she short circuited, as though she couldn't believe what she was seeing. She stood frozen with her hand out stretched but didn't make a move or utter a word.

"The completed paperwork? This is what you wanted right, Tachibana-senpai?"

I don't know what I was expecting, Honami looked up from her spot on the couch. I could see she was curious, wondering what the hold up was.

Bunbun-senpai still hadn't moved. Instead, I watched as her eyes rolled to the back of her head as she fainted, collapsing in a crumpled heap at the foot of my desk. Honami stood frantically running over to her to check if she was okay.

"Tachibana-senpai!"

"Oh, come on!"

SS Hiding in plain sight

I like Ichinose Honami. I like her a lot. She's a wonderful, kind hearted person who shouldered an incredible burden. A burden that she has no obligation to fulfil, one that would have destroyed her if she continued on with it. Now that I'm in the position that I'm in, I realize that now. This burden... this role. Leading a class is not one for the faint hearted, the compassionate. This role is not for the naive, self sacrificing or the squeamish.

This role isn't for me neither. In fact, it isn't mine at all. I have regrets. The way that this school functions is by subterfuge and lies. While Ichinose Honami is a kind and honest person, I am not so benevolent. Like most people, I'm mostly self serving.

I would have been happy if Ichinose had continued to lead our class, I was content as things were. When she told us that she had been accepted to the Student Council, I watched as everyone excitedly praised and congratulated her. We all believed in her, it was wonderful news. It would benefit us as a group, having a Student Council member as your class representative gave you advantages and privileges that couldn't be easily obtained. We all praised her and some were genuinely happy for her simply because of her joy and excitement. Others were happy for her because of what it meant for them.

People misunderstand me as a cold and standoffish person. That couldn't be further from the truth. I don't hate people, I don't dislike interacting with people. I'm just awkward, I'm a wallflower. I don't like being the center of attention and I'm not proficient with needless social interactions. I like to be left alone with my own thoughts and I'm not someone who likes to be pushed into doing things.

It's why I can't believe the situation that I've put myself into. This position that I'm in... I don't know how I got here or how to get myself out anymore.

I want to believe that if I simply came clean and told Ichinose Honami everything. If I could just be honest and tell her about everything we've done behind everyones back, she would help me. She'd understand.

I'm not so sure it would work anymore. She's changed.

I feel like I'm struggling in quicksand and the more I try to fight my way out of it, the deeper I sink. It won't be long before I suffocate, for the sand to fill my lungs before I die. I feel like I've suffered a lifetimes worth of discomfort in only a couple of months. It wasn't supposed to be like this, it was supposed to be temporary. He promised me...

I don't know how she can date him. He terrifies me. I'm very, very good at hiding how I feel. It's how I've survived with deceiving everyone for all this time. The only one who knows the truth of Class B and my role as the figurehead representative of Class B is Ryuen. He's the only one who knows I'm a puppet, a tool that was manipulated into temporarily pretending to be the leader of Class B.

Kanzaki... that piece of shit. How did I allow him to convince me to do this?

I may as well come clean, I've been keeping this secret for so long that I've lost the ability to see where the lines blur. I've lied so many times in the past two months that it's difficult to keep track of what's real and what's a falsehood that I've perpetrated anymore. This stifling pressure, perhaps if I finally confess my sins, I can begin to lessen the burden. While Ichinose has changed a lot ever since she's started dating that... monster, if I can just tell her what we've done...

I don't care what anyone says. I don't care what everyone sees. Ayanokouji Kiyotaka... he frightens me. I've never been more afraid of a person in my entire life, despite the fact that I have only ever interacted with him once. That one interraction where he barely even addressed me at all. I swear on my life, just with a glance when he looked at me... It was as though every secret that I've ever hidden in my entire life was an open book for him to judge.

He's like a chameleon, I've never seen anything like it. I bump into him frequently, not that he notices. Exactly how I like it, as long as I can keep myself as small as possible to never be on the radar of Ayanokouji Kiyotaka, I can feel a little bit safer.

I've seen him interact with the lowest on the social hierarchy and speak with them in their vernacular as if he was one of them. I watched as he socializes with the elites of the school as if he was born to be there. I bore witness as he seduced the most beautiful girl in the school with the kindest of hearts, even if his is made of charcoal and ash. I saw him roam the halls of the ship with a dead look in his eyes like he was more machine than man.

Ryuen is a crafty, vindictive and cruel bastard. He used to scare me more than most, it goes to show how pristine the mask I've forged for myself has held up. I used to be wary of him but now I don't see him the same way. To force someone like Ryuen into submission... It was as though Ayanokouji Kiyotaka looked into his eyes and peered into his soul, found his deepest fear and showed him that he's just a mortal. That he may have the namesake of a dragon, but he may as well be a lizard raising his head to a God.

Ichinose Honami is naive, she doesn't realize. She thinks that this love that she feels for him was by accident, that it was all a perfect love story that unfolded before her very eyes and she fell for his kind and caring nature. I believe otherwise, I believe that everything that happened only unfolded the way it did because Ayanokouji Kiyotaka decided that he wanted her. If he wanted her body, I don't think I could sneeze before her panties would be hitting the floor along with every other piece of clothing on her body. He frightens me, that's how terrified I am of how he's able to blend in and get his way, time and again.

So, why am I the only one who sees this?

Am I going crazy? No one else seems to see what I see, everyone loves him. He's lazy and disinterested but everyone flocks to him. They grumble and whine and he disregards it as white noise, going about his business while everyone just accepts it. Everything falls exactly into place for him, it's incredible. Ando couldn't believe that she was found out as a VIP, she was absolutely certain that there was no way she gave any indication that anyone could have found her out.

It was insanity, we didn't even have time to analyse what had happened before every single phone chorused on the ship like a symphony of utter destruction. Every single group, in mere hours.

I was dancing with joy inside when it seemed like finally someone else had started to smell what I had caught on my own. Ando followed him, trying to piece together how on earth he had managed to do it. Then she overheard Machida talk about how Sakayanagi had figured out a key and given him the names and she dropped it like it explained everything.

I wanted to scream at her, I wanted to tear my hair out in frustration. I didn't want her to stop looking but I felt apprehensive of vocalising it. I couldn't breathe a word of my suspicions, as if Ayanokouji Kiyotaka would materialize from the shadows and turn his piercing golden eyes on me in retribution. I watched helplessly in fear as once again he pulled the wool over almost everyone's eyes with seemingly little effort.

Not everyone believes him, the small minority of people who swear up and down that Ayanokouji is a genius and a savant are drowned out by the mindless. If there is anyone in this school that shares my suspicions, I haven't met them. I can't even ask around, I'm too afraid.

The source of my ire took the seat across from me. A tea house that boasted private rooms. A karaoke room would have been cheaper but we needed to be discrete. There are a few rumors around our Class that Kanzaki and I are dating, I've done nothing to quash the whispers. Better they think that we're dating so that none of them look at what's actually happening behind the curtain.

"Why did you call me here?" Kanzaki asked curtly.

"I wanted to spend some quality time with my 'boyfriend'." I said sarcastically.

"Unless you have something to discuss with me, I'm leaving. I don't have time to waste with meaningless pleasantries, I have to prepare for whatever comes next."

"Fine. Go and do whatever you had planned. Who even cares anymore."

Kanzaki regarded me carefully, unsure about where this sudden attitude shift had come from. I'd voiced a few of my concerns in the past, I wasn't completely sold on Kanzaki's plan of action. I agreed that if we wanted to reach Class A, then we needed to have Ichinose committed to the class. It's why I agreed to help him when he asked. Now that our plans had blown up in our face though, it wasn't Kanzaki who was suffering the consequences; I was.

"The last two special tests haven't been ideal but the competition is close. We just have to plan for the next special test without Ichinose being the focus. Next special test, we play to win."

"We?" I repeated in disbelief. "When did you start speaking french?"

Kanzaki frowned in annoyance at my slight, narrowing his eyes at me.

"Your fucking mindgames are destroying this class, don't you dare look at me like that!" I spat angrily.

"You and I both know that the way things were, we would slowly start to lose ground. Ichinose isn't dedicated to our class, she's dedicated to Ayanokouji. It was costly but at least now we know for sure."

"No, we don't! We don't know any more now than we already did before because you had to double down, didn't you? All we were supposed to do was propose a reckless plan to see what Ichinose-san would do. We should have stopped the moment she didn't push back.

I could feel a rant coming on, all of the pent up anger and frustration of feeling like I was the only one who saw the cracks in the illusion that was Ayanokouji Kiyotaka. The embarrassment of looking like a fool in front of my classmates and the school. The desperation of being lured into a trap with no way out. I had to let it out, before I went insane.

" 'All we need to do is propose a leadership change. Don't worry, Himeno. Once she fights it, we'll push her to commit that her priorities will remain with the class'. 'All we need to do is propose a reckless plan. Don't worry Himeno, it'll just be temporary. Ichinose won't allow us to go through with a zero point strategy'. 'It's okay, Himeno. The class doesn't blame you, they know Ryuen betrayed us. Once Ichinose sees the state of our class, she'll take over and we'll be stronger than ever. It's a small sacrifice for the long term.' " I quoted mockingly, reminding him of all the times he was wrong.

"I knew I shouldn't have listened to you, look at us! We've taken two huge losses back to back, Ichinose-san doesn't want the representative role back and for what? All because you had to go into a dick measuring contest with Ayanokouji-kun!"

"That's what you think this was about?"

"Of course that's what this is about!"

"I don't have time to waste with foolish pride and 'dick measuring contests' as you've put it. My only goal is to reach Class A. Nothing more, nothing less. My issues with Ayanokouji are solely because he impedes that goal. If he wasn't distracting and leading Ichinose astray, I could care less what she does in her spare time or who she sees." Kanzaki said, rolling his eyes.

"Furthermore this whole friendship and class unity rubbish only works if everyone plays by that rule set. Katsuragi has a firm hold of Class A now, he will do whatever it takes to ensure victory. Ryuen is willing to play dirty, outright betraying allies in order to win. If Ichinose isn't willing to fight fire with fire then we will lose ground. It won't be long until we're Class D if that continues.

"You want to reach Class A as well, isn't that why you agreed with my course of action? Why are you losing confidence when the losses we suffered were minor?" Kanzaki asked as he took a drink.

"The losses weren't minor! We were demolished in two exams back to back!"

"The loss on the island was shared, Ryuen was the only one who gained any class points and that win was wiped out completely."

"Ayanokouji-kun's Class got six hundred Class Points in one exam. Six Hundred! We're only fifty one points ahead. We blink at the wrong time and we go down another class. Ayanokouji-kun gets bored one day and decides to intervene and we're going to be eviscerated!"

"Matsuo's Class," Kanzaki corrected me condescendingly. "I've known of Sakayanagi since we were children, I met her a couple of times before Ayanokouji was adopted. She's a genius but she's soft hearted when it comes to her brother. Sh-"

"Damn it, Kanzaki-kun! Listen to me!"

I just wanted someone to agree with me, one person to listen and objectively look at what I'd observed. I just wanted a chance to have someone confirm or deny my hypothesis without any preconceived bias.

Was that too much to ask for?

"Kanzaki-kun," I started, trying to calm myself.

"You're a calm person, you analyse things and you do whatever is necessary when you've set a goal, right? You said yourself, you put your pride aside for the class. That Ichinose-san was better at getting the best out of people and was more charismatic than you to bring the class together."

"Yes," Kanzaki nodded, waiting to see where I was going.

"So why is it that Ayanokouji-kun, every single time he's met you, has been able to push exactly the right buttons to make you angry?"

Kanzaki opened his mouth to counter but I could see the words catch in his throat. He frowned suddenly as if carefully considering what I had said as though the thought never occurred to him.

"He met with Ichinose-san on the island, you chased after her to stop her. You come back not even ten minutes later, empty handed and furious. Days later, you confronted him on the island. He says one sentence to you and you're ready to punch him. Then when we were talking to him with Ryuen-kun, it happened again.

"He baited you again with minimal effort and you actually hit him. I had to get you out of there because again he coaxed you into a reaction. You. The calmest, most pragmatic person I know." I continued.

"That's because he's an annoying asshole," Kanzaki interrupted me.

I was getting frustrated, I had no idea how to make him see what I was seeing. He hated Ayanokouji and it was taking everything I had to stop myself from just throttling him over the table.

"You threw everything you had into that punch," I continued. "All of your body weight, everything. Have you ever seen someone take a punch like that and not even stumble? He didn't even cry out or show any pain at all, he laughed at you. You hit him with everything you had and he taunted you that his crippled sister hits harder than you.

"He was more worried that Matsuo-kun was going to intervene. He got hit in the face and he was the one calming his friend down.

"Everyone is focusing on the fact that in the Zodiac Exam that Matsuo's Class correctly guessed all the VIP's. Why am I the only one asking the real question here?" I asked in exasperation.

"Which is?" Kanzaki prompted me.

I was relieved, finally it seemed like he was giving me the attention I felt like I deserved. It took me wounding his ego of someone eating a punch from him like it was a swat from a fly but I'd take it.

"How did he make Ryuen-kun submit the wrong names?"

Kanzaki opened his mouth to speak again before I saw the words catch in his throat. I could tell, it wasn't something he'd considered yet. The loss was still raw, he was too focused on everything else that he hadn't had the chance to look at everything with a fine tooth comb. I couldn't blame him for it, we were all still reeling.

"Ryuen-kun would never recklessly submit names unless it was some kind of game for him. Unless it was a power play, you've worked with him. You know him. Making you do chores on the island was all to break you down, making the shadow leader of Class B do his bidding was all to stroke his ego. He had us from the first day and he knew it. Ayanokouji-kun made him submit the wrong names."

"I'm starting to wonder if you have feelings for him too, join the queue," Kanzaki snorted while picking up his tea. "You're making out like he's some kind of God."

"More like the devil," I rolled my eyes, picking up my own tea. "Either that or he was grown in a lab or something."

I was surprised when Kanzaki dropped his cup, eyes wide in shock. I vaguely wondered what I'd said to induce this reaction, he looked like he was remembering something as his eyes seemed to nearly bulge out of the sockets. He didn't even make to pick up the cup off the table which had now spilt tea all over the white cloth.

"What did you just say?"

"He's more like the Devil than a God?"

"No... you said-"

"Maybe he was grown in a lab?" I repeated in confusion.

I've never seen Kanzaki like this, he was already pale but now he resembled a ghost. His eyes were trembling rhythmically in sync with his hands that previously had hot tea spilt on them. It didn't look like he'd even registered the pain though.

"R-relax, Kanzaki-kun. What's wrong with you? It was just a joke..."

"There's no way... Surely it isn't him." Kanzaki said quietly to himself.

"Kanzaki-kun? What's going on? You're scaring me, it was just an off hand comment... What's the matter with you?"

He ignored me as he pulled out his phone and started to tap on his screen. I watched as even more color drained from his face, the white table cloth had more pigment then he had. His eyes hardened and without a word he slid his phone across to me on the table, not saying a word.

Picking up the phone and reading what he'd shown me, I saw the screen was on a search engine. The only thing he'd searched was the name Ayanokouji Kiyotaka but the results that came up... Once I started, I couldn't stop reading. It was like I was reading a story book, not someone's life history. It seemed impossible that anyone could have gone through what he did and come out of it sane, let alone alive.

The more I continued to read, the more sick I became. I could feel the bile rising in my throat. Anyone would have the same reaction when reading about the torture, experimentation and the murder of children. I didn't want to read anymore, violating someone's privacy like this was... wrong. Even still, I couldn't look away. Once I'd started I couldn't stop reading, like a moth to a flame.

"How did I miss this?" Kanzaki said quietly to himself.

"How has everyone missed this?" I expanded.

"No, you don't understand. I heard my parents talking about this when I was a child, I've heard the name Ayanokouji before. I didn't connect the dots. Now that I think about it, I've never seen Sakayanagi since he was adopted. We were never invited to their home and they stopped attending social events."

"Are you rich or something?" I asked curiously, desperately wanting to change the subject.

"...We're comfortable." Kanzaki reluctantly forced out.

"That's what all rich people say."

"Is that really important right now?"

"There's no real point in talking about this anymore. You typed in Ayanokouji-kun's name in a search engine and the results came back as 'we're all fucked'." I sighed in frustration, shaking the phone at him.

"Do you have to be so crass?" Kanzaki frowned at me in distaste.

"Do you have a better way of putting it?"

"So you're just going to give up?"

"What else is there to do? We should just enjoy the facilities that the school offers. How the hell are we supposed to go up against that? Go on, tell me. What's your next genius plan? The others you've come up with so far have worked wonderfully for us." I spat angrily.

Kanzaki furrowed his brow in concentration, disregarding my sass and staring at the spilled stain on the cloth in deep contemplation. He didn't say anything else for quite a while, the tea was cold now and my cup was half empty. I didn't even care to eat any of the sandwiches that I'd ordered, all of them were forgotten and stale.

There was no way we could tell Ichinose about this. We'd just drive her straight into his arms. She was that kind of person, if she knew about this she'd do everything in her power to move to Matsuo's Class... to...

"What if we got Ichinose-san to bring him to our class?" I asked out loud.

Kanzaki looked at me curiously, mulling over my suggestion.

"We have about five million banked already. We tell the class that after the results, we need to focus on getting to twenty million as fast as possible. We up everyones quota, we aim to get to twenty million by December and then we propose it to Ichinose-san."

"I don't think he's leaving Matsuo behind," Kanzaki said reluctantly.

"Great, don't mind me then. I guess we're back to 'we're all fucked' again."

We sat there, staring at the table for the remainder of the time in the private room. I don't even remember what happened after that. All I remember was trying and failing to fall asleep, staring up at my ceiling as the dawn returned to another day. The entire time, I couldn't get the mental image of what that place must have been like.

I was right the whole time but I didn't feel vindicated. Ayanokouji-kun really is a devil, spawned from a White Hell.

A/N:SS summarized by my beta: Inferno3054

SS A deal with a devil

"How did he make Ryuen-kun submit the wrong names?"

Although she was rather blunt and undignified in her analysis, Himeno is right. We truly are... in a tight spot. How was he able to pull this off?

Everything seems to make perfect sense now. I sat and analyzed everything that happened in the lead-up to my first day at this school. My father was completely against my enrollment at advanced nurturing high school. Many of the people I know from my social circles aren't here. Most of the people in my year come from relatively modest backgrounds.

Why was my father so adamantly fighting against my desire to come here?

It's because he knew. My father knew that he was here.

It's only obvious now that I'm here and know how the school functions. My father was adamant, anything other than a finish in Class A was unacceptable. Anything less would be a stain on the Kanzaki name within those influential circles, it's why so many of them weren't here. Many of the families we have ties to have sent their children overseas. It allowed them to save face, no one would begrudge a foreign education from a renowned institution.

I thought nothing of it at the time, studying abroad was intriguing. Being exposed to a foreign culture, and learning a new language. I prefer Japanese cuisine, so that would have been an issue for me. Irrespective, it didn't raise any alarm bells for me. Older and younger friends of mine have already made arrangements or have already gone to study in the US or England.

Pondering those points doesn't get me out of my conundrum; how are we supposed to compete against... that?

There's a part of me that thinks that there isn't an immediate threat. He's notoriously disinterested and isn't even leading his class. Without him, they're Class D. It isn't even a question, they've shown nothing remarkable and they're infamously disjointed and inept. It's obvious by their standings before he intervened, zero points for three months is surely some sort of record in the school. One that no one should be proud to have.

What to do though? What to do... Aim for minor victories and hope that we will be good enough to fight that demon a year in the future? Two years? Will he be able to overcome insurmountable odds? Just like how he had done on the Zodiac Special Test? It took him a few hours, how do we beat that?

To be frank, I'm not so sure. I have no issues with taking the backseat in pursuit of achieving a goal, pride and ego have no place in a team effort. The only thing that matters is the goal, I used to think that Ichinose would be the key to our rise to Class A. In an ideal world, she'd be the best choice.

Morale and the ability to hold a large group together, keeping everyone happy and in high spirits is a tall task. Ichinose has charisma in spades. She's kind-hearted and everyone loves her. The class adores her, blindly following along with anything she suggests because she has that ability. Her biggest problem was her inability to prioritize, willing to go so far for her enemies as much as her friends.

I don't understand it if I can be frank. She's willing to deceive and lie yet she isn't willing to use stronger underhanded methods. She's capable of recognizing when she's being cheated but turns the other cheek. She wants to win and yet would rather lose than hurt others. Willing to shoulder the pain than inflict it on others.

So, why can't she see that by imposing these sanctions on our class that she is hurting us more than she's hurting our enemies? Why should our class have to suffer losses and lose by attrition, simply because she allows others to cheat us? Why will she not do the same to them? It was frustrating, I could see that it would be a problem early. I could see it all when she first joined the Student Council and started to spend more time with him.

At first, I wasn't sold on her as our representative. I put my candidacy forward to the class opposing her, not seeing her potential as a leader.

I'd lost by vote though and there was nothing that I could do about it. She took the nomination with grace and dignity, even asking for my help as her second in command to keep things under control. It surprised me to some degree, we had just gone against each other. Despite all of that, she welcomed me with open arms and frequently asked my opinions, debating philosophically on some of my positions on certain things regarding the school.

She even came up with a way for us to pass our midterms. An ingenious method that had never been thought of in the history of the school. Learning that, I saw potential. In hindsight, it wouldn't surprise me in the slightest if it was an errant thought by Ayanokouji that Ichinose took and ran with.

I doubt many in the school know as much about the S-System as Ichinose Honami. We learned very early on that the school isn't forthright with information about the S-System. However, if you ask the right questions specifically, then you can have your answers. She spent copious amounts of time with Hoshinomiya-sensei, grilling her for information by asking question after question. It goes to show how charismatic and charming she is, Hoshinomiya-sensei showed absolutely no signs of annoyance or frustration.

Furthermore, she established early on that we should have a banking system. Pooling a percentage of our monthly points to save twenty million points as quickly as possible in case any of us are expelled to save us. It was an ingenious idea, one that I supported wholeheartedly. When BUDDY was released, it was even more fortuitous. All of us had a quota of how many jobs we needed to do every week, that quota would be added to the pool. If others wanted to work more to keep points for themselves, they would be able to as long as they contributed to the pool first.

I could see her slowly starting to change, that's what I wanted. Unfortunately, she changed in a way that I wasn't so supportive of.

It was subtle but it was noticeable early that she started to see Ayanokouji in a romantic light. Little things, small micro behaviors like smiling slightly when his name was brought up, looking forward to lunchtime, and leaving quickly to get their food. Things of that nature. It was foolish, I attempted to show my interest in her. Hoping to woo her to have her commit more to our cause. I tried to see if there could be something between us instead, purely for the sake of the class. To my chagrin, I was unsuccessful. Ichinose only had eyes for Ayanokouji.

Now she's lazy and unmotivated, uncaring about the competition between our classes. The only time she springs into action is when Ayanokouji is involved. It's disappointing, all that wasted potential, and for what? Love? How frivolous.

I never thought I could say the words selfish and Ichinose in the same sentence ever before, until now. Her priorities are in the wrong place. The potential she had... if only she was willing to implore underhanded methods, if only she wasn't a slave to her morals. Now she has the golden ticket, right there in her hands. If only she were willing to use some of that charisma to coax Ayanokouji to our side.

She wouldn't do it. If anything, I have no doubts that if the choice came between Ayanokouji and Class B, while it would tear her to pieces emotionally, she would choose him.

It was as if my feet had a mind of their own, walking circles around the campus while trying to think of what to do. My feet were aching but it didn't register, my mind was too clouded. I made a mistake in coming here, I should have chosen to go abroad. I had no doubts that Ayanokouji would never leave Matsuo behind. Even still, if he came to Class B by some miracle, would it even be worth it? Would he be an asset or a liability...

As fate would have it as the night approached, I spotted Sakayanagi sitting alone on a bench in the park near the dorms. Playing chess against herself, interestingly. Apparently all genius types had a few screws loose.

I wasn't sure how long she'd been sitting there but as I arrived her game had concluded. She reset the board, not even looking up at me as I approached. It wasn't until I sat across from her that she even registered my arrival. No smile, no greeting. Nothing.

"It's been a while, Sakayanagi."

"Yes it has, Kanzaki-kun." She nodded solemnly.

Once the board was reset she leaned back on her hands, staring up at the night sky with a deep breath.

"It's curious how some things change and yet others stay the same,"

"I never picked you for the brooding type,"

"What else is there for me to do?" Sakayanagi shrugged with resignation. "My allies have abandoned me, my Class no longer trusts me and my brother... Once again, my brother has outmaneuvered me. Only this time, the stakes were so much higher."

Sakayanagi was always confident. When she was a child and when I saw her again in coming to this school. Always smug, flaunting her genius to others as a badge of honor. To see her so melancholy was startling. Her confidence seemed just as battered as her weakened legs. Something I never thought I would see from the frail, petite girl.

Attempting to pass the time, I looked down at the board in front of me before moving my pawn forward to e4. Sakayanagi continued to stare at the sky, not giving any indication that she'd seen anything before sighing to herself again and matching with moving her pawn to e5.

"I think you're being a little dramatic," I observed, moving my pawn to f4.

Sakayanagi chuckled mockingly to herself before taking my pawn with an exf4 and observing the piece in her fingertips.

"What do you think my brother was trying to achieve by convincing my class that I'd given him the names?"

"You're the genius here, why don't you tell me?" I offered, moving my knight to f3.

"Very well," Sakayanagi nodded to herself as she moved her pawn to g5, interlacing her fingers and leaning on the table in front of her.

"People are fickle things, aren't they? Many of us lie to ourselves every day, it's a defense mechanism. Rather than accept the reality of our deepest fears, we tell ourselves lies. Hoping against all hope that the lie will manifest. All because the truth is damning and they'd rather believe in a blissful illusion.

"It's why you're sitting here with me, is it not? You know, don't you? You've figured it out, you found the articles. Now you're sitting here with me, playing chess and lying to yourself that there is something you can do to fight against him."

My silence spoke volumes as she chuckled to herself. Rather than answer her, I moved my pawn to h4, not confirming or denying it as Sakayanagi continued to chuckle bitterly.

"Two days ago I would have been elated to hear that my brother's secret is slowly seeping through the cracks. Now, it's meaningless. He's done a number on me this time." Sakayanagi said sadly, moving her pawn to g4.

"A third of Class A is firmly in Katsuragi's camp. They'll believe what they want to believe. They can't fathom how someone from Class D, the lowest of the low, could be such a brilliant mind that he would be able to destroy them in mere hours after the first meeting. To them, it makes perfect sense. That the only way Class D fodder could come out on top would be by having a brilliant Class A student be charitable.

"Then there's the third in the middle, the factionless who is the deciding factor. People like Inoue-san, who simply can't fathom that my brother who dotes on me all the time would entrap his dear sister. They see how close the two of us are and to them, it makes no sense that he would knowingly point fingers in my direction. To them, it's more reasonable that he was sloppy and accidentally revealed my involvement.

"Finally, there are the people who supported me. They'd rather follow the status quo. They saw the balance of power shifting towards Katsuragi and they abandoned me despite knowing that I was right. With Katsuragi in power now, they'd rather cut their ties with me than stand beside me on my soap box. They know how they assisted me to reveal my brother's secret, they know that he's lying. They saw what he was able to do to me, the one he loves more than anyone. They'd rather ally themselves with Katsuragi than risk having his wrath turned on them. If he could do that to me, they don't want to find out what he'd do to them."

I watched as she wiped a few stray tears with the back of her hand before she continued.

"That was what he was trying to achieve, he knew that his actions had started to garner attention. Instead, he gave everyone plausible deniability and they accepted it like the cowards they are. Now, even if he's fully exposed to the entire school, I have no way to fight him. He's cut out my knees and taken every weapon I have.

"Even if he's revealed, my class would never follow me. No one would provoke him and he can continue with his backseat lifestyle and there is nothing I can do to force him to take over Class D. I've lost. I had him cornered, I had everything I wanted at my fingertips and he averted my eyes for just a moment. I blinked and he destroyed me. I'll have exactly what I wanted and at the same time, I'll have nothing." Sakayanagi finished sadly.

"It would be foolish of them to think that Ayanokouji isn't a threat. Even if you had given the names to him, that doesn't explain how he was able to force Ryuen to submit the wrong ones."

It was small, almost impermissible. The smallest of smiles graced her lips for the briefest of moments but it was gone just as soon as it was there.

"Did you come up with that?"

"No, it was Himeno. Even still, I would have eventually. As will everyone else in the school. Our class hasn't met as a group yet, nor have the others as far as I know. Most are trying to enjoy what's left of the Summer Holidays. It's been barely a week since the results were announced, it's been a trying month."

"Perhaps there's hope for your class to reach Class A. Mine wasn't able to come up with anything like that."

"Spare me with your little dog and pony show. These theatrics and crocodile tears aren't fooling me. You came up with a plan the moment I made my first move," I scoffed, rolling my eyes as I moved my knight to e5.

Sakayanagi simply chuckled to herself as she moved her knight to f6.

"I'm just a helpless maiden, Kanzaki-kun. How rude of you to insinuate that I was trying to feign sorrow."

Every move she'd made so far had been with no hesitation. Not even a pause or a blink. It'd been aggressive from the start. It was obvious how she'd already earned her reputation as one of the school's best chess players. I doubted that there were many if anyone that could match her over multiple sets.

"I don't have a plan, only ideas. That's the truth of it. I've lost my standing with my class. Yamamura has had feelings for my brother from the first day of school, I led her to believe I'd help her with pursuing a relationship with him. He's dating Ichinose and she's given up. I no longer have her support.

"Hashimoto idolizes him and is imploring me to give up on trying to compete with him, begging me to recruit him to our class. I've shown no indications of doing so, he's abandoned me as well. Katsuragi's become friends with Kiyotaka now, Katsuragi is trying to recruit him. Hashimoto is hopeful that he'll be successful and so he's refused to aid me in trying to expose him any longer.

"Masumi wants to be left alone, she wants no part of anything to do with my brother. I can't work to save points to change classes, I'm helpless." Sakayanagi said simply.

So that's what it is, the crux of her plan. She wanted me to suggest it, wanting me to ask her to come to our class so that she could keep her pride intact without having to ask me for a favor. I had no issues with it, although the pride of this little witch was vexing me to a degree. I knew it was playing with fire but I wasn't about to simply roll over and give her what she wanted without any sort of pushback.

"You could ask Ayanokouji to help transfer you to his class. You'd be reunited and if you were able to get him to contribute, it would be a sure thing that you would graduate as Class A," I offered while moving my pawn to d4.

Her eyes flashed with annoyance as she moved her pawn to d6. I paused for a moment, observing my options before moving my knight to d3. Our conversation stalled, the game was all that mattered at the moment. It was hard to hold a conversation and concentrate on what I was doing but Sakayanagi looked bored. It infuriated me.

Knight e4, Bishop f4, Queen e7...

This girl was a complete onslaught. Sakayanagi looked like she was humoring a child as she wiped the floor with me. Sakayanagi was brilliant, her chess play spoke rather than her words. She'd led me to this offer and said that she'd be willing to lead us without saying it. Showing me what she had to offer if only I would submit and ask for it. Once again, I'd put my pride to the side to reach my goals. Class A was all that mattered to me.

Sixteen moves. Sakayanagi had moved sixteen times and destroyed me with the weaker side of black like it was nothing more than an annoyance. She was brilliant, she was a genius. Class A had made a mistake and disregarded the perfect weapon to fight against that monster as though it were trash.

One man's trash was another man's treasure. If they didn't want her then we would have her. I'd give her my full support if only it gave me the best chance to reach Class A. We were already doomed as it were. With her, we'd have a fighting chance.

"Well played, Kanzaki-kun," Sakayanagi said politely as she finished putting the pieces away and stood with the board under her left arm.

Nothing else was spoken as she made to leave but I felt like I was losing an opportunity here. Ichinose didn't want her role back, Himeno was on the brink of giving up as well and she was scared of Ayanokouji. I could take up the mantle but I was out of my depth against him too. I'm not ashamed to admit it, Ayanokouji was brilliant. I read the articles, I saw that he'd been given a world-class education and he was already a savant even before.

Fortune favors the bold, not the proud. I needed her, she was exactly what Class B needed to reach its goals; to reach my goals.

"Wait," I called to her with gritted teeth.

I was giving up all the leverage, I'd have nothing left if I asked. Sakayanagi would have me by the throat, she was the devil. Sakayanagi was a wolf. A shark, just like Ayanokouji. She smelled my blood and desperation in the water and reeled me in like a siren in the middle of the night. She coaxed me playfully and led me right into the trap. Showed me what was possible and what she had to offer and like a fool, I was about to sell my soul.

I knew what a deal with Sakayanagi would mean. It would be like dealing with Ryuen. Sakayanagi was cunning and vicious and wouldn't hesitate to kill me off to reach her goals.

Even still, to fight a monster you needed a monster of your own. Right now, all we had were lambs.

"Yes, Kanzaki-kun? What can I do for you?" Sakayanagi said sweetly.

That honeyed tone was meaningless to me, she knew she had me. The pride and delight dripped from her voice and demeanor like the sweetest of honey. Honey laced with poison.

"If we bring you to Class B, can you beat him?"

She laughed at the question but I said nothing and waited for her answer.

"That place was disgusting, if anything it stifled his growth. He's formidable. He's charismatic, he knows how to manipulate people masterfully. He's cunning and he's incredibly perceptive. Even still, Kiyotaka has become weak and complacent. He's arrogant and most of all, he's soft-hearted now. He has weaknesses that I will fully exploit. Can I beat him? Possibly. Will I be the best chance you'll have? Absolutely.

"Let me be clear. Nothing means more to me than beating him. Then proving that I am on his level. I will do anything to prove that. Even if it means reducing Ichinose Honami to a shell of herself." Sakayanagi finished determinedly.

"You don't like Ichinose?" I asked in confusion.

"On the contrary, I adore her. I don't think there is anyone in this school that I could approve of more for Kiyotaka. That's how far I'm willing to go to beat him. I'll take his hate when I reduce her to tears. Even if it means that I destroy everything about our relationship, I will beat him. There's no point standing beside him if I don't deserve to be there and I don't deserve to be there unless I beat him."

Sakayanagi paused for a moment as though a thought occurred to her before turning and walking towards me, cane tapping rhythmically on the ground before she put the chess set down on the bench she was sitting on previously next to me.

"There is one last thing that needs to be addressed though," Sakayanagi said, smiling up at me.

"You hit my brother. No one hits my brother. Especially not when they turn around and ask me for a favor. If you want me to lead Class B, I will need to pay back that debt on his behalf."

Before I could say anything, she buried her fist in my midsection. I keeled over as she hit me, not expecting the sucker punch. I fell forward on all fours, gasping to get my breath back as I raised my head to look up at the seemingly frail girl that just brought me to my knees. She smiled angelically down at me, as though this posture was what suited me best and this is where I was supposed to be all along.

Bitch.

A/N: Hey guys, just wanted to make a quick note of something to clarify.

When writing the chapters, since it's in 1st Person POV I try to write it as the character with them only knowing what they specifically know. A lot of times, as readers, especially when most of us are up to date on the LN and know how canon is supposed to go, we often think of a character as stupid or dumb or playing a thousand IQ move because we know something to be true. An example is the running joke of Kiyo still not knowing that Chihiro actually confessed to Honami instead of Nagumo.

Try to keep this in mind when it comes to certain plots. Kiyo is an unreliable narrator, a trait I try to keep even though his character is so different to canon. Still, sometimes he doesn't have the whole picture, it's okay for Kiyo to not know everything. At least for me it is.

Also, at times I can understand but the timelines don't exactly run as 1 day per chapter, 1 week per chapter etc. While for us as readers it feels like a while because I'm lazy and make you guys wait a week (or two) for updates, for the characters a chapter could be hours. So much has happened since Zodiac that it's difficult to remember that really only a week or so has passed and a lot of them are so burnt out that they're just trying to enjoy what's left of the summer holidays. Many of them haven't even met with their class to discuss what happened. They may be talking amongst their groups but Kiyo has no way of knowing that.

I understand that it's hard and frustrating and much like Himeno, we want to scream at characters not to be so stupid but keep this in mind; all of them have watched while Class D has done absolutely nothing for 3 months. Kiyo has not shown any form of supremacy but Arisu is a known genius who flaunts her superiority complex. Imo, it's more reasonable for people to try to tailor an argument over something they know than for them to try to change their complete outlook on a person simply because of one result.

We should be used to it. We've watched people buy 'it was all Horikita's plan' for what two years? (Canon time).

It may seem for us that Kiyo and Honami have been dating for ages considering they got together in chapter 22 and we're up to 44 now with side stories in between, but the reality is that they've been dating a few weeks at this point. One week of that they were in separate camps and only saw each other for a few hours a day.

Hopefully this clarifies some details for you and helps you see things from my perspective as I'm writing things.

Please continue being critical in the comments though, sometimes it brings up points that I don't think about.

Here's the chess game they played if you're interested:

https//perl/chessgame?gid=1077988

Chapter 44

It's 6:00 pm and they decide now to shut off the water to the school, giving all of us a small amount to hold us until the next day with next to no notice. What kind of idiot is running this school? What the hell is the Student Council doing?...

...On second thought, never mind... we had plenty of notice.

I had no idea what I was going to do, the ramifications of a lazy lifestyle. People had been so used to me saying no to doing things that I haven't been invited to anything at the moment. While this would be music to my ears under normal circumstances, I had nothing left to do. With all of the free time we had over the remainder of the summer holidays, I'd already read everything I have. It was boring playing video games by myself lately and Eiichiro was studying with Sudo. I'd rather saw off my own arm than hang out with Yamauchi and Ike. Sotomura and Hondo were likely options but for some reason, I wasn't feeling it tonight.

It's incredible, water wasn't really something that I was desperate for, and yet it had flummoxed me. It was the fact that something was taken away from me that threw me for a loop. It's not like I was desperate for a shower or anything, the inconvenience in and of itself had simply annoyed me for no apparent reason.

With the water shutting off there really wasn't any other option. Time to see what the others were doing.

Honami was with Class B having a karaoke team-building night of some sort. Now that she wasn't the leader anymore, Honami didn't really have any authority to bring me there. Rather than cause a problem by asking Himeno and then nagging me to come along, instead, she decided to go solo since we didn't have any plans.

That was something that was different about our relationship in comparison to others that I'd seen around the school, we didn't seem to feel the need to be joined at the hip at every waking moment. To be fair, aside from the physical side of things, very little had changed from when we went from friends to lovers.

Honami still did my laundry, still did almost all the paperwork. Still reminded me about important dates and nagged me when I missed things or got unreasonably lazy. The old married couple as Mako had affectionately dubbed us.

The name seemed to fit us, it stuck and spread amongst our mutual friends. Eiichiro was having a field day with it. Once the rest of our class had heard the nickname, the rest of them followed suit, snickering as the two of us passed with mocking grins.

It fit quite well, it wasn't until the observation was made that I begrudgingly admitted that Mako did seem to have a point. Many of our home dates were quite... old-fashioned. I'd watch anime or read the latest volumes only to scream at the TV or book in frustration whenever the MC did something stupid. I also learned that Honami had hobbies that I never knew she had that really sold the whole 'old lady' vibe; knitting, sewing, and baking.

Definitely doesn't have the body of an old lady, but I digress.

It wasn't even a surprise anymore, whenever I'd yell at my TV while pointing my foot in frustration, Honami would simply chuckle and shake her head while continuing with her craft.

Despite all of this, I'm bored. I'd see what Arisu was doing but I was still stubbornly angry.

This fixation on competing with me, honestly I have no idea what to do. It's not like I can win either way anyway. I compete against her and she loses only for her to challenge me again. I let her win and she cries foul and throws a tantrum for going easy. What am I supposed to do? Why is it always what other people want? When do I get to be happy and content?

Why am I always living my life at the whims of others?

It doesn't matter whether it's the White Room, the government, or my sister. Everyone else selfishly forces me to comply with what they want. The only one who doesn't is Father but there's only so much he can do. It's getting annoying at best and infuriating at worst. I'd prefer if Arisu was able to beat me with her own skill, if only for her to finally let me be so that we can have a normal sibling relationship. It's not my fault that she continues to fail.

At the thought of my annoying brat of a sister, it gave me the idea to give someone a call to see if they'd be free to hang out. I haven't spent a lot of time with Horikita lately, surely she would be able to cure my boredom. Friends help each other in their time of need after all...

The phone hadn't even rung for two rings before a clearly flustered and angry Horikita answered the phone. What the hell was wrong with her? What did I do? Or rather, what didn't I do?

"What?" Horikita snapped angrily as soon as she answered the phone.

"Hello to you too," I scoffed, rolling my eyes.

Sometimes I wonder if I am a genius after all. What's the point of rolling my eyes when she can't see me?

"I'm busy right now, what do you want?" Horikita snapped.

"I'm bored. What are you doing?"

"Did you miss the part when I said I was busy?"

What was wrong with this woman? What was that loud clunking sound in the background?

"Are you on your period?" I asked.

The line went silent, I spoke before thinking. How uncharacteristic...

"...Sleep with one eye open from now on, Ayanokouji-kun," Horikita said threateningly before hanging up the phone.

Why are all my friends weird?

Women, honestly.

There really wasn't anything else to do aside from taking a walk. Leaving my room and going into the elevator, I wasn't surprised to see that I wasn't alone in my endeavor. Apparently, everyone was annoyed with the lack of water, it was packed. Almost every guy in the first year was crammed into that little tin can as I carefully regarded the moshpit of faces from Class A through to D. A few faces I recognized, others I didn't. The one face that made me pause was Ishizaki.

Ryuen really had followed through on his promise, Ishizaki's face was a mess of blue and purple with angry cuts where his lip was busted from being punched repeatedly. No doubt he said he fell down the stairs, he averted his eyes the moment he noticed me. Saying nothing and walking towards the open doors, the guys inside hastily made room for me, careful to give me enough room so that our shoulders wouldn't touch. They would rather squeeze themselves together uncomfortably than get too close to me.

I had no illusions that I'd pulled the wool over the entire year's eyes. Some of them would swear up and down that I was a genius who figured out the names and that Arisu hadn't given them to me. Others would be skeptical but withhold judgment until they knew the truth. Most would simply pretend not to notice, looking away like a frightened child who swears up and down that there's a monster in their closet. Telling themselves that if they only go to sleep and ignore the fictitious scratching that the beast will leave them alone.

The lift was claustrophobic to the point that when the door opened I didn't even mind the fact that the moment the doors opened to the lobby, everyone filed out as quickly as possible as if to escape.

"Kiyotaka-kun?"

Of all the people that could have been waiting in the lobby, Hoshinomiya-sensei was the last person I was expecting.

The incoming glomp was surprising and uncomfortable as the other first-year students who saw the interaction watched on in interest at a teacher not only addressing a student by their first name but also comfortable enough to embrace them despite being in a different class. Now that everyone was meeting again, this wasn't attention that I was looking forward to.

"Hoshinomiya-sensei, people are watching. If you're going to sexually assault me, at least do it in private where people won't misunderstand,"

"It's not sexual assault, you're going to get me fired! I do this with all my students though," Hoshinomiya pouted. "Why can't I treat my favorite student's boyfriend the same way?"

"It's uncomfortable, you're too domineering,"

"You're so mean, no one else complains,"

The doors to the lift opened once more to reveal a large group of students. Almost all of them instantly made their way as fast as they could to the cafeteria when the door opened.

"Are you out to get some water?" Hoshinomiya asked curiously.

"No, just out for a walk. I'm bored, there's nothing to do,"

"Why didn't you go to karaoke with Class B? Honami-chan didn't invite you?"

"She never does,"

As if it were decided for me, Hoshinomiya-sensei took my arm in both of hers and started walking to leave the dorm area. I wasn't sure about what her purpose for being there was but apparently, I was more important.

"I must say, I'm quite confused," Hoshinomiya started.

"I thought you said you had no interest in participating in any of the special tests and not even a day after you decided to join in."

"I had my reasons. It was a one-off occurrence, I don't plan to make it a habit,"

"You really are quite scary, Kiyotaka-kun. Whenever I think of how gifted you are... every special test I keep praying for your lazy life to remain uninterrupted,"

"Now it seems as though we are going to lose in the next one as well..." Hoshinomiya-sensei trailed off sadly.

My eyes widened slightly as we continued to walk but Hoshinomiya-sensei was too focused on watching the road in front of us, purposely taking a leisurely pace. As if to extend the time in which we could speak in private before we reach whatever destination we were heading to.

"What makes you say that?" I asked.

Nothing this woman does is by accident. Her switching with Mashima-sensei, her choices of participants in the Rabbit group. Even meeting me in front of the dorms, she had no way to know for sure, but I was sure that even if I wasn't her primary goal, she was hoping to run into me at some point soon.

"I've accidentally already said too much. If I get caught again, your dad may actually fire me this time," Hoshinomiya joked before hugging my arm tighter and playfully looking up at me. "You'll protect me won't you, Kiyotaka-kun?"

"Sure I'll cover for your 'accident'," I said with air quotes. "Is that why you've decided to take me to the karaoke that I wasn't invited to?"

True enough, we just arrived outside the building. It was a place I hadn't been to before but judging by the sheer size of the place, I doubted it was only for small groups. There was probably a room where you could go in class-sized groups as well as smaller ones, no doubt Honami was in one of the former.

"I invited you, I want you to see it," Hoshinomiya said cryptically.

"I'll be blunt and honest, Kiyotaka-kun. I want you in Class B. As fond as I am of them, I'd give up any of my students in exchange for you without hesitation.

"That's the selfish, teacher side of me that wants the benefits of having a class graduate from Class A at the end of the third year. I won't give up, I think you could be very happy in our class. No one will pressure you, everyone works together well and they're incredibly friendly with each other. One's mental health and happiness are very important to Class B, especially to Honami-chan.

"However, if I can't have you in our class... At the very least I want to convince you to not take Honami-chan from ours,"

"She won't leave and I couldn't force her if I wanted to or not,"

"We both know that if you could, you would. That's why I want to show you how well Honami-chan gets along with everyone in Class B. I'm hoping to appeal to your compassionate side,

"Still, I'm very confident in my class," Hoshinomiya said, poking her tongue out at me playfully. "They're incredibly friendly as I've told you before. I don't think you'll find a class where you could be happier. After meeting them and spending time with my kids, I'm sure you'll be itching to transfer,"

Hoshinomiya-sensei pulled out her phone to check something and as the screen lit up she quickly closed her GPS app showing my name. I had suspicions but I was right, I'd already turned it off on my phone after the Manabu fiasco. How interesting, apparently teachers were exempt from not being able to track students if their GPS function was switched off. Something to think about later.

As we walked through the hallway, I took a cursory glance at the rooms and occupants. Most occupants were mundane, people I didn't know or recognize singing or having fun. The only one of interest was Nagumo and Kushida, both far too engrossed in whatever they were talking about to notice me going past the window on their door. Perhaps she took my advice and let go of me, nothing would make me happier.

Class B booked multiple adjacent rooms, most of them loitering in the hallways and chatting with the doors open so that others could go in and sing. They were loud and excitable but they weren't unruly. They were polite and loved by the staff, showcased by the fact that none of them were scolded for disturbing the other guests or clogging up the hallways. Upon seeing us, Shibata grinned before waving at us enthusiastically.

"Hoshinomiya-sensei! Over here!"

"Eh? Hoshinomiya-sensei... is... here..." Himeno trailed off, noticing me walking beside Hoshinomiya with her arms still looped around mine.

It didn't take long before the other members of Class B who were chatting in the hall noticed us. I didn't really have a choice as Hoshinomiya-sensei practically dragged me over to meet them. Shibata by far the most enthusiastic of the bunch.

"Yo, Ayanokouji! Nice to finally meet you, I'm-"

"The boy-love anime enthusiast. Honami's told me a lot about you,"

Shibata laughed like it was water off a duck's back, waving his hand dismissively.

"Come on, it was just a joke. You don't really think I've watched it, do you?"

"Who knows,"

"No really, it was just a joke! I swear I've never watched it!"

"I think you're denying it a little too enthusiastically... sounds suspicious,"

"It's not! I swear I've never watched it!"

"Alright Shibata-kun, let the rest of them meet him," Hoshinomiya laughed, gently pushing me through with her hands on my back.

They really were a friendly bunch, all waving and smiling as Hoshinomiya introduced them. None of them had any sort of problem with me being there, no wariness, all welcoming with open arms. There was one recurring theme that I noticed with them, there was something about the way they acted that became more and more prominent the longer the introductions progressed.

They seemed to be rather weak, not physically but as people. A group like this... had no individuality, quite possibly one of the best indicators of Japanese culture as a whole. We have a saying, the nail that stands the tallest is the first to get the hammer. All of them seemed to be the type of people that acted similarly to the others in fear of standing out, an absolute farcry to my beloved band of misfits in our Class.

Now it made sense, why they all seemed to isolate Honami when she lost her leadership position. It wasn't that they were isolating her, they simply didn't want to be the nail that stands the tallest. None of them wanted to make the first move, deciding as a collective that Honami should be left alone to organize herself while she was taking a 'break' from being their leader. With a weak and incompetent leader that didn't know what they were doing, this group was doomed to fail.

Two things could be true though, their personalities and their ability to work and trust each other meant that with a strong and competent leader, they could quite possibly be the strongest competition in the clash of the classes.

If I cared about things like that, I'd be concerned. Since I don't, this is Eiichiro's problem to realize. With how much of his spare time he was spending with Mako, he had better figure it out soon.

I was wondering why Honami still hadn't greeted me but it all made sense when I made it past the bulk of the group, all curiously and excitedly chatting amongst themselves while following behind. One room still had a group singing, Honami with the microphone while Mako excitedly sang along with tambourine in hand and Chihiro playing the maracas.

Yet another thing I'd learned about Ichinose Honami, she had a great voice.

'Just like I'm about to sink, just like I'm about to melt

The staining fog dissipates

In the days that I hide inside, wanting to forget

I take your hand as you extend it toward me

It's like the cold breeze is swimming through the sky

Blowing through us'

Just as the song was reaching its end, Mako who was singing along and jumping on the couch noticed us outside the doorway and grinned. While Honami was just about to sing the last of the song, she followed Mako's line of sight before she spotted me too, dropping the microphone and releasing an ungodly amount of feedback before running at me and jumping on me. Two different women glomping me within the hour... She was wearing shorts too, not as much fun as a skirt.

As if the situation dawned on her when she noticed the rest of her class standing in the hall and watching with interest, I watched as she suddenly grew suspicious and wary of me.

"What are you doing here?" Honami asked nervously.

"Can't I come and meet your class? You've been with Class D many times,"

"Of course it's okay..."

"What's wrong, Honami-chan?" Mako grinned. "You worried that Ayanokouji-kun is going to tell us all your secrets?"

"Like what?"

"Maybe your feet stink, or you fart in your sleep,"

"She doesn't fart in her sleep," I offered, trying to be helpful.

It was the only thing I could say to help, who goes around sniffing their girlfriend's feet? I had no idea if they smelled or not. Honami was hygienic, I doubted it but it seemed like the obvious thing to say that Honami wasn't flatulent. It wasn't though, Mako's eyes said it all as that playful grin that I always seemed to see turned predatory before she activated her unique skill; twist your words to tease Honami.

"You've slept together?" Mako asked, feigning surprise.

"Oh my, I probably shouldn't have heard that... That's grounds for expulsion," Hoshinomiya chimed in, covering her grin.

Honami grew flustered, blushing for the first time in what felt like a long time. She only needed to experience something once, be embarrassed just once, and then it didn't bother her anymore. I missed the times when she used to get flustered whenever something small or innocent would happen, I've corrupted this poor girl. I watched as her hands became a blur as she frantically waved off the accusation.

"Not like that! Sleeping only! Napping! We haven't d-"

"I think she doth protest too much..." Ando laughed.

"So her feet do stink," Shibata chimed in.

"You see what you've done!" Honami huffed at me.

"Take off your shoes, I'll confirm it," I offered, joining in.

Honami must have been used to it, she huffed again in feigned annoyance. Turning her face and sticking her nose in the air, she crossed her arms and pretended to pout. The others seemed used to antics like this, they all simply laughed and started off to their own rooms to finish off the hour.

While this room must have been only for Mako, Chihiro, and Honami, more occupants had migrated out of curiosity. Himeno stayed, she feigned like it wasn't for any particular reason but stuck close to me without saying anything. She seemed like a wallflower, not one who would take up a leadership role. She wasn't rude or abrasive, simply quiet. Even still, I could feel her constant stare out of the corner of her eye, even the few times that she spoke to someone else.

Shibata was loud and excitable. Similar to Sudo in a sense but with more tact. He joked a lot with a happy-go-lucky attitude that was rather infectious.

As the time wound down, most of Class B broke off into groups as they left. They all hugged as they left, waving and telling each other to get back safely. The entire experience was a far cry from what I was used to.

"Man you're athletic and you've got the build to be a great defender. I'm telling you, you have to join the football club," Shibata said.

There were few of us left. Shibata, Tetsuya, and I were the only guys who remained.

"He's not joining the football club," Honami laughed.

"Why? His leash won't reach the football pitch?" Tetsuya teased.

"Too much work," Honami shrugged.

"He goes to the gym every day,"

"Playing matches is fun too!" Shibata added.

"He can't be that bad," Ando said to Mako under her breath, trying not to let me hear.

"He's worse... much worse," Mako whispered back.

"He's much better now," Honami defended me.

I don't know what the look meant, but Ando and Mako both looked at each other before bursting out laughing.

The karaoke served alcohol, Hoshinomiya was clearly intoxicated as she stumbled back into the room before tumbling backward over the armrest of the sofa I was sitting on and passing out with her head on my lap. Honami moved from the other sofa and slipped into the seat beside me before attempting to get Hoshinomiya-sensei off me without disturbing her too much. I shook my head at her to just leave the troublesome drunk for now, I didn't want her to lift her too quickly and end up with vomit in my lap. We still hadn't received any notifications that it was back on.

"Sorry about her," Honami apologized. "She's always hung over, honestly. She's supposed to be our teacher but she's so irresponsible."

"You're used to looking after big kids though," I joked, nudging her with my elbow.

"Very used to it. When we get back I'll give you your laundry, I finished it before the water cut off,"

"Thank you. I did some shopping, I got some stuff for you and put it in your room,"

Our conversation continued innocently but I couldn't help but pick up the other conversations carrying on around us.

"You were right, they are like an old married couple," Ando said to Mako.

"I told you... I'll send you the details of the new betting pool. I'll tell you what it's about later, we can't have this one leak,"

"I have a question for Ayanokouji-kun, if you wouldn't mind," Himeno asked suddenly.

The conversations were stopped by the normally quiet leader of Class B suddenly speaking up. Torn from my little world with Honami, I looked at her curiously while I waited for her to continue.

"What do you think of our Class?"

"That depends on what you mean," I said.

"Do we make you uncomfortable? You haven't said much since you came,"

"No, not at all. I was just enjoying the atmosphere,"

"Sometimes you don't want him to talk, believe me," Mako chimed in.

"What makes you say that?" Ando asked.

"He really loves getting on people's nerves. It's like he enjoys annoying people,"

"Like you?" Honami countered.

"Well... yeah but just not as cute,"

"I think he's cuter,"

"Of course, you'd say that. Any other girl would have vomited on the spot if they got a heart-shaped necklace, let alone for a late birthday present. When he gave it to you, you gushed and fawned like an idiot," Mako teased before snapping into a rather good impression of an awed Honami. "'Kiyotaka-kun, I love it. You shouldn't have!' Bleh, I almost vomited,"

"You're just jealous that you don't have one too!" Honami shot back while holding her necklace protectively.

"I'd throw acid in his eyes if Matsuo-kun gave me that!" Mako shot back suddenly.

My eyes widened in shock at the proclamation. This I was not expecting...

At my reaction, Mako suddenly frantically waved her hands in my direction as if to take it all back.

"No, no, no! I just used his name as an example because he's your friend, don't you dare misunderstand and tell him anything,"

"Tell him what?" I said, feigning stupidity.

"Guys, please," Hoshinomiya whined before rolling off the couch with a thud on the floor.

There was a loud thud as her head hit the coffee table leg in front of us before she grabbed at her head with a groan. It took her a while but she got back up before sitting on the couch again, clutching at her mouth to stop the impending vomit from drunk vertigo.

"You guys are so loud, sensei drank a bit too much. Stop fighting, you're going to scare Kiyotaka-kun and ruin my plans of stealing him to our class,"

"Aren't you a little too honest?" I asked her, exasperated at yet another attempt.

"Would you?" Himeno asked suddenly, breaking her silence once again.

Everyone's eyes moved back to her in surprise. Not only did she seemingly not talk very much, but she was the decision-maker of the group. Even though we were on holiday, they were all very much aware of the fact that we were still in a class battle. They had been gracious hosts, no doubt more than a few of them would have wanted to ask me questions about the Zodiac Exam but didn't out of respect for the fact that I was dating Honami and that it was a social gathering.

"Would you?" Himeno asked again. "Would you be interested in transferring to our class?"

"I don't think this is the right time to be having this conversation," Honami said weakly trying to change the subject.

"Why not? It's just a question, Ayanokouji-kun can speak up for himself if he doesn't want to answer," Himeno pressed.

Just like everything about Class B confused me before on the island and their sudden leadership change, that part of my brain started to itch again. From Himeno's shock at seeing me at the karaoke, to her sudden interest in getting me to transfer to their class out of nowhere. Twenty million points was a sizeable investment for any class, Class B was saving it in case of a random expulsion. To throw away those points for a seemingly unremarkable student...

"I'm not sure," I said, wanting to test the waters. "It would depend really, on several things."

"Such as?"

"I wouldn't leave Eiichiro behind. Unless he wanted me to leave, I'd see no reason to."

"What about if we brought him too?"

"Himeno-chan, what are you doing?" Honami asked, not believing where this conversation was going.

"What? It's just hypothetical. We're talking about forty million points, it's not like anyone can get that amount of points together easily. I'm just curious what he thinks of us,"

I took my time with answering, taking in the demeanor of everyone in the room. I almost forgot that Chihiro was in the room, the girl hadn't spoken or contributed at all since I arrived. At the mention of me joining the class, she looked strangely nervous and apprehensive. I had some suspicions that she had feelings for me now, no doubt it'd be awkward for her to see Honami and I in the same class daily.

Shibata didn't look too interested, however, Ando's reaction was curious. She was one of the VIPs, she followed me for a while on the ship but stopped after everything came out with Class A. No doubt now that people had more time to review all the facts, her suspicions were probably back in full force so she seemed to at least expect that I was talented. Her presence and staying back while the rest had left even if she wasn't originally a part of this room's group spoke volumes, no doubt she wanted to ask for more details but didn't out of respect for the social setting.

I wanted to observe a little more but perhaps Hoshinomiya-sensei wasn't as drunk as she let on as she suddenly got to her feet and clapped her hands excitedly.

"This is supposed to be fun, you're all on Summer Holidays and you only have a couple of days left!" Hoshinomiya-sensei chastised them before taking a glass of water from the table and drinking deeply before slamming the empty glass on the table.

...I misjudged this woman, I should see how many points it would cost me to swap her with Chabashira.

"Enough with this topic, let's play a game," Hoshinomiya suggested.

"Oh that'll be fun," Mako grinned. "How about two truths and a lie? It'd be a good icebreaker and we could learn more about Ayanokouji-kun,"

"I've never played this one before," I admitted.

Thankful for the change in topic, Honami took my hand and leaned her head on my shoulder to tell me about the game.

"Basically, one person tells two truths and a lie and the group has to guess which one is a lie,"

"Sounds simple enough,"

I had my suspicions but Himeno seemed more interested in this game than any other before. She suddenly sat up rather than taking a lazy pose with her feet up on the coffee table, treating this as Horikita would treat a special test. I didn't know for sure, but this would be a good opportunity to test the waters in more ways than one.

"You can start, Ayanokouji-kun," Ando offered graciously.

Not knowing how to play the game, I wasn't sure how detailed I was supposed to be. Still, it played into my plans to be the first one. If I got it wrong I could feign ignorance. It'd be a good chance to see whether I had become complacent and rusty since leaving the White Room or even the manor.

"Alright then," I started, clearing my throat and sitting up.

"Not long after I was born, I was brought to a scientific research facility.

"In that place, I was tortured every waking moment of my life. Scientists studied me around the clock and every aspect of my life was planned to every minute detail. My food, temperature, and my schedule. Absolutely everything.

"They ran experiments on me both physically and mentally. The worst part about it was that it was my own biological father that put me there. It was only after I was rescued by the military that I finally escaped that place, my father and everyone else was killed the same day, gunned down by the military." I finished.

I paused for a while, taking in everyone's reactions to my first scenario. The reactions ranged, Shibata grinned like it was a joke, Ando looked a little pale but Honami was looking at my face as carefully as I'd ever seen her.

Himeno looked like she had seen a ghost, my suspicions confirmed; She knows.

"The next one is that I have a twin sister, Kiyone.

"I was raised in an orphanage but Kiyone was adopted before me and we were separated. Later on, when I was adopted by the Sakayanagi's, I was given the choice to change my name from Ayanokouji. I've decided to keep this name in the hopes that if my twin sister ever tries to find me, she'll have something to look for me by.

"It's a sore topic for Arisu, she always asked me why I never took my father's offer to change my name. Even though Arisu will always be my little sister, I do have a small hope that I'll find Kiyone one day. I've never told Arisu about her though, I don't want her to feel jealous or scared that she'll be replaced so Arisu doesn't know anything about my twin."

By now I had everyone silent, all of them listening to what scenario I would spit out next. Honami's eyes seemed to soften while the others seemed more interested in the game. All of them hanging onto every word to see what I'd say next...

"Finally... I like potatoes," I finished lamely.

Collectively, they comically lost balance. Mako was at the edge of her seat and fell forward to the point that her forehead hit the table. She yelped and shot back to her seat, clutching at her forehead and glaring at me with a face of betrayal.

"What the hell was that!?" Mako screamed angrily.

"What? What did I do?"

"You can't honeypot me with two in-depth stories like that and then finish with 'I like potatoes'!"

"Yeah but still... who would have thought that Ayanokouji-kun has a twin out there somewhere..." Ando said thoughtfully.

"We don't know if that was a lie... Oi Ichinose, does he like potatoes?" Shibata asked suddenly.

"He really does, even if he doesn't eat them often," Honami laughed before poking me with her elbow.

The only one from Class B who didn't join in on the laughter sat silently on the sofa across from me. I could see it in her eyes and she knew that they were wrong but she stayed silent as the others all talked about my alleged sister that was still out there and unfound. It didn't take long for them to continue the game and I realized then that I played the game incorrectly. It was supposed to be simple lies and truths. One sentence only, and not a scenario.

It served its purpose though, they didn't even bother asking me if the answer they chose was correct or not. To them the answer was obvious. Himeno's actions and questions all made sense.

This was a testing ground for me. Students were slowly finding out and it wouldn't be wrong until everyone knew. My actions had consequences and it was only a matter of time.

"You made it too obvious! You should have told something a little less outrageous so that we couldn't figure it out," Honami said playfully, cuddling into my side with a content smile as the others continued the game.

My innocent girlfriend, I wonder what her reaction will be when everything comes to light.

Despite all this, I just wanted to enjoy this innocence for a little bit longer. Even if it was only for another day, another hour, or even another minute. Even if I'm not afraid, there wasn't any reason to correct any of them, I had no intentions of telling them which was the lie anyway. I didn't care if that was the rule of the game, rules were made to be broken and I always did so, even if there wasn't any need to.

"Sorry," I answered before putting my own arm around her. "I guess I'm not very good at this game."

Chapter 45

A/N: While I was writing this parts of my PC died. I ordered new parts that are coming soon but I had to finish off this chapter in small chunks because my CPU is overheating.

It's short and not as good as it could be since it was written in 15 minutes chunks but it'll have to do.

Sorry about this, thanks to Crimson celestial and inferno for editing this since I couldn't do it with no computer.

Thanks

While the night at the karaoke ended not long after the game, I ended up spending more time with Class B after we left. It wasn't much, just staying with them as a group in the park near the dorms and listening to them talk.

It meant that all of us stayed out well into the night until we were all too tired to keep the conversations going.

I enjoyed my time with them, they were a nice group. It made me consider certain things. How different would my school life have been if I was put into Class B rather than Class D. Would Eiichiro and I be happier if we were there together from the start? I doubt that he would have even thought of being a leader if we were there instead of in Class D. He only took the role when it was clear that no one else would do it and that I wasn't interested.

One can't change the past, a man's pride is his downfall. Eiichiro set upon this path and he wasn't about to back down now that he was there. I had the points to move both of us if I wanted to but there was no point in doing that. He wouldn't leave his leadership role to play a follower in Class B anymore. He'd already tasted the forbidden fruit of competition and responsibility. He was too invested.

No matter how pleasant I found Honami's classmates, I wouldn't leave our Class. I had people I was fond of. That would go down the drain if I left. Besides, there was something about Hoshinomiya's actions. They were too desperate. Her slip-up was legitimate. I had a feeling that there was something coming soon that would allow me to steal someone from another Class, and she was scared.

We ended up staying out far later than I usually do. I was a little surprised when they invited me out to the pool with the rest of Class B. I was already sick of the pool. I spent far too much time on the ship around the water, but I decided to go anyway.

Under normal circumstances, I would never reveal the White Room of my own volition, not even for the purposes of a game. It was a spur-of-the-moment decision to do so but I had my reasons.

Deceiving with the truth was something I used from time to time. Machida was one of my other most recent examples. If I were to tell the story of the White Room without proof to someone whom I'd only just met, they'd look at me as if I were some sort of low-grade fiction writer. Atrocities like that were hard for everyday human beings to fathom. For good people who followed the rules of society, places like the White Room were divorced from reality.

One reason was to confirm my suspicions about Himeno. And her reaction spoke volumes. I'm not sure how or why she knew but she does. It spoke to her behavior almost perfectly. If any of the others reacted similarly, I'd know they knew as well. The rest were so quick to gravitate toward my other two stories that it was obvious they had no idea. To the average person, the answer was obvious.

The other reason was that I'd noticed the growing number of people who glanced at me the same way Himeno did. Largely the third years and a small number of second years, but barely any first years. There was no use keeping a bullet in the chamber when you're about to die anyway. Secrets can only be weaponized if you have a fear of them coming out. Something that I didn't have. This secret won't remain hidden for much longer, what's the point of fighting it?

That became even more apparent when Himeno suddenly asked to speak to Honami in private. Taking the opportunity, I said my good nights to everyone before seemingly retiring for the night. Despite all of our progress, Honami still wasn't very comfortable with public displays of affection and I wasn't exactly fond of them either. Rather than our usual goodbye, she gave me a wave and a smile before following Himeno to the back of the dorms.

The lobby was empty as I slipped through. Taking note to see if any of the other Class B students were behind me, I pressed the button for the fourth floor before exiting before the doors could close and slipped into the fire escape as quietly as possible.

Closing the door as quietly as I could, I moved next to the small window before cracking it open as quietly as possible.

They were standing a good distance away. I had to strain to hear their conversation. My saving grace was the utter silence of the echoing hallway and the fact that almost everyone was in their dorm rooms in the dead of the night.

"...don't want something similar happening to us as what happened with Class A," Himeno said.

"It won't. I don't understand why you're being like this all of a sudden," Honami replied.

"I don't understand why you're so against this. Don't you want to be in the same class as him? You're dating now, are you guys having problems?"

"No, of course not," Honami said quickly. "He won't leave his class for the same reason I won't leave ours. Maybe even more than I. Matsuo-kun has been his best friend for years. I can't ask Kiyotaka to leave him behind."

"Besides," she continued, "we already promised each other that we wouldn't ask the other to betray our classes. You're really asking me to break that promise. To ask a question I already know the answer to?"

I wanted to move to the other side of the window so I could see their body language but the risk was too great. From the angle where I was currently standing, there was no way for them to see either me or my shadow in the light of the fire escape. Instead, I had to make do with what I had, cautiously trying to keep as quiet as possible, as I heard the other class B students that were with us give up on waiting for Honami and Himeno and hearing them wait for the lift in the lobby.

It was annoying. I couldn't hear what they were saying. The bell of the lift sounded signaling it closing again, only then could I continue to listen.

"...moment I ask him to leave his class, he'll turn around and ask me to leave ours. Is that what you want? Any argument I could come up with against him would be useless."

"I made a promise that I would do everything I can to help us get to Class A and that hasn't changed even if you and Kanzaki-kun have taken everything from me. Please don't make me choose between Kiyotaka and the class, you may not like my decision," Honami said.

"You would really leave us? For him? Why are you so devoted to him? He does nothing for you, palms off all of his student council duties to you. You're more like his slave than his girlfriend, why would you leave us for him?" Himeno said angrily.

"He does a lot for me," Honami argued without hesitation.

"He's there for me when I need him and listens to me. While everyone in Class B left me alone when I lost my representative position he stayed by my side, never pried into what was happening and who was to blame and made me laugh so that I could forget about how sad it made me."

"Even now he continues to support me and stand by my side even though we're in different classes. He's never asked me to abandon you guys like you're asking me to do to him."

I could barely make out the sounds of Honami's steps as she left Himeno wherever she was standing. She must have been upset. Her footsteps were hurried as she went to the elevator and pressed the button so vigorously that I could hear it from the fire escape. I waited for the sound of the doors closing before quickly making it up the stairs to the fourth floor, releasing a relieved breath when I opened my door to find Honami wasn't there and went straight to her room.

Despite the many things that happened it was fairly easy to fall asleep. The natural routine of waking early took hold but I decided against a session at the gym and ended up going straight to the pool instead.

I was a little early, sitting on the bench outside of the building with my phone in hand. Browsing and surreptitiously taking in my surroundings, I was surprised to see a beautiful platinum-haired upperclassman with crimson eyes take a seat next to me. She had an air about her that oozed self-confidence and grace.

She was tall, especially for a girl. It wouldn't be an exaggeration to say that she could be a supermodel if she so desired. Her skin was flawless and her hair was very well maintained as well. She sat without slouching, crossing her legs one over the other, leaning back on the bench with her arms crossed over her chest. A confident smirk spread across her lips as she looked at me out of the corner of her eye. At first, I ignored her and continued scrolling through my phone but this girl didn't seem the type that was used to being ignored.

"It's impolite not to greet a lady when you're approached," she said suddenly, exhaling deeply and relaxing on the bench.

"I'll keep that in mind, senpai. If you're not too busy, would you keep an eye out and let me know if you spot one approaching?"

She laughed at my candor but didn't seem to be offended by my comment. Instead, she continued to relax as the two of us watched more of the students gather in their groups, making their way into the building once they had met who they were here to see.

"Do you know what I find fascinating?" she asked.

Realizing I wasn't going to be left alone to wait in silence, I calmly put my phone back into my pocket before leaning back on the bench and giving her my full attention.

"I find it fascinating that this school is renowned in the country as the school that is funded by the government and responsible for molding the future elites of our country." She stopped before sitting up and leaning over with her lips near my ear. "Yet seemingly, most of the students in this school seem incapable of using a search engine."

Her breath on my ear was hot, even more so in the scorching heat of Summer. Once she was finished with her whispers, she leaned back in her seat once again, retaking her original position.

"You came looking for me to tell me that? I'm flattered, senpai-I-don't-know,"

"You think too highly of yourself if you think that I sought you out. I'm meeting someone here and just happened to see you waiting on the bench."

"There are other benches around that are either empty or have people far more interesting than me."

"Before the Zodiac Exam, I would have agreed," she said, sighing with disappointment. "The moment I saw you at the entrance ceremony I had such high hopes for you. I wanted to see if you'd do anything interesting so I sent Nazuna over to greet you. At first I was very disappointed."

"I was excited to see what you'd accomplish but instead you did nothing. I thought you'd be boring but I'm glad to see that I was wrong. You really are interesting…"

My silence spoke volumes when she mentioned my first meeting with Asahina-senpai. I always thought that meeting was a coincidence. That made her laugh at me when she noticed.

"Come now, Ayanokouji. You didn't really believe that Nazuna would approach you out of nowhere without a reason now, would you? When have you ever seen her going out of her way to socialize with her underclassmen?

"Although, I must say, I didn't connect the dots that BUDDY was one of your creations until just recently. It's not something I'm proud of. I should have realized it immediately. I'll have to thank you for that, your little pet project has been quite the source of amusement for me."

So there were others in this school other than Matsushita and Koenji who knew who I was but didn't approach me. How interesting. Statistically speaking, I knew that not only was it possible but actually a likelihood. Even still, I hadn't given it any thought.

"Here I thought that she was simply doing something out of the goodness of her heart."

"I hope that's sarcasm or I'll be even more disappointed."

"Who knows." I shrugged.

"And there it is." She laughed heartily. "That famous catchphrase that I've only heard tangentially."

"Is there a reason for all of this? Aside from killing time until your companions arrive?"

"Not everyone has an agenda, Ayanokouji. I merely want to find out what kind of person you are."

"I thought people knew what kind of person I am already. I'm not as unpopular as I'd like to be."

"You and I both know that isn't true. People who don't want to be well-known do not join the Student Council, they don't start dating the most sought-after girl in their year, and they most certainly do not clean sweep a special test when they've been trying to pretend to be mediocre from day one."

"Is there a point you're heading towards?"

"You're just like me," the girl said with a smirk.

"I've been hearing that a lot from too many people." I sighed in frustration, leaning forward and putting my head in my hands.

"People try to find similarities in the ones they admire or aspire to be like," she said sagely. "That's not what I meant though. I'm confident in my abilities and I'm one of the top students in my year, if not the school. No, that's not what I meant when I said we're alike. I'm not even close to you in ability."

"We're the same in that this school doesn't interest people like us. I'm not interested in the system here at this school or trying to reach Class A. Aren't you the same? I watch everyone fight so hard, desperate to get to Class A with the promise of an easy path in the future. And for what? I can get a job easily enough without having to graduate from Class A. You probably have offers lined up already."

"Where's the incentive? What's the point?" She sighed.

I had to agree. I felt the same way as well. In one conversation with a stranger, I'd come to realize how diverse this school was. Moments like these were what made me yearn for the outside world. Away from the White Room, away from all of those spineless politicians and their families who simply told me what I wanted to hear to appease me. This girl was interesting, smart, and beautiful.

"So you don't like this school?" I asked curiously.

"On the contrary, I've never felt dissatisfied with this school. Not once, not in the slightest. I do as I please and the points system certainly comes in handy. With BUDDY, I also get paid to enjoy far more of the luxuries this school has to offer without needing to spend my own points. I've been enjoying a life of abundance since you introduced it so I suppose I have you to thank."

"I have nothing to do with that, your gratitude is unnecessary. You should probably thank Horikita Manabu. That smirking bastard was the one who got it approved in the first place."

She laughed at the attempt of palming off the credit, and waved it off dismissively as if it wasn't even worth her time to continue to argue.

"In exchange for entertaining me, I'll give you a little bit of advice before I go."

"I can see you don't socialize with our year very much, or even people from the third year save for the Student Council President and the purple-haired chihuahua that follows him around, so I doubt you have your finger on the pulse of the rumor mill. This secret of yours won't remain hidden for long. By my estimate, everyone in the school will be talking about it by the first week back."

"Right now it's close. Nagumo Miyabi is only very slightly ahead of you in terms of votes for the next Student Council President. You should do everything in your power to make sure that you win the election if you want to continue enjoying your life undisturbed."

"I have no reason or desire to be the Student Council President," I said dismissively, waving off her concerns.

"You should," she said solemnly. "You think your position will remain if he takes that seat? Do you think your girlfriend won't be put into his secretary position the moment you're gone? That he'll leave you alone once you're no longer a member of the council?"

"I may find him boring and uninteresting but he is a crafty one. He ascended to Class A and had all of his competition expelled. Anyone that had a chance against him from Class B through to D has been removed from the school by his hand one way or another. Nagumo Miyabi is not as stupid as you think he is."

"Why are you telling me all this?" I asked curiously.

She laughed at my question and stood up from the bench before walking towards, whom I assumed were her friends, before looking over her shoulder and winking at me.

"I just want to see something interesting."

Whoever this girl was, she'd piqued my interest. I didn't even get the chance to ask for her name but it wasn't like I couldn't find out if I wanted to. It's not like she didn't have valid points. That smirking bastard would be elated if I became his successor. Bunbun-senpai would probably faint again—but that was irrelevant. If I became the Student Council President, I'm sure that I could find some way to palm off most of the duties to Honami if I wanted to…

…If I wanted to. When had that changed? A few months ago that wouldn't have even been a thought in my mind. Why had I suddenly changed my tune and entertained the thought of seriously undertaking the role?

Something about me had changed, someone was starting to change me. When did that start?

Chapter 46

A/N: Hello everyone... How's everybody doing? Did we all enjoy the latest volume? I know I did : D.

After reading the new volume, I decided to get off my lazy ass and write the last chapter of 4.5. From here on out it'll be the sports festival and there's going to be some pretty big canon divergences so I hope whatever this feeble mind comes up with will be good reading for you guys.

Hope you all enjoy it.

If you ask people around the school to describe me as a person I'm sure that you would receive many different characteristics depending on whom you speak to. Honami would say that I was sweet and cute, that smirking bastard would probably say something along the lines of annoying or sarcastic, others who I don't like would more than likely think I'm an asshole and then there would be others who would think that I'm cold and aloof.

All of these descriptions would be true to some extent, although I'd argue the cute part. Ayanokouji Kiyotaka is not cute. Hell, I wouldn't even describe myself as sweet. That description is purely colored with rose-tinted glasses. I could pick my nose and Honami would think it was cute rather than disgusting.

Very few in this school have seen my charismatic side. It's only because I've never had to. Why should I uselessly charm those around me when being my usual normal self is adequate?

This time was different.

Unlike last night when it was an impromptu meeting where I wasn't expected to be there, most of it was spent with introductions and speaking with people I already knew. Hoshinomiya wanted me to transfer but she knew it was a long shot. Even if she wanted it to happen and hadn't given up on the possibility of making it a reality, she knew the chances were slim. There was a reason why she shadowed me the entire night, carefully watching my every move and more than likely ready to step in and hinder me at a moment's notice if necessary.

This time it would be more relaxed. This time I'd be able to probe them for information they probably wouldn't be as forthright with giving.

"Ah! Ayanokouji-kun is here already!"

Turning over my shoulder I was surprised to see a line-up I wasn't expecting. While Amikura Mako was one of the people invited, I wasn't expecting to see Eiichiro and Sudo following alongside her. While that was a surprise in and of itself, what was even more surprising was Eiichiro's physical state.

He was grinning sheepishly, rubbing the back of his head in embarrassment. It didn't take long to notice the bruised cheek and busted lip though as I suddenly began to boil with rage.

Both Sudo and Mako recognized it instantly, both watching me cautiously as I got up from my seat and looked over Eiichiro's injuries who continued to grin without faltering.

"What happened to you?" I asked.

Eiichiro's grin morphed into a proud smile.

"I acted like a leader,"

"By having your head treated like a pinata?"

"You should see the other guy,"

"Who's the other guy?"

"None of your business," Eiichiro said firmly.

This bravado wasn't based on confidence, it was based on fear. He didn't have to say it for me to know, Eiichiro was worried about what I would do to whoever caused these injuries. It wasn't out of concern about Class Points either, our friendship transcended trivial things like that.

Inside the White Room things such as accolades and prizes were meaningless. Your accomplishments within that place were what mattered. Chess Rankings, Academic recognition. There wasn't any need for it, your greatest asset was obscurity. People not knowing what you were capable of, letting their guard down around you in order to infiltrate whatever agency you needed to in obscurity.

People like me had no need for personality, only for ability. No need for adulation, only proficiency.

Life on the outside wasn't like that, everything was a show of strength and ego. It's why the moment I was assessed, the Government informed my father that I would be registered as a professional fighter once I was eligible. Japanese laws prevent professional fighters from raising a hand to anyone who isn't a professional fighter, even in self-defense. It was yet another mechanism of control that they wanted against me, just in case I decided that I would get out of pocket and use whatever I had learned both inside and out of the White Room.

While I was smart enough to figure out ways to evade any form of repercussions for my actions, it didn't mean that the Government would sit behind me idly and indulge my every whim. That was simply another shackle that they wanted to put on me in order to keep me under control. I may have left the White Room but the truth is that I simply traded one master for another.

I was warned that there would be severe consequences if I put my hands on someone while in school. A fact that Eiichiro was informed of when his father asked him to watch out for me.

One glance at Sudo told me that this had to do with the idiot trio, this invitation seemed to be impromptu. Mako must have either been a witness or heard of it from Eiichiro and decided to invite the two along. The way she was looking at Eiichiro's handling of the situation seemed to bring about a new set of revelations of problems as she looked up at him with an air of awe in her eyes.

"I'm guessing you're joining us? Mako-chan invite you two?" I asked, changing the subject.

"It's not exactly a closed meeting or anything like that, I can invite them along," Mako brushed me off with a wave of her hand as Honami and the others arrived behind her.

"Of course," Himeno smiled awkwardly.

The groups melded together, casually chatting as they all introduced themselves. Shibata, Hamaguchi and Watanabe didn't seem to have any issues with being outgoing, all three of them moving to Sudo, Mako and Eiichiro and chatting comfortably. Sudo seemed to meld right in, Eiichiro's influence had made him more friendly. Taking charge of the introductions, Mako looped her hand into the crook of Eiichiro's elbow while pointing people out.

My focus was on Kanzaki who continued to stare at me calculatingly with Himeno by his side. Noticing the staring contest, Honami quickly moved in front of me before snaking her arms around my neck in a hug and forcibly tugging my gaze to her.

"Good morning sweetheart," Honami said sweetly.

I could feel that suspicious part of me start to build as I watched the plotting strawberry blonde in front of me. While I'd fallen into her food trap once before, I also knew that much like Arisu who only called me 'Onii-chan' when she was trying to mess with me, Honami did the same with the pet names when she wanted something or when she was being playful.

"What do you want?" I asked suspiciously.

The skeptical question didn't dampen her spirits in the slightest as she continued to smile up at me as though the others in the group didn't even exist.

"Nothing, I don't have an agenda just because I'm being sweet with you," Honami scoffed.

I continued to hum suspiciously as I looked at her with skeptical eyes. It hadn't affected her in the slightest as she continued to smile.

"You were very nice to everyone last night, everyone spoke very highly of you. I was a little worried that you may be a little bit... abrasive with them but you were very charming. I'm so proud,"

"But..."

"Well..." Honami trailed off, glancing over her shoulder to make sure that everyone's attention was averted. "I would appreciate it very much if you would put aside your... dislike of Kanzaki-kun and be civil with him for today."

"No agenda my ass," I scoffed.

"I know that you don't like Kanzaki-kun because of how everything played out with my class," Honami continued on as if I hadn't said anything.

"However, Kanzaki-kun doesn't have ill intentions. He just wants to get to Class A, whatever road that takes. It's nothing personal and I didn't take it that way and neither should you. Everything with my class is fine now,"

"That's not the only problem that I have with him," I said under my breath, chancing a glance at him as he stood awkwardly by himself while the others continued to chat.

"Well, what is your problem with him?" Honami asked curiously.

"Lots of things. Sometimes in life you just meet someone and you don't like them. I don't know, he reminds me of all those stuck-up rich kids I hated growing up,"

That was part of it but it wasn't all of it. There were little hints of it but I'm certain that he was the one pulling Himeno's strings and turning the class against Honami's leadership. While it suited me not to have Honami as Class B's leader anymore, there was something about him that just annoys me. It was that air of entitlement, that selfishness where he seemed to think that just because Class A was the most important to him that everyone else should, simply because it was what he wanted.

It also seemed like he didn't even have the backbone to do it himself, using Himeno as a figurehead since the class already voted against him to lead the class when he ran against Honami at the beginning of the year.

"Kiyotaka, I'm going to let you in on a little secret that I'm not sure anyone has told you," Honami said in a hushed whisper, motioning for me to move closer.

I leaned my head down with my ear close to Honami's lips.

"You're a stuck-up rich kid," Honami whispered teasingly.

"Alright lovebirds, enough with that. Let's go!" Eiichiro called out to us as the group made their way to the entrance.

Like a little kid that got the last laugh, Honami untangled herself from me and ran after the group before entangling her arm with Mako and starting a conversation. Just as she got through the archway, she quickly turned over her shoulder and stuck her tongue out at me.

Unfortunately, the only person who didn't tag along with the group and moved slower than the others was Kanzaki. The two of us shared an awkward glance before I started to the entrance. Hoping he'd get the hint that I wasn't going to wait for him and walk behind me, he quickened his pace a little before falling into step beside me as we made our way up the stairs.

I had no intentions of speaking to him but apparently he had other ideas.

"I didn't expect you to show up," Kanzaki observed.

"Himeno invited me and I agreed. It'd be rude not to show after that," I answered.

Kanzaki didn't seem to have a biting remark to rebut with, the conversation died almost immediately as we continued up the steps. Just as we got to the entrance Kanzaki paused before turning to me with a question on his mind.

"What do you want? I can't understand someone like you. You have the ability to reach Class A but you choose not to. Why?" Kanzaki asked, seeming to be genuinely confused.

Since I'd confirmed that Himeno had already figured it out, it wouldn't be a stretch to say that Kanzaki was aware of my past now. He very well could have been the one who told her. Irrespective, this situation was inevitable. There was no use in denying it or trying to deceive him. There also wasn't any use in giving him what he wanted so easily, I had no obligations to do so.

"What do I want... I wonder," I mused as I walked past him to the boys' change room.

The locker next to Eiichiro seemed to be empty as I made my way over. Throwing my bag inside after grabbing my board shorts, I stripped down naked before throwing my clothes into the locker and changing.

I heard the chatter next to me die down almost immediately.

"What in the hell is that!?" Shibata yelled loudly.

Pausing while changing I looked at him as he stared down at my crotch in shock while Sudo seemed to be just as surprised. Eiichiro grinned in amusement at the reaction of the other two boys while Kanzaki looked over in curiosity just as he started getting ready.

"What's what?" I asked in confusion.

"I think he's talking about that," Eiichiro continued to grin, nodding his head and pointing at my crotch with his chin.

"My dick?"

"That's not a dick, that thing looks like it has its own consciousness," Shibata forced out in shock.

"It does when Ichinose's around," Eiichiro laughed.

Rolling my eyes, I finished changing before rummaging for my towel.

"Holy shit," Shibata said to himself. "Now Sakayanagi-san's present to Ichinose for her birthday makes sense now. Your sister really has a twisted sense of humor,"

"What did she get her?" I asked curiously.

"Ask her yourself," Shibata said cryptically, laughing to himself.

Leaving the boys to their own devices so that they could compare weaponry, I decided to leave the uncomfortable setting to go out into the pool area once I was dressed.

The large pool facility was normally used for club activities and regular practice. The facility was only open to the general school populus during this summertime for a mere three days. Which meant that it was in high demand. As it was the last day, most people had gone the previous days but we were all only allowed in once during the three days that the facility was open.

A number of food stalls were selling junk all over the place, crowds of students everywhere chatting, play and lazing about. All I could see though at the moment was money as I watched students running back and forward between stalls and patrons.

Opening BUDDY on my phone I scanned through the available requests, watching as they disappeared almost instantly. An event like this brought on a lot of potential business, something Sotomura seemed to keep in mind as I watched the rotund boy working up a sweat. He seemed to be business minded, wearing a pink cowboy hat so he stood out as he went back and forth with peoples orders.

I could definitely see why a growing pre-teen populus of boys seemed to be rather aroused if I could be frank. While the school emphasized excellence in terms of academics and strategic importance, a lot of the students here were objectively good looking. The number of unattractive students was high, but the best looking ones seemed to be higher in number. It wasn't at all subtle either, the best looking girls lay tanning on sunbeds while ordering about their minions like they were queens. Boys with good bodies and good looks also seemed to be on the receiving end of gifts and favors as well. The lower end of the student populus seemed to congregate together, all sharing in their pervertedness like some kind of strange hive mind. As if they were kindred spirits, like it wasn't strange to have a group of five or six people all panting over one person.

Out of the corner of my eye, I spotted my own set of Hyena's who seemed to drink in my topless form. I wish I had the forsight to get a rashguard...

"You're already here!?" Honami said in surprise, hugging me from behind.

Judging by the amount of material pressing into my back, I deduced that she decided to wear her school issue one-piece swimsuit. Something that I was grateful for even if that showed too much skin for my liking too. Still, at least it was better than that cursed bikini. Unless we were in my room, then it was more than okay...

I don't like people looking at what's mine.

Turning around, I looked her up and down without shame. Honami noticed immediately, averting her eyes and shyly shifting her weight between her feet.

"Stop looking at me like that," Honami sputtered, clearly flustered.

"Looking at you like what?"

"Like that... You have that look in your eyes again,"

"What look?"

"That look," Honami said meekly, not elaborating at all.

I relented, not wanting to make her feel uncomfortable. I looked at her like that often, it's not like it was the first time. The only thing different was the setting, outside in the pool area rather than in the privacy of our dorms. She never seemed to mind then but the piercing gazes of bystanders seemed to make her flustered. All of that was gone when she had her senses about her again and she looked at my torso as if in a trance before reaching out a dainty hand to poke her finger into my chest.

"Y-you've... Really started to fill out more," Honami stuttered out, changing from the tip of her finger to running the palm of her hand down my stomach.

"I've put on weight," I frowned, looking down to see my bottom two abs start to disappear with all the food that Honami's been shovelling down my throat lately.

I wasn't sure if this was normal for couples but since we returned from the island Honami had been routinely ordering more food than she'd normally eat, eat a few bites and then say she was too full. Looking up at me with upturned eyes, she'd ask me to finish it for her only for me to relent as if I was under her thumb. This resulted in far more training than normal, trying to keep my weight manageable.

I watched as Honami continued to trace her hand back up from my stomach to my upper arms as if she'd forgotten that we were in public at the pool.

"Good... it's working," Honami said to herself.

"What's working?"

As if my voice snapped her out of her stupor, she suddenly looked up startled. Looking around, she noticed the girls coming out from the changeroom with the rest of the guys.

"Look, they're here! Let's go get a spot before they're all gone. Come on Bak- Kiyotaka," Honami smiled.

Why did I feel like I was missing something?

The group made their way towards the back where a small shaded area looked vacant for a group our size. There were three pools in the facility, all currently being used for different games and activities. Walking hand in hand with Honami I took note of the different facilities. One pool for standard swimming, another with a current for leisure and finally a pool mainly geared for sports.

As we walked to the area, a voice called out to me and I was surprised to turn and see Onodera running on the tips of her toes towards us before she came to a frantic stop as she slipped on her feet at the last second. Darting out a hand I grabbed her by the elbow to stop her falling before she smiled at me in thanks, waving at everyone in attendance politely.

"Ayanokouji-kun, our swimming coach wants to meet you," Onodera explained.

"Oh?" I hummed in thought.

"Yeah, we saw you come in and he asked if I knew you. I told him about how we're in the same class and he asked about our swimming lesson and your time. He seemed like he already expected it but wanted to know if you'd be interested in training with our relay team, do you have some time?"

Looking at the group while Sudo and the others didn't seem surprised since I'd won the race, the others in Class B looked a little curious as to why I'd be recruited and what time I could have achieved to deserve it.

"I'm kind of here just to play. Besides, there really isn't any point. I'm on the Student Council, we're pretty busy. I don't think I have the time to join any clubs."

Onodera looked a little disappointed but persisted.

"Still, we're having a race at the moment and we're short one. Could you join my team as my anchor?"

Shibata was the first one to ask the question that was on the rest of Class B's minds.

"What time did you clock in at the race?"

"21.6 seconds," Onodera gushed with praise. "He's faster than anyone on our swim team, I couldn't believe it when I took the time."

I wanted to facepalm in frustration, I was planning to go slow. I didn't want this kind of attention as the rest of Class B turned around in shock, even Honami who knows how physically capable I am was surprised.

"Thank you Onodera," I forced out with gritted teeth. "I'll just drop my stuff off where we're planning to settle and I'll come over."

I felt the muscles in my back tense in annoyance when Onodera suddenly turned around and yelled at the top of her lungs to her team in excitement, basically announcing it to everyone at the pool.

"HE SAID HE'LL RACE WITH US!"

I groaned in frustration while Honami rubbed my back soothingly, visibly noticing the change in my mood. While everyone else in Class B were busy talking about my physical ability, Honami seemed to forget about what Onodera had revealed to them out of concern for my mood.

"21.6 seconds... That's insanely fast," Shibata said to himself.

"I'm not sure why we're surprised, Ayanokouji-kun has the highest OAA score out of the first year," Mako reminded them.

We continued to walk dropping our stuff off. While setting everything up I couldn't help but notice Shibata's expression darken a little. Perhaps it was jealousy? Who knows. On our way, I waved at Sotomura who just finished making a drop off and waited as he made his way over to us, Honami smiling and waving at him when she noticed him approaching.

"Sotomura-kun! Hard at work again?" Honami greeted him kindly.

"Ah, Ichinose-hime. I hope you've enjoyed the latest volume you borrowed from me?"

"Almost finished, I'll give it back to you once I'm done,"

"As you wish, Ichinose-hime," Sotomura bowed. "I'll have Baki-Dou ready for you, that's the next in the series. I think you'll like it."

While Karuizawa seemed to think he was a weirdo, strangely the Class B girls seemed to giggle at the way he was speaking. Something Sotomura noticed instantly and puffed out his chest ready for a showy greeting before I grabbed him by the back of his shirt to stop him.

"Alright alright," I said shortly. "You're on the clock, how many points to watch our stuff while I take care of this mess that Onodera put me in?"

"Five hundred," Sotomura answered quickly, adjusting his glasses as he instantly shifted to business mode.

"Are you tired of living or something?" I threatened with my hand raised. "Five hundred points to sit here for five minutes? We're supposed to be friends."

"There are no friends in business, Ayanokouji-dono," Sotomura said sagely. "Five hundred points, I'll let you send it to me directly so that you're not charged the additional two hundred through BUDDY."

The original threat was made as a joke but now I actually was annoyed. This greedy bastard. He was taking jobs without using BUDDY and costing me my skim. Irrespective, I couldn't get mad without revealing that I was getting points from the app so I bit my tongue and forced myself to calm down.

"Fine," I said begrudgingly. "See if I ever contribute to Class Points from now on you greedy shit,"

"What was that?" Eiichiro called out from behind me.

Honami giggled from my side but said nothing, thanking Sotomura for the loaned manga and for helping us out. The others made their way to good viewing spots at the bleachers while I made my way to the pool only to watch as Nagumo swam to the edge of the pool where they were originally playing volleyball, his game stopping as the players and his audience seemed to want a break so that they could watch me race. He exited the pool swiftly before making his way to the viewing area with his party, approaching Honami and the group and greeting them.

I watched as that snake-like bastard greeted her, taking a seat next to her with the rest of his group molding into one with ours. Honami greeted him politely, excitedly saying hello to Kushida as the three started to talk. Regardless of what I thought of Nagumo, I trusted Honami but it didn't stop the green eyed monster bubbling in my chest.

I just wanted this to be over with.

I greeted the others as Onodera introduced me. The swimming coach, Tanaka-sensei shook my hand with so much enthusiasm it may as well have fallen off. Many of the teachers pretended not to know who I was, it didn't seem too out of place with the other swim team members though. Many of them mistook his enthusiasm for curiosity on whether or not Onodera was telling the truth about my time.

"Ayanokouji, good to meet you," Tanaka-sensei greeted me excitedly. "I can't believe I'll finally get to see you race in person, I'm looking forward to it. You'll be in Onodera's team with Yokoyama and Takahashi here, introduce yourselves and decide on your positions. This will be a medley race so best of luck. The winners will be getting two thousand points each so do your best."

The amount was pocket change to me but the others must be hard on points because I watched as the other team members all started to burn with fire in their eyes. I was on the receiving end of glares, most likely many of them had yet to be noticed by their coach. Points from a club like this would be distributed as rewards based on performance but there was always a degree of favoritism. I sighed with exasperation as Onodera took me along with the other two girls on our team to decide on our legs.

"We're already at a disadvantage," Yokoyama-senpai frowned. "Ayanokouji-kun is the only boy on our team and the others have at least two."

"Don't worry, Senpai," Onodera assured her with confidence. "Ayanokouji-kun is faster than Ichigo-senpai and Nakamura-senpai. I think we should put him at anchor, I don't know how good he is at other strokes but his freestyle was like lightning. Besides, Yokoyama-senpai's the fastest at butterfly out of all of the girls, she should be able to keep the race tight."

"Do you think you can win, Ayanokouji-kun?" Yokoyama-senpai asked me.

"I think he can, don't worry," Takahashi-senpai brushed off her concerns. "Horikita-san speaks really highly of him. I trust him, he'll do his best. We'll go with Onodera's plan, seems like she has it all figured out."

Yokoyama-senpai didn't look convinced but they didn't have any other options, walking with Onodera to the other side of the pool and waiting for their starting mark, Takahashi-senpai nudged me with her elbow. Looking down at her, she smiled up at me before pumping her fists in front of her chest. She had the typical female swimmers physique, broad shouldered for a girl with powerful looking legs. Her cap covered all of her hair but judging by the bulge at the top her hair was long, with striking hazel eyes.

"I'm in Horikita-san's class, just to let you know. He really speaks highly of you, I wasn't lying. Although, Tachibana-san has... far less nice things to say about you," Takahashi-senpai said kindly.

"Bunbun-senpai is just a tsundere. Deep down inside she loves me,"

"Somehow I doubt that," Takahashi-senpai laughed. "Anyway, don't worry about anything. Win or lose just do your best. Besides, it's not like everyone at the pool is watching us or anything."

With her final joke she sweeped her arm towards the stands where just about everyone had stopped with their activities and waited to watch while yelling over each other. I couldn't help but notice what seemed like second and third year students all taking bets as they waited for the race to start.

"Thanks, you really calmed my nerves," I said sarcastically.

"Wow, Horikita-san wasn't kidding. You really are sarcastic as hell," Takahashi-senpai laughed, slapping me on the back.

"Hey, hey, Hana-chan," One of the other swimmers called to Takahashi-senpai, shoving me aside and wrapping an arm over her shoulders. "You don't really think this guy's going to beat me do you? Stop giving the kid false hope,"

Takahashi-senpai glared at him, wrenching his arm off her shoulders and shoving him back.

"Get lost, Ichigo-kun. I never gave you permission to use my first name, when are you going to stop being an ass?"

"Ah, come on. Don't be like that Hana-chan, we've been teammates for years now. Surely we're past the formal stage by now aren't we?"

"Not in a million years, Ichigo-kun. My answer was no yesterday, last week, last month and last year. Go find someone else. Not. Interested," Takahashi-senpai said poking his chest with her finger.

"Alright, alright," Ichigo-senpai laughed with his hands raised in surrender. "Just don't go crying when the kid makes you lose. Nothing personal, Ayanokouji-kun. I just hate losing and I'm not starting today,"

"None taken," I shrugged. "It'd be embarrassing to get beaten by someone who swims as a hobby, I understand."

Ichigo-senpai clapped me on the shoulder before returning to his lane, blowing a kiss at Takahashi-senpai who was fuming with anger. Before I could say anything, she reached up and grabbed my earlobe before tugging me down as I yelped in surprise.

"You better not lose," Takahashi-senpai threatened me seriously.

"What happened to do your best?"

"Just shut up and win," Takahashi-senpai snapped.

I gingerly nursed my now drooping earlobe as the starter gun went off and Onodera dived expertly into the pool. Her backstroke was ferocious, incredibly impressive for a girl. It was obvious she trained hard and took this seriously. She broke the water last and powered through with all of her effort but only managed to hit the wall third out of the four teams, barely a microsecond later Takahashi-senpai was already off the block powering with a breast stroke with all her might.

"I'm sorry, Ayanokouji-kun. I tried to keep up," Onodera gasped as I held out my hand and pulled her out of the pool.

"It's fine, good job," I praised her as she got over the ledge. "You were up against boys and the distance isn't that bad. Takahashi-senpai's made ground."

I wasn't lying either, Takahashi-senpai's breast stroke was impressive. She was barely breaking water as she bounded to the other side, smacking her hand against the wall in second as Yokoyama-senpai dived over her head.

Onodera wasn't lying either, Yokoyama-senpai's butterfly was monstrous. The girl who she was up against in first was left behind as she powered through and made ground. She had a full body length in front as she passed the middle of the pool and by then second place had given up too much ground.

Next to me, Ichigo-senpai looked furiously as we caught up. Yokoyama-senpai didn't falter to the end and slammed her hand into the end of the pool. There was still a few seconds before Ichigo-senpai could leave the mark and he looked visibly confused as I waited.

"What the hell are you doing!?" Yokoyama-senpai yelled at me as she looked up to see me still on the block. "GO!!!!!"

I ignored her and waited, the moment Ichigo-senpai's teams third leg hit the wall Ichigo-senpai and I both dived into the pool at the same time. He broke first as I continued to dolphin kick as hard as I could before breaking and giving it everything I had. I didn't check if I was in front, I was absorbed in the race. There were few times that I ever took competition seriously but this was one of them. Ichigo-senpai spent all of his spare time in his craft, if there was ever a moment where I'd compete with someone and have the opportunity to lose this would be it. I wasn't going to waste this chance by winning on a technicality.

The moment my hand hit the wall I bobbed my head up only to see Ichigo-senpai hit the wall a moment after my head came up. He turned to me, wrenching his goggles from his eyes before glaring at me with pure hatred. I didn't react, not even when Takahashi-senpai screamed and cheered. Grabbing the ledge with the tips of my fingers and pulling myself up. I could feel my traps tense as I basically did a pull up with the tips of my fingers, pulling my chin over the ledge before kicking my leg over and standing up. Ichigo-senpai watched the feat with pure rage as he swam to the other side of the pool before pulling himself up on the steps of the ladder.

Takahashi-senpai was elated but atleast she had the decency not to jump up and hug me. Yokoyama-senpai and Onodera weren't the same, the two of them were hugging and sticking their tongues out at their fellow swim team members, teasing them about the win. Once my focus was directed to the stands, I could actually hear the impact of the results our impromptu race had made. Nagumo didn't show any reaction, simply sitting rigid with his hands clenched into fists on his knees as he observed the reactions of his fellow second years around him.

I couldn't see Honami anywhere in the stands. I looked but couldn't see her anywhere near Eiichiro or Mako, not even next to any of the rest of our group. Until a strawberry blonde missile smacked me in the chest in a hug.

"That was incredible!" Honami gushed. "Kiyotaka! I knew you were good at sports but... Wow!"

While the race was over and everyone returned to what they were doing I didn't feel comfortable anymore. I knew it was going to happen but I didn't realise how much the attention would bother me. Honami left with the others who made their way over, congratulating me and excitedly talking amongst themselves. Eiichiro seemed in good spirits, incredibly happy that I'd taken the initiative and done something for once. Even if it wasn't for class points, he looked happy for me. While others would have been jealous at their friend being better than them at something, Eiichiro was never like that. Instead, much like Honami, he stuck his chest out proudly at his best friends accomplishment.

Yokoyama-senpai and Onodera joined Takahashi-senpai and I in receiving our points. Tanaka-sensei looked disappointed when once again I refused his offer to train with the team. As I made my way back to our seating area, I watched as Sotomura made his way to bring the orders to the group and sighed in defeat as Nagumo fell into stride along side me.

"Good job out there, Ayanokouji," Nagumo congratulated me.

"Thank you, Nagumo-senpai,"

"It's a good thing you won. We can't have the Student Council Vice President bringing shame on us. We're supposed to set an example for the rest. You took a risk, waiting to go head to head against Ichigo-senpai,"

"I wasn't expecting to win. I just wanted it to be fair,"

"Fairness had nothing to do with it, that was arrogance," Nagumo scoffed. "Ego like that will bite you later on if you keep looking down on your opponents. I wouldn't have thrown away a lead like that and neither would Horikita-senpai."

"Perhaps you're right," I acknowledged half-heartedly as I continued to make my way back to the group. "Then again, since when do I ever do anything that I don't want to do. I live my life the way I want to."

Nagumo roughly grabbed me by my elbow to stop me. I looked down at his hand before looking back in his eyes with a raised eyebrow. He stared back at me without flinching, matching my energy head on.

"You should start to treat me with more respect, Kohai," Nagumo spat, reminding me I was an underclassman. "Once Horikita-senpai leaves, the two of us have to work together. There is no 'your way'. When I'm Student Council President, it's my way. I acknowledge that you're gifted and that's why I have a degree of respect for your confidence. However, make no mistake. I expect that degree of effort in everything you do moving forward.

"Academics, Class Battles, Student Council Duties. From now on, I want to see you give your best with everything. I want to see what you're truly capable of. No more of this lazy bullshit where you palm off your duties to Honami-

"Careful, Nagumo-senpai," I warned him coldly, cutting him off. "Do not use my girlfriend's first name so casually. You may come to regret it."

While I was seriously warning him, it was as if the change in my serious demeanor was exactly what he wanted to see. He let me go and laughed condescendingly as he pat me on the shoulder as if we were old friends.

"No need to be so serious, Ayanokouji," Nagumo laughed. "Besides, you should treat me a little more nicely. Otherwise, my lips may get a little twitchy. In my anger, I may end up saying something you want to keep quiet. Isn't that right, Masterpiece-kun?"

I gave no outward reaction. I'd already anticipated this. If second years already knew, it must have been mandated by Nagumo to keep it quiet. All so he could have leverage on me for this moment, so that he could threaten me to do what he wanted or he'd make what he'd been informed public. I waited in silence, staring at him as if daring for him to open his mouth to continue. I could see it wasn't the reaction he was expecting. He was expecting me to be frantic, possibly to beg for mercy. Instead I remained quiet.

People underestimate the impact of simply remaining quiet. Human beings are creatures of habit, most have shared mannerisms that we've learned as a collective. In general, people tend to speak simply to fill the silence. Not many are able to simply bask in the silence and the discomfort that lack of sound embodies.

Nagumo-senpai wasn't used to it, I could see it. Just like I had with Ryuen, the two of us continued to play chicken as I stood in front of him, daring for him to be the first to break. It was inevitable, I knew he'd bow out eventually as he averted his eyes for a moment before that cocky grin returned to his face.

"Right now the second years are keeping quiet on my order. Unless you want everyone to know your secret, you're going to tell Horikita-senpai that you have no interest in taking over as the Student Council President. In return, your secret will remain exactly as it is, a secret. You'll continue to hold your position as the Vice President, serving under me. Either that or all anyone will be talking about is this so called 'White Room'." Nagumo finished.

Just as he was about to leave, he patted me on the shoulder as he turned and prepared to walk towards his group.

"Choose quickly, Masterpiece. I'm not a very patient person. I meant what I said though, you better start taking things seriously. After all, when we get the chance, I want to be the one who fights you. Crushing the Government's pet has to be good on a resume after all, right?"

Chapter 47

A/N: Alright, that's the filler 4.5 out of the way. It's time to begin the Sport's Fest. Fluff filler is finally over.

This whole arc is a complete canon divergence. I have big plans for this one :) Hopefully you guys enjoy it.

Thanks to Zook who beta read this one for me on demand on short notice. I'm fired up ever since Y2V9 came out so strong :D

I've decided that I want to be the Student Council President. My first order of business is rather simple. I've been thinking and strategizing on how I could make my dream a reality throughout the entirety of our first day back at school. For some reason, no matter how I rationalize it in my brain, I can't seem to figure out a way to make my dream a reality.

My agenda is simple. I think that we should switch the amount of time we spend on classes and holidays. Only a few weeks of study maximum with the remaining time as rest. Simple and effective. I should win a Nobel prize for this epiphany.

Although, while the newly promoted Class C looks motivated around me to do better now that they've had life breathed back into them and the race is so tight, this band of monkeys could probably use all the study time they could get.

Irrespective, one revelation has come to the forefront on the first day of school. I now know who Eiichiro got into a fight with and he was indeed worse off than Eiichiro. While my best friend had a busted lip and a bruised cheek, Yamauchi looked like he'd been hit by a train. One of his eyes was swollen, he was regularly holding his side as if he was in constant pain and walked with a severe limp. Whatever it was, apparently it made Sudo annoyed to the point that he hadn't even gone with the idiots during lunch break.

I miss my friend, don't get me wrong, but the best way to support someone is to encourage their endeavors and it was obvious that he was starting to bear fruit. While the progress was slow and required active thinking on his part, there were noticeable changes. Changes that the girls around the class also started to notice.

For one, he joined the Basketball Club with Sudo. While he was tall and lanky, you can't teach height. I've tried and failed numerous times to encourage him to train with me in the gym, a healthy body breeds a clear mind. It must have been the fact that he was in a new environment surrounded by people who encouraged him and didn't seem like an insurmountable cordillera that gave him drive. For that reason, when Sudo eagerly asked if I wanted to join in with them while they trained on their days off away from the club, I very politely declined. Even if I wanted to play, it wouldn't do well to crush Eiichiro's spirits when he was just starting out just as I'd naively done in my youth.

It wasn't just that, he was actively changing the way he interacts with people. He spoke slower and listened actively. He even seemed to remain silent when he didn't know the answer to questions he was asked, capable and willing to think things through diligently while allowing people to wait for his answer even if it caused them discomfort. It wasn't natural, it was a learned behavior but it was progressing.

Not only that but the moment I opened the door to homeroom I was greeted with a punch straight to the gut from Horikita. I let out a surprise 'oomph' at the impact while Horikita glared at me furiously. Either Horikita really was on her period or she was spiteful enough to pay me back the moment she saw me.

"Okay, I deserved that one," I admitted.

"There's more where that came from," Horikita vowed.

It wasn't until after lunch that things started to change. Lunch in the cafeteria with Honami went as usual, aside from the fact that she would continually take suspicious glances in my direction. It wasn't only her, almost everyone from the first year was doing the same.

No doubt the first day of classes was spent analyzing and discussing the events of the Zodiac Exam as a group. The holes had been filled and many were no doubt asking questions as to how I managed to force Ryuen into submitting the wrong names. Our meal together didn't go uninterrupted as the man of the hour confidently strode to our table, taking a seat as if it were saved for him all along.

"Good afternoon Ryuen-kun," Honami greeted him politely, not showing any outward annoyance at his interruption. "What brings you here today?"

"Nothing much, Ichinose. I just have a few questions... So many questions that I just can't seem to answer on my own."

"Try a book," I offered with a bored tone.

"Now, now Vice President Ayanokouji. The questions I have aren't for you, I was looking for Ichinose over here. It's just a happy coincidence that you happen to be here too," Ryuen taunted me.

"Very well then, should I leave? I need to visit the library, I've run out of new things to read,"

"What a coincidence," Ryuen said unaffected. "I believe Hiyori's there right now. Maybe she can help you with some recommendations again. After you met with her, you kind of... inspired me. I borrowed one of hers that I'm reading right now, maybe you'll like it. Cards on the table by Agatha Christie, if you haven't read it I think you'll enjoy it."

"What can I do for you, Ryuen-kun?" Honami cut in, seeing that this segway was going to cause a conflict if it continued any further.

Ryuen didn't answer at first, continuing to stare at me calculatingly. As if he were trying to read my mind, trying to see whether or not his taunting was having any effect.

There were only two scenarios that I could think of. The least likely of the two was that he was calling my bluff, convinced that I wouldn't go after Shiina again if he continued to press me. There was no way he'd know that I wouldn't at this point, that was an extremely risky route to take that I only resorted to because of his threats against Arisu. Perhaps he read that from me but I haven't given any indicators that that was the case and I doubted he would be able to interpret anything from my demeanor.

The other option was that he'd already told Shiina what I'd done and warned her against me. I went past her in the hall earlier in the day and she was still smiling when she greeted me so either his warning fell on deaf ears or she wasn't concerned. Perhaps I underestimated Shiina Hiyori, her observation and likening me to Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde showed that at the very least she wasn't as naive as others may perceive her to be.

"Well with all of the rumors running around on our first day, I was curious about this little romance the two of you have. I am just curious about how our first-year angel that everyone seems to think has a heart of gold falls for a monster.

"It just brings about so many questions... Is Ichinose Honami just a naive little girl who doesn't see what's right in front of her? Perhaps she's blinded by love and thinks that there isn't any possibility that her precious person could do any harm?"

"You're asking if I know how he got you to submit the wrong names?" Ichinose summarized bluntly.

"That's part of it I suppose," Ryuen mused. "I'm curious whether or not you've figured it out, how on the mark your guess could be. Whether he's told you and what your reaction was. More than anything though, I want to see what your reaction will be when you hear the story and realize he's not as harmless as everyone seems to think he is."

"I think I could guess," Honami shrugged. "I also think you have a misconception of me, Ryuen-kun.

"I'm far from an angel or having a heart of gold. I know how this school functions and I know that people use all sorts of underhanded means. As long as the school doesn't find out or can't prove it, anything goes. However, I also know what you're like Ryuen-kun. Don't forget that we spent a week together in the same camp, I know how you operate. I know that you would have been the one to cross the line first. He just beat you at your own game and now you seem to be a little bitter."

Ryuen smiled confidently, leaning back in his chair and relaxing while watching the two of us. I continued eating my lunch without concern, not even looking up as the two continued to talk about me as if I wasn't even there. Everything was done anyway, there wasn't anything I could do to try to sweep it under the rug or contribute in any notable fashion.

I will admit that Honami surprised me. There was a reason she used to be the leader of Class B, she wasn't the usual fodder like the other nameless faces that fill the OAA codex. I needed to be more careful around her, my usual arrogance would bite me in the ass if I wasn't more careful about what I said or do around her. She most definitely wasn't as oblivious as I previously thought, apparently she already suspected that I hadn't told her the full story on the ship. Honami simply let the issue go, perhaps deciding she'd rather not know.

"Will that be all? I don't get to spend as much time with Kiyotaka as I'd like to anymore. You're interrupting my lunch date," Honami said shortly.

Ryuen laughed lightly to himself before sluggishly getting up from his seat and leaning forward over the table in her face with both of his palms on the table.

"Kanzaki made a big mistake. It would have been far more fun if I were fighting you instead of him,"

"Don't count us out just yet, Ryuen-kun. My role has changed but I'm just as much a threat as I was before. We will not bow down without a fight, not to you or anyone else. If you challenge us thinking that we're an easy target... You may find yourself meeting your destiny on the very road you took to avoid it."

Ryuen shook his head lightly before turning his neck to look down at me continuing to eat unaffected before speaking his parting words.

"Well, let's hope that when everything comes to light you still feel the same. Secrets could poison an otherwise very healthy relationship. Wouldn't you agree, Vice President Ayanokouji?"

Despite his leaving, the mood was spoiled. The rest of the meal was eaten in relative silence, the only thing being the cold look in Honami's eyes as she stared at me eating my food. While others would show expressions on their face, with Honami it was different. I could tell that Honami was either angry or annoyed just by the way those crystalline pools seemed to shine with a raging fire.

"Stop eating, Ayanokouji-kun. Now,"

I sighed, putting down my chopsticks before deciding to deal with this sooner rather than later.

"Why is this the first time that I'm hearing that you've met Hiyori-chan before?" Honami asked with a sweet tone that dripped with acid.

Now I was confused. I thought she would be angry that I withheld information when we made our deal to trade. I assumed she would be mad that I left details out of my story rather than giving her the whole truth about how I won the Zodiac Examination for our class.

"What's wrong Ayanokouji-kun? Why aren't you speaking?" Honami pressed just as sweetly.

"Err..." I wasn't prepared for this, Honami caught me completely off guard.

"Err? Err is not an answer Ayanokouji-kun. When you met Hiyori-chan, was it just the two of you or were you a part of a group?" Honami asked calmly.

"Um..."

"Err? Um? These are not words, Ayanokouji-kun. I'm asking for a detailed explanation. Did you meet Shiina Hiyori as a part of a group or did you meet with her alone? These are relatively simple questions that don't require a genius to answer,"

"These were not the questions I was expecting,"

"Are the questions too complicated? Did I not articulate them clearly enough?"

"I thought that Shiina would have told you, it slipped my mind. I didn't think it was important," I answered honestly.

Well, partially honestly. I had my own reasons not to bring it up. There was a chance that she'd ask more questions about why we met in the first place. I had no intention of bringing it up, Shiina and I are acquaintances at best.

Regardless, I knew I chose my words poorly as the smile never left her lips but her eyes turned an even colder shade of blue.

"So you met with a girl, a cute girl at that, alone and didn't think that it would be important to let me know?"

"No that's n-"

I didn't even get to finish my sentence, Honami was on fire.

"Since we started dating, have you met with any other girls alone or in a group that I don't know about?" Honami asked.

I was weighing up my options in my mind. Apparently I took too long to measure the risks and rewards of honesty and deception as Honami picked up her things and left the table to go back to her classroom.

"I'm going back early. I'll speak to you when I'm not so annoyed with you," Honami said frostily.

"How long is that going to take?" I called out to her retreating back.

"WHO KNOWS!" Honami shouted angrily without turning around.

Looking down at my half-eaten meal, I sighed to myself before glancing at the adjacent table. A group of third-year girls all giggled behind the backs of their hands, trying and failing to pretend like they hadn't been eavesdropping the entire time. Behind them, Eiichiro was openly laughing at his table. The group he was with stopped eating and talking altogether. Karuizawa and Satou both watched with wide-eyed interest while Hirata seemed to smile at me with sympathy. Mako got up from the seat next to him, smacking him over the head with her book while telling him off before chasing after Honami. Eiichiro hadn't stopped laughing for even a moment.

Finishing off my food and making my way back to the classroom, I came to realize just how rapid the rumor mill is in ANHS. People in this school don't have anything interesting going on in their lives. It was as though the isolation from the outside world made them all turn our everyday life into some reality TV show. Ryuen was probably proud of himself. While he may have only done it accidentally, his goal was to stir the pot once again. Now that people were discussing the exam, he now had a reason to fan the flames. To remind me that I may have won the first match but the war wasn't over.

This was what Arisu wanted in the first place. More targets were on my back to force me into the competition so that she could have a chance to compete. Irrespective, she had no chance to compete with me anymore. Class A most certainly turned their back on her. While I only heard about it through rumblings, apparently Arisu was completely isolated from her class. No one was talking to her, I needed to speak to Katsuragi about this.

I wanted to strip her of her influence and I succeeded but I also didn't want her to be shunned. Still, you can't have everything you want in life. Now both of us can be miserable. People were targeting me now and I'd stripped her of all of her weapons. Despite being powerless, not once had Arisu reached out to me either for company or help. Both of us are far too stubborn to back down.

The moment I opened the door I was met with laughter. Eiichiro turned to Sudo, starting up an impromptu reenactment of what happened in the cafeteria.

"How long's that going to take?" Eiichiro called to him.

"WHO KNOWS!" Sudo screeched in a false falsetto.

There were random snorts of laughter from almost everyone in the room as they all basked in my public scolding. Yamauchi alone remained silent, glaring furiously at Eiichiro the entire time.

The fight between the two of them was obvious but I still had no idea about the details. Sudo obviously knew but was avoiding any one on one interactions with me. No doubt Eiichiro had already sworn him into silence, my best chance was Ike. Making a mental note to interrogate him after, I took off my bag before throwing it on the table.

"You're spending an awful lot of time with Mako-chan," I observed as we waited for Chabashira to arrive.

Apparently there was some kind of announcement coming up, our final classes were canceled and we had a two-hour homeroom block scheduled instead. I didn't like it, my senses were in overdrive ever since the announcement. The way Chabashira smiled at me as she made the announcement made me rather apprehensive.

"She's fun," Eiichiro shrugged. "I don't really know how it started but we started hanging out more and more. She's funny, easy to talk to..."

"Has a thing for you," I cut in mid-sentence.

"Please," Eiichiro scoffed with a snort. "Trust me if Mako likes me, I would know. I could spot it a mile away. Don't get cocky just because you ended up with Ichinose, I've been to middle school. I know the signs. Besides, you wouldn't have even got together with Ichinose if it wasn't for me,"

This dense idiot.

"You think this is about a new special test?" Eiichiro asked.

"Probably,"

"Good," Eiichiro nodded to himself.

"Think you're ready?"

"As ready as I can be. I already spoke to Horikita. She's going to help me come up with strategies. Hirata and Karuizawa are helping to manage the girls to get them to cooperate more and Sudo's doing what he can with the guys. He's been studying throughout the holidays and now that we basically have the same schedule we're working on everything together,"

"Isn't that a lot on your plate?"

"Not all of us want to have nothing but free time," Eiichiro grinned. "I want to make the most of this experience. If we don't get to Class A, I want to at least be able to hold my head up saying I gave it my best shot."

I glanced at him out of the corner of my eye before crossing my arms as we waited.

"Let me know if you need anything,"

"Don't worry, I'm not expecting much. You've done more for the class than anyone else, even if no one knows it. Sorry for throwing a tantrum on the ship,"

"Don't worry about it," I said. "Everyone struggled, not just you."

Just as our conversation ended, Chabashira-sensei strode into the room with purpose. Without any pleasantries, she quickly made her way to the podium to address us.

"Good Afternoon Class," Chabashira said curtly.

"Shit... it really is another special test," Miyake muttered under his breath.

"Today is a day of change at ANHS," Chabashira said with authority, immediately putting a halt to all the chatter around the room.

"Since the school's inception, there has only been one rule that has stood the test of time in order to foster the growth of the future elites of Japan; No outside contact. The aim of this rule is to accelerate the growth of all of you as high school students into strong, self-sufficient adults.

"It is something that hasn't been announced to the public and as a reminder, once you leave this institution, all of you will be required to sign NDAs so that you do not reveal any information about the school to the general public. If you do, there will be severe financial sanctions placed on you if it is ever proven that you've broken this contract. It is how the school has been able to ensure the very best in nurturing the growth of our youth."

"What the hell? No one told us that," Yamauchi cut in, wincing and holding his ribs after his overexcitement. "Why weren't we told that we'd have to sign contracts when we leave before we came to this school?"

Chabashira looked him over, carefully studying his injuries but didn't bring it up. Instead, she glared at him coldly before answering his question.

"You were informed of this when your parents enrolled you in this school. It was in the terms and conditions listed above that you signed your consent. Let this be a lesson learned in life, always read a contract before you sign it,"

Regardless of the circumstances, most parents, especially ones who were struggling financially, would have read those terms and conditions. Many wouldn't even care. The promise of graduating from a nationally renowned and prestigious high school was enough for most to sell their souls.

"However, that rule will be broken for the first time in the history of the school," Chabashira continued.

"As you all know, this school is funded by the Japanese Government. For the first time, the recently elected Prime Minister Sasaki will be speaking with you all today. This extended homeroom session is to allow for his announcement which will be done in the gymnasium. It goes without saying but all of you are to be on your absolute best behavior. Anyone causing any kind of ruckus that would bring shame to this school will result in a severe penalty to your Class Points with no exception.

"You have twenty minutes to get to the Gymnasium. Go immediately, find your seats and behave yourselves. Kushida, Ayanokouji. As Student Council members, both of you will be required on stage. Make your way there immediately so that you can greet our esteemed guests."

While everyone already knew that I was Student Council Vice President, apparently not many knew that Kushida had joined as well. The group was mainly girls; Mori, Mii-chan and Karuizawa didn't seem like Chabashira's words had surprised them. The rest though were clearly shocked.

"Um," Kushida blushed, shuffling her feet. "I was going to tell everyone at the end of the day... I only accepted towards the end of the Summer Holidays. Nagumo-senpai asked me if I'd be his secretary on the Student Council and I accepted. I know it's probably a surprise but..."

"No way!" Ike yelled.

He jumped from his seat and grabbed both of her hands excitedly.

"It's no surprise, Kushida-chan's the best! Of course Nagumo-senpai would ask you to join, congratulations!"

Once the shock wore off, others started to congratulate her. Not wanting to be late and not particularly caring to congratulate her, I left to head toward the Gymnasium with other thoughts on my mind.

I knew Senator Sasaki, he was one of the people that frequented our home whenever he was permitted. One of the people I learned a lot from simply observing him. While at the time he was just a senator, he was incredibly ambitious. His daughter, Yotsuyu was older than me. A vicious social climber, one that tried to get close to me at every opportunity but looked down her nose at Eiichiro. Arisu and Yotsuyu hated each other with an absolute passion with Arisu thinking she was a talentless wench. While Yotsuyu had never said anything to my face, I could see the way she glared at Arisu whenever she thought I wasn't looking.

As I made my way to the Gymnasium, Kushida ran after me before falling into step beside me in silence. We walked for a while and once we were alone, I finally addressed the elephant in the room.

"Were you the one who told Nagumo about me?" I asked coldly.

While Kushida was very good at manipulating and lying to others, I was fairly confident that I'd be able to detect at least a little bit of deception. When she shook her head no, I didn't see any reason not to believe her.

"I give you my word, it wasn't me," Kushida promised. "He has no idea that I know either. When he asked me I acted shocked. I'm fairly certain it's a second year. I meant what I said, I take keeping people's secrets very seriously. As long as you don't provoke me, your secret won't leave my lips."

"So why are you on the Student Council? Why did you join?"

"I took what you said to heart. You're dating Ichinose-san, you have no intentions of seeing me in that way. Nagumo-senpai's good-looking, talented and smart. I started spending time with him and he asked if I wanted to join as his secretary."

"Do I look like an idiot?" I scoffed dismissively. "What are you really up to?"

Kushida said nothing, ignoring me completely as we arrived at the entrance. Before I could stop her, she pushed the door open in full angel mode before jogging excitedly to Asahina-senpai and giving her a hug. Honami was already there, giving me a glance but nothing more as she continued chatting with Tachibana-senpai just as Asahina-senpai and Kushida joined her.

Not a moment after, Katsuragi walked in. Scanning the hall, he noticed me before nodding in my direction and moving to my side. The both of us moved to the stage area and leaned against the wood as we waited for further instructions.

"Horikita-senpai came to see me last week. Thank you for keeping your word, I appreciate everything you've done for me," Katsuragi said gratefully.

"Don't mention it, I already gave my commitment," I said, reaching into my breast pocket and handing over a letter.

Katsuragi looked at it curiously before noticing the handwriting on the envelope and quickly stashing it into his pocket.

"I wasn't expecting a return letter," Katsuragi said in shock.

"Don't mention it," I groaned, standing up from my leaning position and stretching out. "How's my sister?"

Katsuragi's expression hardened as the conversation turned serious.

"Quiet," Katsuragi said simply. "Too quiet,"

"Oh?" I acknowledged in surprise.

"The class is avoiding her, there's nothing I can do about it. Kamuro and Hashimoto haven't spoken a word to her since the hospital as far as I've heard. Yamamura was coming out of her shell but had gone back to being reserved and quiet. Sakayanagi hasn't done anything except for taking her seat, studying diligently and leaving without saying a word."

"She hasn't tried to contest the fact that you're now the sole leader of Class A?"

"Not once. It's as if she's given up. Everything inside me is telling me to be wary but all of her actions speak to her resigning herself. It's as if she's given up on trying to push back. I can't say I'm not relieved but I am suspicious."

So was I, if I could be frank. Arisu always had a scheme or plan, she never did anything without reason. Whatever she was plotting, neither of us could see it right now. With the limited information that I had, I could only hope that what he was saying was true and that she really had given up.

"Can you keep me updated on how she's holding up?"

"If you'd like, I have no objections. Are the two of you still not on speaking terms? I know you scapegoated her but have you made no attempts at reconciling with her?"

I glanced at him out of the corner of my eye and watched as he visibly looked insulted at what that look meant.

"Do you think I'm simple? Do you think I actually bought that pile of rubbish? You knew I'd pick up on the fact that you were trying to scapegoat Sakayanagi, you knew I'd use it as leverage to take over the class,"

"Did I?" I mused thoughtfully.

"Spare me, enough with the bravado," Katsuragi scoffed. "I'll never forget that day in the private pool, it was like you were a different person. Sakayanagi has been vehemently swearing up and down that you were an unrivaled genius and that you were the most dangerous threat to our position. That day, I truly believed her. That she was telling the truth.

"However, everything I've observed about you says that you want nothing to do with class battles. You manufactured evidence against her to strip her of her influence and you gave me the tools to overthrow her because you wanted to take away her power. So that she couldn't provoke you anymore."

"I think you're giving me too much credit,"

"Well, I think you're not giving us enough credit. If Sakayanagi gave us the best chance to stay as Class A I would have willingly retracted my candidacy to lead the class. She's too reckless. She doesn't care about the Class Battles, only about playing her games. You are much the same in that you don't care about Class Battles either but you on the other hand want to be left out of it entirely. If she had her way she'd drag us all the way to the bottom, uselessly challenging you until we were dead in the water.

"Now that I have my suspicions, I know for certain I'm right. You say very little but you lead conversations exactly where you want them to go. You manipulated everything around you masterfully and achieved the exact outcome you wanted. By far, you are the only one in this school that scares me the most when it comes to securing our stronghold in Class A.

"That's why I'll play your game for now, our interests align. We will not provoke you and leave you to live your lazy life and in return hopefully, we'll be able to stay where we are," Katsuragi finished with a tense look on his face.

While I wasn't planning on expanding on anything he said, the heavens seemed to give me a lifeline when Manabu entered the hall. With Nagumo and another person I didn't recognize close behind, the three of them made their way over to the group as we all congregated near the stage. Manabu's face spoke volumes, probably another argument with Nagumo just as he was about to enter. Before he said anything, he looked straight into Kushida's eyes for what felt like hours when in reality it was mere seconds. Kushida said nothing, smiling back at him with her angelic features in a perfect mosaic.

I wasn't able to read the interaction, that smirking bastard had an excellent poker face when he wanted to don the mask. Two masks, one angelic one contemptuous. The battle of wills continued but eventually, things needed to progress as Manabu spoke to all of us without breaking his boring stare.

"We are fortunate enough to have more members of the Student Council at this critical moment," Manabu started as he continued to stare at Kushida. "Kushida Kikyo will be Vice President Nagumo's secretary, Kiriyama Ikuto here has joined as a Second Year Representative and Katsuragi Kohei is now a member as a First Year Representative. While I hoped that those introductions would be done in a more relaxed setting, we now find ourselves at a busy time."

Manabu broke his stare from Kushida before looking directly at me.

"Everyone will be required to assist in the lead-up to the Sports Festival. That includes greeting and entertaining guests and aiding with the necessary paperwork for contractors and media for the upcoming event."

"Media?" Asahina repeated in surprise.

"Yes, media," Manabu confirmed. "This year, ANHS's Sports Festival will be the largest event the school has ever hosted in history. That's all I can say for now, all of us will go backstage now to prepare to greet Prime Minister Sasaki. He and his entourage is on their way."

With that, Manabu made to leave backstage with all of us falling in behind him. While it wasn't said out loud, everyone fell into position based on their standing within the council. Nagumo and Kushida both walked side-by-side behind Manabu and Bunbun-senpai with Honami by my side and the others following close behind.

Honami hadn't looked in my direction once, a pure businesslike look on her face as we continued to walk. As we made our way, I quickly fixed myself to make myself more presentable. Pulling my tie off and redoing it into a full Windsor, unrolling the sleeves of my shirt and brushing out the creases before making sure my shirt was tucked in all the way. The actions broke Honami from the act as she discreetly watched from the corner of her eye but said nothing. I purposefully left my collar up on one side as I finished my preparations. Honami gently raised her hand to correct it for me but quickly returned to being stoic the moment I opened my mouth to say something.

While we waited the others started to talk amongst themselves, introducing themselves and getting to know each other. Kiriyama-senpai was apparently from Class B. While Nagumo was busy conversing with Kushida, both he and Katsuragi struck up a conversation as we waited. Asahina-senpai watched for a while as Honami and I both stood there in complete silence, neither of us even looking in each other's direction before Asahina-senpai moved to her side and the two conversed in loud whispers.

The chatter was soon slowly being drowned out as the school all filed into the hall, the entrance opened with a loud thud as father walked in alone briskly before coming over to Manabu and shaking his hand with both of his.

"President Horikita, as reliable as ever," Father greeted him with a warm smile.

The others wouldn't be able to notice but I'd never seen Father with his eyes so sunken. He looked like he'd aged five years since I last saw him in the Student Council office. As he noticed me, he quickly greeted Kushida and Nagumo-senpai and he quickly greeted the rest of the Student Council before he looked at me regretfully.

I had no idea what that look meant but knew that it was something I wouldn't like.

There wasn't any time for explanations or Father Son moments as the door opened once again and Prime Minister Sasaki entered with his Security Detail. The moment he saw Father, he smiled exactly like a politician would as a number of reporters followed behind. Never one to let his mask fall regardless of his feelings, Father strode confidently towards him as the two bowed respectfully to each other and held the pose as the cameras flashed. They exchanged pleasantries for a while before the Prime Minister came towards us, the camera's following in close behind.

"Student Council President Horikita, Chairman Sakayanagi speaks incredibly highly of you. I've heard that you're one of the most highly decorated students set to graduate from ANHS," The Prime Minister boasted loudly.

"I'm honored by your praise," Manabu said respectfully, bowing to him in gratitude. "I was only able to flourish with the help and encouragement of the Staff and generosity of this institution,"

"My, my. I believe I may have met a future successor today, you have the grace of a future politician already," He said.

This is everything I hated about politics. Sasaki was an arrogant, self-centered asshole. Old money that bought their current standing in high society. A person who smiled in your face while he stabbed you in the back. I already knew that this whole charade was forced on my Father, if there was anything that he was passionate about it was this school. That would include the rules of not having outside interference, something he even cautioned Arisu and me about when it comes to having to mediate our squabble in the past.

Prime Minister Sasaki barely gave any recognition to Bunbun-senpai at all, merely inclining his head when Manabu introduced her before moving on to Nagumo-senpai.

"Vice President Nagumo, from what I've heard your Class is very firmly in Class A. As a fellow alumn, I'm very excited to hear how you were able to move from your original position of Class B and the strategies you implemented." Sasaki said loudly so the reporters could hear.

"Thank you for your kindness, I look forward to it. May I also congratulate you on your victory in the most recent election?"

"Oh-ho how astute of you. Careful of this one President Horikita, you may be competing against him in the future," Sasaki joked loudly before quickly brushing past him before even hearing Kushida's name.

I could see he was eager to see me, the reporters were already making their way to get a better angle and cut Nagumo-senpai and Kushida out of the shot. A slight that Nagumo noticed immediately as his eyes flashed dangerously as he glared at me from behind Prime Minister Sasaki's back. Before he could say a word, I placed my hands in the correct positions before bowing 45 formally. My etiquette training as well as the White Room philosophy came back in full force as I did what was necessary, regardless of how I felt about the repugnant piece of shit in front of me.

"What's with this unnecessary show of formality?" Sasaki said loudly.

"You're making me uncomfortable, Kiyotaka. People will think that we're not close. My word, I remember seeing you a few months before you enrolled here and you've grown so much!" He added boisterously, grabbing at my biceps and traps and squeezing theatrically.

I could already feel the light of the cameras flashing rapidly around me, taking photos of the White Room masterpiece bowing his head for the leader of Japan. I now knew what Father was looking at me with regretful eyes for. No matter what I did now, the moment this news hit the media it would be shown and everyone in the school would be looking for it. All because they would be excited to read about how our Sports Festival would be nationally televised and the moment my name and photo came up, every media outlet would refer to their previous articles about me to generate clicks.

With this event... My peaceful life was over.

"My apologies, Prime Minister Sasaki," I said respectfully. "I was merely greeting you properly as your standing deserves. I wouldn't dare presume to be casual with our country's esteemed leader."

"My, I've taught you well," He said boastfully.

"While we are staying at the school, I hope that we can have Tea together. Did you know that young Kiyotaka here is a virtuoso at conducting a Tea Ceremony?" Sasaki bragged to one of his entourage.

I knew exactly what this was, a show of power. Having me serve Tea to him was a way of swaying the public, a demonstration of fealty so that everyone could see that I was under his control.

"I am aware, Prime Minister Sasaki," The politician acknowledged, moving to my other side and surreptitiously moving into position to have his photo taken as well. "Ayanokouji-kun's reputation proceeds itself. We are ever grateful that we have someone as talented and loyal to our country and the Government."

Almost everyone in the Student Council was looking at the interaction with surprise. I was being addressed like the Prime Minister's old friend, the entourage and the media had basically brushed over the President and Vice President of the Student Council and as the stage staff called out to us to move to the stage, Sasaki wrapped his arms around my shoulders to walk with him as the camera's continued to flash uncontrollably around me.

The only people who didn't look confused spoke volumes. Manabu looked at me with sadness, Nagumo with fury and envy. Kushida tried her best but I could see the hunger in her eyes but Honami's reaction was the one that surprised me more than any other.

While I was resolutely positive that Honami had no idea of my past, she looked as if she suspected this all along.

Chapter 48

The only time I've been in this hall was during the Entrance Ceremony. While then it resembled a school event, this time it looked more like a press conference. It was almost militaristic, I imagine if there were ever any old videos of some of the dictatorships of old, it would look similar to what I was seeing from the stage.

The entire student populous while surrounded by teachers, staff, security and media, all of them clapping in unison as if it were scripted. Even students like Ryuen who were delinquents were following suit as Sasaki pandered to all of them, waving to them as if this were an election campaign. With downward movements of both his hands, they all fell back down to their seats and remained quiet as if he were a puppetmaster.

Throughout the entire ordeal, I was blinded by the flashes of the cameras once again. Despite the fact that I was off to one side, it would seem like half the cameras were directed at me. Many of the reporters changed angles to get the best shot they could of both the Prime Minister and I at the same time.

"Thank you, thank you," Sasaki said graciously as the clapping died down. "Thank you all for your warm welcomes. Being back in this place has brought back many fond memories for me. Just as all of you are making them, there was a time that I was sitting in your very seats as a student of this school."

As Sasaki began his speech, a white projector screen unfurled itself behind his head as the screen lit up with a still image of the school's emblem.

"As all of you know, Advanced Nurturing High School and the Government have a long-withstanding relationship. When interests align, marvelous things happen. There is no greater commitment to our country than the future generations so that our history does not die with us and our legacy remains.

"Japan has always been at the forefront both traditionally and in modern times. We have remained relevant as a nation through our commitment to always looking to the future while never forgetting our past. As times change, so too must we. It is this constant battle of remembering our history while looking to the future that is a constant battle in our everyday life.

"Today marks a historical event. Today we strive for change. For the first time in the history of this institution, Advanced Nurturing High School will give a glimpse to the taxpayers into what this establishment stands for. What it represents. What it strives to accomplish.

"This is why the Government is announcing today that the Annual Sports Festival will be a live broadcast event. One that will be aired to the nation so that they can see the talent that they're fostering and sponsoring. Taxpayers have been left in the dark about how our talented youth have been nurtured and it is my hope that during my term, they can see that their hard earned money hasn't gone to waste.

"To achieve this goal, the event will be televised nationally with many esteemed guests in attendance."

Even with an announcement like this none of the Students spoke amongst themselves, too shocked by the scale of this event. It was as though every living soul was breathing in unison, trying to keep as quiet as possible so they could hang on to every word.

"As a former Student of Advanced Nurturing High School and a graduate of Class A, I know firsthand that there are levels in abilities of individual students even between classes. In the interest of showcasing the very best your school has to offer, each Class from 1-D through to 3-A will have one Featured Athlete.

"These Featured Athletes will compete not with the school but with each other. Now, many of you may believe it unfair that younger students will have to face the adversity of competing with more developed older students. However, the purpose of this school is to showcase the talent and exceptionalism of its students. A difference in age should not be a determining factor when competition is at its finest." Sasaki continued.

Just as he finished his sentence the screen lit up behind him showing two graphs on either side. Six empty boxes in pink on one side with six in blue on the other.

"Six girls have been selected to compete with each other as featured athletes and six boys have been chosen as well. Two boys and two girls with the highest OAA Physical Category scores from each year will represent their class in the Representative Challenge. These students will be required to compete with their older and younger peers in the fires of competition. Please make your way to the stage as you are called."

By now there were rumblings of chatter as the students couldn't contain themselves anymore. An action that wasn't unnoticed by Sasaki.

"Yes, yes! I'm sure all of you are very excited. Please feel free to cheer on the selected champions of your classes as they are called!"

"From Class 3-A Horikita Manabu."

3-A looked incredibly happy with the fact that Manabu was their Featured Athlete. While they looked pleased they were respectful, clapping as that smirking bastard took to the stage and stood where the stage hand directed him as the media moved in to take pictures.

"From 3-B Natsume Maya, from 3-C Ichigo Asa and finally from 3-D Shikichi Musubi,"

I watched as each of the participants came from their seats up to the stage, speaking to the stagehands and standing in wait, all surprised but ready and happy to be selected. With Honami on my left and Kushida on my right, I chanced a glance over to Nagumo. Still seated next to Kushida while applauding with everyone else, I could already see that he was ready and waiting for his name to be called. He must have noticed me looking in his direction as he turned to look at me, the fire of his competitive spirit rolling in waves. I could already tell that this was what he was waiting for, a chance to compete with me in a public arena. It would be even better for him with the world watching.

Carefully calculating the current situation in mind, I already planned my course of action. This was all a charade, all of these students were pawns. This plan had Sasaki written all over it, this was him parading me in front of the public. The photos together, the loud admissions that we were close. All of it was for public perception, to show that I was in his pocket and to showcase all of the abilities that both he and his predecessors invested in.

"From 2-A Nagumo Miyabi."

He was out of his seat before the Prime Minister even finished saying his first name, confidently taking his place with his hands raised as what seemed like every Second Year student all stood in unison, yelling and shouting their support of him. He drank in the adulation like a glutton, smiling confidently as the reporters changed angles to take in the crowd of people as well in his shot.

"From 2-B Kiryuin Fuka,"

The girl who spoke to me outside the pool made her way to the stage confidently with grace as she smiled to herself. As she made her way up the steps and passed in my line of sight, she smiled and winked at me before turning in her spot. The entire time, I couldn't take my eyes off her as my thoughts came back to our conversation. Did she somehow know that this was coming to pass?

My reaction, however, caused adverse effects unintentionally. My calculating gaze and Kiryuin-senpai's wink didn't go unnoticed by Honami who tensed in the seat beside me as she ceased with her applause and her eyes turned cold.

I'll be paying for this later.

Despite the situation, I couldn't turn to Honami at all to reassure her in any fashion. This ordeal caused an even larger problem for both of us. I don't know what she knows or how much, but there was one thing that I was certain of; Honami wouldn't have any experience with how to act in this scenario. I was about to be the subject of many headaches. With the public eye on this event, I had to warn her. We could not be seen together by the cameras under any circumstances. I'd have to keep my distance from her completely until this event was over.

The moment that those vultures got her name, they would be relentless. They'd dig into her middle school friends, her family, her past and theirs. Any dirt they could bring up to drag her through the mud, they would do it. These disgusting parasites, they'd sell out a person and drive them to suicide if it meant that they could bring traffic to their cesspool of a website. Just by my association, they could destroy her without care. If they found nothing, they would create it.

"From Class 1-A Nakajima Riko,"

I watched as Nakajima hesitantly made her way to the stage. She looked surprised, in shock as if she was expecting one of the boys from their class would be chosen.

"From Class 1-B Shibata So,"

The friendliest class all got up excitedly whooping as Shibata got up with a smile and made his way to the stage. I could feel my blood pressure rising in jealousy as Honami clapped and cheered as Shibata took the stage. He stopped short for a moment and smiled at her before turning and waving to his class.

I knew it was in vain but I attempted it anyway. I knew my fate was sealed but I tried with all my might. Repeating a mantra in my mind to any divine being that may be gracious enough to hear my call.

'Please let it be Koenji, please let it be Koenji, please let it b-'

"From Class 1-C Ayanokouji Kiyotaka"

Sigh.

As I got up from my seat, I chanced a glance at Honami who, despite being mad at me at the moment, clapped and gave me a strained smile and a thumbs up. Catcalling to me as I walked to my spot in line.

Standing next to Shibata I gave him a hard look which he returned. In my case, I was annoyed with him. I understand that they're classmates but there was something about the look he gave Honami that made me want to beat him. When I turned to face the crowd, the lights were almost blinding with flashes but the fact that my class was screaming and cheering even louder than Class B had made my heart warm.

Karuizawa spared no energy, whooping and jumping up and down, cheering at the top of her lungs. Eiichiro and the guys were much the same.

"Finally, from Class 1-D Kinoshita Minori,"

Glancing down the line, I realized that in my distraction I missed two participants. The boy from Class 2-D and the girl from 2-C. The boy didn't look to be anything special, judging from his build he was an average athlete, someone who was the best of the worst.

Nagumo hadn't taken his eyes off me the moment my name was announced, his eyes hungry with a challenging inferno. This was the chance he was waiting for, I knew he'd be itching to attempt at asserting dominance over me.

"There you have it, our Representative Athletes," Sasaki announced while looking down at the reporters.

There was a part of me that thought that perhaps I could manage to stay in stay in fifth place. We had four students that were older than me, I could just compete on the day without any specialized training. There wasn't any need to take this competition too seriously. After all, I didn't want to give Nagumo what he wanted so easily.

"The Government has decided that because of this momentous occasion we are sponsoring this event financially. For our featured athletes, first place in each event will be awarded 100,000 points, 50,000 for second place and 25,000 for third place."

Alright, never mind going for fifth. I'm sure that I can go easy and place third in every event without much trouble even against older students at my current level...

"Out of the Featured Athletes there will be an MVP for the boys and the girls. Both MVPs will be given a prize that was created specifically for this event; an Exchange Ticket. This ticket will allow you to choose two students and switch their current classes. They may be used on yourself or you may select two students to switch from other classes.

"You may choose to use it to strengthen your own class or weaken another. A unique opportunity for a momentous occasion."

...Fuck that I'm winning this thing. It was as though Father already read my mind, he knew this event was to showcase me. He also knew that I hated to be forced to do anything and that there was a chance that I wouldn't give it my best if I felt like I was being cornered. He knew I hated politicians like Sasaki and he hated the fact that my secret was being revealed outside his control.

He must have proposed this reward as an incentive. At the very least this was an apology. This reward was too great to afford to be lazy. Advanced Nurturing High School and the viewing public would see me give my best effort.

The Masterpiece will perform.

"Best of luck to our Featured Athletes and to all of you in your annual Sports Festival. I look forward to seeing you all giving your best effort. In light of the scale of this event, the sports festival will be held in two weeks to give you all time to prepare yourselves," Sasaki finished before moving to Father's side and the two of them exited the hall.

The reporters were ushered to a different section as everyone made their way slowly back to their homerooms, all chatting amongst themselves excitedly.

The others beside me didn't say much to each other, we merely exchanged glances. Manabu seemed like he wanted to speak to me but with a look at how many ears were around, he decided against it and turned to leave to head back to his class. Shibata hadn't moved, seemingly coming to a conclusion before turning to me with a hard look on his face.

"If you win this you're going to take Ichinose away from us, aren't you?" Shibata asked.

"I don't see how it's any of your business," I said, turning and facing him with a cold look of my own.

Slowly but surely I was starting to see it. Shibata suggested something for us to watch that would ruin our date at my dorm, the random looks of jealousy weren't because of what I originally assumed. At first, I thought it was because he was a prankster but now it seemed to me like he was trying to keep his enemy close. As though he was being friendly to not seem like a threat and waiting for an opportunity to slither his way in.

"Answer me," Shibata glared at me.

"I wouldn't be taking her from you, she's already mine,"

The hurt flashed across his features and I knew I was right.

"What's going on here?" Honami asked, sensing the tension as she walked towards us.

Shibata stayed quiet, quickly turning stoic to hide his feelings from Honami. I glanced around the emptying hall, realizing that the reporters were all gone before snaking an arm around Honami's shoulders and pulling her to my side.

"Nothing. Just a bit of friendly trash talk, don't worry about it," I said brushing off her concern and kissing her on the cheek.

Honami didn't look convinced, looking between the two of us before Shibata excused himself. He left quickly, heading towards our classrooms briskly. Honami didn't push me away or reprimand me until the others who were in front of us were gone as we walked back to the classroom ourselves. The moment we were alone on the road, she slapped my hand off her and crossed her arms.

"I'm still mad at you," Honami glared at me.

I knew all along that she was but tried to pretend like I hadn't noticed, hoping she'd go along with pretending everything was okay and letting the quarrel fizzle out naturally.

"I thought we were okay now. You were clapping... You didn't seem to mind me touching you when Shibata was around,"

"When we're in front of other people, of course I'd take your side," Honami huffed. "I wouldn't embarrass you like that by pushing you away in front of others. I waited until we were alone to tell you that you're being a jerk!"

I remained quiet, taking the verbal beating that I knew I deserved.

"You have some nerve... You even flirted with Kiryuin-senpai right in front of my face!"

"I didn't flirt with her," I sighed in exasperation.

"I know what I saw,"

"You've misunderstood. She spoke to me outside the pool, I didn't even know her name before they announced her. You need to relax,"

"Don't tell me to relax," Honami snapped.

"Why are you even being like this? You're getting jealous over nothing. Shiina's your friend and she's not exactly the type to go after her friends boyfriend. What are you getting so worked up about?"

Honami sighed and shook her head as if she were educating a toddler as the First Year Classrooms came into view.

"You don't know what girls are like, Kiyotaka. I can't be complacent around you, do you even know how many girls there are that like you? It's like I'm in a zombie apocalypse or something, it's ridiculous,"

"We're already together, relax. They'll get the message, with time their feelings will fade and they'll move on with their lives,"

"You really don't know anything when it comes to girls. If anything that makes them more interested. They're just waiting for me to let my guard down so they can swoop in and try to steal you,"

"What makes you so convinced?" I rolled my eyes at the ridiculous scenario that Honami had offered.

"Because I would," Honami said seriously.

Although we were running a little behind, I couldn't help but stop. The entrance to the building and the halls to the classrooms were already barren with everyone already excitedly making their way back to hear the remaining details for the Sports Festival, the only thing being heard was the excited chatter and boisterous discussion from the full rooms.

Grabbing onto my tie and looking me right in the eye, Honami looked completely serious. She'd always been accepting of her role supporting me, allowing me to take the lead and make decisions on everything. From our relationship to our work on the Student Council. Now I was wondering just how much of that was true.

"Kiyotaka, if someone confessed before me and you accepted, I would steal you. If Nanase Tsubasa comes to this school and manages to charm you, I'll get you back. The only one you should be looking at is me."

I never thought I would say this, but perhaps Honami was reading too much manga. Before I could say anything else, she turned on her heel and walked to her classroom with confidence. My eyes drifted lower and I swear I could see that she was putting a little bit extra sway in her hips with every step. As if she were reanacting some sort of protagonist in a book with the cool exit to boot.

Shaking my head to clear it from unnecessary thoughts, I opened the door to our Classroom only to go deaf with the excited gathering of my beloved classmates. Horikita sat at her desk with her hands folded on the table in front of her with a hard look in her eyes. Curiously, Koenji didn't seem to be too happy either.

Chabashira-sensei did not look like she was in good spirits. Surprisingly, she looked incredibly distracted. She simply waited at the podium while the class continued to praise me, all while watching everything unfold thoughtfully.

If not for that Exchange Ticket, I'd be throwing this competition just on principal even if a Sports Festival sounded like fun. All I want was to experience what it was like to be normal, even now I wasn't going to be able to have that dream a reality.

"Now I'm sure that the announcement has excited you all but we still have to go through the rules for the bulk of the Sports Festival," Chabashira started while moving to each of us and handing out a printed handout.

"Sensei, is this festival another of the special exams?" Hirata asked, raising his hand.

"While it isn't explicitly called that, you may interpret it as such," Chabashira replied, continuing to hand out the printed paper. "In any case, this event will massively impact the class standings."

"Whichever Class places first will receive one hundred Class Points. Second will receive fifty. Third will not gain or lose any class points and last place will lose fifty Class Points.

"We should be fine though," Karuizawa said confidently. "We have Ayanokouji-kun and Koenji-kun. They both have the highest physical OAA scores in First Year, the others don't stand a chance."

"You're half right, Karuizawa," Chabashira corrected her. "Ayanokouji will not be able to participate with you. As a Representative Athlete, he will only be able to compete in that competition. The only time Ayanokouji will be competing along side you is during the final Relay Race, where all of the Representative Athletes are required to compete as the anchor leg,"

"That's not fair!" Karuizawa shouted.

"Would he even participate if he wasn't a representative?" Yukimura scoffed.

"Shut up, no one asked you," Karuizawa snapped. "Can you even help? Can you run more than five meters without falling over? Nerd-"

"That's enough," Chabashira cut her off in frustration. "The rules are the rules and Ayanokouji will not be able to participate. This is a four way battle between the first years. I have every confidence in you that you'll be able to win.

"Ayanokouji has a difficult road ahead," Chabashira said in a strained voice. "Please be more understanding of him rather than selfishly thinking of yourselves."

There were few in the class who knew what she was talking about, it must have sunk in. The gravity of what was to come. Koenji still hadn't looked up from his desk with his arms folded, remaining silent the entire time. Ike had other plans.

"What's tough about it? He's going to be on TV! Not that anyone is expecting him to win, but he has a chance to right? Ever since he got with Ichinose and started eating all of her bento's," Ike trailed off momentarily distracted with jealousy. "He's like, double the size he was when we enrolled. He's probably the biggest Representative competing,"

"Bigger doesn't always necessarily mean better," Hirata offered diplomatically. "If it's speed or other competitions... It'll be tough. Nagumo-senpai was the best player on the soccer club before he left to focus on the Student Council. He'll be a tough opponent,"

"Ichigo-senpai is competing too," Onodera observed.

"He already beat him in swimming," Sotomura pointed out.

"Yeah, I know. It's just an observation," Onodera frowned.

"I don't think that Ayanokouji-kun is beating my brother either," Horikita added with a frown of frustration of her own.

"Who will you be cheering for? Your brother or your friend?" Kushida asked curiously.

"I... I don't know," Horikita trailed off quietly.

"What does it matter anyway?" Sudo said. "If he loses, we don't lose class points anyway. No one's expecting him to win so no one will blame him if he doesn't win it."

Eiichiro hadn't said a word. In fact he hadn't even looked up from the pamphlet as he read it carefully in detail. The conversation died out and they all waited for him to say something. The silence stretched on for a few more moments before he finally stopped reading, looking up at the class and smiling at them confidently.

"Don't worry, I've got a plan," Eiichiro said with conviction. "We're winning this one and we'll move to Class B."

Horikita frowned with uncertainty, looking at him with disbelief.

"You thought of a plan by yourself? Don't you think you need to consult with us before you make a decision for the group?"

"No," Eiichiro said simply. "No, I don't. I know what we're going to do and I'll iron out the details with Chabashira-sensei tomorrow. Everyone should get ready to train like madmen, I expect everyone to do their best and accept their roles as I give them.

"Koenji, are you free for dinner? Let's eat at the pavilion tonight, my treat," Eiichiro offered as he stood up and packed his things.

The rest of the class took the queue that the conversation was over, all packing their things as well to get ready to leave. Chabashira gave him a nod and a smile before collecting her own things. Just before she took a step out into the hall, she looked at me one last time before shaking her head bitterly and leaving.

The question seemed to break Koenji from his thoughts as he looked up rather surprised before nodding and following Eiichiro out. He gave me the same blank look as the two of them left the room and I was left on my own in silence.

How many more days would I have like this where I could be a nameless face? The same classmates who either hate me or love me, how many of them would change to fear simply because of the truth? What would the ratio be?

So deep in my thoughts, I didn't hear the door slide open again. It wasn't until Matsushita was close enough and waving a hand in my face that I realized I wasn't alone anymore.

"Hey," Matsushita said awkwardly.

"Hey. You forget something?"

"Actually, I wanted to talk to you. Do you mind?"

"Sure, go for it," I shrugged, waving at Eiichiro's seat. "Although, it's probably a little risky for me. Honami gets... scary when I'm alone with other girls."

Matsushita's face contorted in pain for a moment, nodding to herself sadly.

"She has a point... girls can be like that," Matsushita said sadly.

I wonder if she was like that too.

"This has to be a surprise for you," Matsushita said awkwardly, trying to break the ice. "I suppose you're not too happy about this situation."

"It was coming anyway, whether I liked it or not," I shrugged. "I already had eyes in my direction after the Zodiac Exam. This just brings my execution date sooner,"

"You make it sound like you're going to die," Matsushita joked.

"In regards to some aspects of my life, I suppose I am," I acknowledged. "All I ever wanted was to know what it was like to be normal. I got what I wanted for a little while, I should be thankful for that,"

Matsushita went quiet, staring at her shoes as we both ran out of things to say. The longer this dragged on, if people saw us alone together it'd cause a misunderstanding. Deciding to rip the bandaid off, I asked her what she wanted.

"So... What can I do for you?"

"Well, I know this is pretty sudden considering the announcement was just made," Matsushita started awkwardly. "The reward... The reward for winning the Representative Competition, you'll use that on Ichinose Honami right? You're probably going to bring her to our class when you win,"

"You're speaking as if I've already won," I laughed.

"You will," Matsushita said determinedly. "Ayanokouji-kun will win. I'm sure of it."

Matsushita calmed her self and took a deep breath before continuing.

"When you win, when you get the Exchange ticket... You'll need to switch two students to use it... It's not really like spending 20,000,000 points for a transfer..."

"Yeah, I know. I was there," I tried to joke to eaze the tension.

"You'll have to choose someone to kick out of Class C for the swap... I'd like it if you chose me," Matsushita said seriously.

The surprise must have shown on my face, I really have been out of the White Room for far too long. Before I could even open my mouth to say anything, Matsushita continued.

"I'm in love with you, Ayanokouji-kun," Matsushita admitted. "I'm in love with you but I don't have a chance. I try to just... let these feelings go but seeing you everyday... It's too difficult for me. If I have to see Ichinose-san everyday... seeing the two of you together during classes..."

"Who says I'm going to bring Honami to our class?" I asked her in confusion.

"...you're not bringing her here? Did something happen? Are you two... having problems?" Matsushita asked, unable to hide her rather hopeful tone.

"No, not at all. It hasn't even been two hours since the announcement, I haven't even thought about it. Honestly, I'm not even sure if I can win. That smirking bastard's not really someone I can take lightly."

"Stop treating me like I'm stupid, Ayanokouji-kun," Matsushita huffed. "If you want to, you can win this. I know you'll win... I have no right to ask this of you but... would you consider it?"

"And if I'm not bringing Honami to our Class? Would you still want me to use you in the exchange?"

Matsushita wasn't slow, I didn't need to spoonfeed every detail to her. In her mind, there was only one other option if I wouldn't bring Honami to our class.

"If you're planning to bring Sakayanagi-san, my request remains the same. I feel like it would be easier for me if you were out of sight and out of mind for the most part," Matsushita said eventually.

Matsushita was one of my first friends in this school, it was disappointing that this was what she wanted. Irrespective, it'd be off brand for me to make a commitment bluntly. It's far more in character for me to remain ambiguous. I knew that after this interaction, Matsushita would be actively distancing herself from me and as heartless as it may sound, it was something I was rather grateful for. Friends can stick together through the rough waters and other times drift away when the tide pulls too fiercely. I couldn't see her the way she wanted me to and it would be selfish of me to insist otherwise.

"I'll keep it in mind,"

SS King's Gambit

A/N: Saying wHeN'S tHe NeXt cHaPtEr CoMing! does not work.

That is all.

I was always gifted. From a young age, I was the best. Academics, sports. These things came very easily to me. There were times when I wondered why I bothered putting in any effort at all. I was constantly praised and loved by everyone around me for my gifts that just came naturally. I've never had to work hard for pretty much anything in my entire life.

The adulation evolved into envy and for some, that envy turned to hatred. It never bothered me in the slightest. The ones that adored me and put me on a pedestal far outnumbered the people who wanted nothing more than to see me fail. The more I continued to win and thrive, the more those faces devolved into despair. The more that despair and desperation grew, I suddenly found myself developing a taste for it.

None of that changed when I came to high school. In middle school, most of the people that gave me attention and admiration were girls. When it came to boys, they'd either ride on my coattails or wish death on me with their glares. I can't say that I've ever had any real male friends my entire life.

I've been the instigator of more than one breakup in my time at this school. I never got tired of winning, never got tired of destroying my competition. When I came to this school and realized just what it meant to be placed into Class B, I had never been more insulted in my life. This school had taken my enrollment that I'd blessed them with, looked at me and spit in my face. I remember it like yesterday, watching the Class A students who looked down on us the day that the S-System was revealed. I loathed them, I hated them with a burning passion. I vowed that day that I would ascend, that I'd eviscerate them all. I'd tear them from their thrones at the top of this school and rule over my year like the king I was meant to be.

My lex talionis was biblical. Azuma Ayame was the first to go, an untalented recluse who shied away from people as if they were afflicted by the black plague. Those idiots chalked it up to luck, no one had known that I was the instigator. That expulsion, that one catalyst was the nativity of my journey. While Class A brushed off the loss as if it were nothing, I alone recognized the potential. I noticed that an expulsion had a penalty on Class Points before anyone else.

By the time Class A had realized, too drunk off their status and lethargic by their complacency, we had overthrown them. It was too late for them to fight back, I'd already made deals with the dregs that were left in Class D and Class C. By then there was barely anyone left to oppose me in the lower classes, they ate at the scraps that I dropped on the floor. Desperately begging like swine so that they wouldn't be forced to eat the free vegetable meals in the cafeteria like vagrants. The leaders of Class C and D had already died by my hand, expelled by my will without a second thought.

Now the gap between first and second may as well be a chasm. They're still within striking range but only by the tips of their fingernails. Most of them have already succumbed to their fate, signing memorandums with me and funneling their monthly points at the promise of a ticket to Class A. The only ones left are the stubborn few who still cling to past glories like a withered old man reminiscing on times long gone.

I have my pick of any woman I desire in the second year. There are a select few who are stubborn but they are irrelevant to me. Whether they were interested in me or not, I could care less. Kiryuin being the rare exception, the rest are not worthy of even thinking about. Dates have begun to lose their luster. It's now devolved into an experiment on how badly I can treat them in order to see how much they'll take. Evidently, the answer is quite a lot. Money and status scream the loudest in this school, survival of the fittest at its best.

It's for that reason that things that are easy and attainable are just... boring.

I felt myself wasting away. Even Vice President of the Student Council simply fell into my lap. While building my name, the man I admired approached me. He asked me to serve on the Student Council and I agreed immediately without hesitation. Perhaps here in this place, I'll finally be able to see something challenging. Something that would actually take an effort, something that needed me to work towards something that would make me feel alive.

I didn't feel alive, I just felt frustrated. Angry because the thing that I wanted to strive towards was recognition. Recognition from the people that I deemed worthy. No matter what I did, no matter what records I broke, no matter what I accomplished. Every single time, Horikita Manabu would simply look at me with disappointment.

That hunger for recognition turned to resentment. Now I wanted nothing more than to beat him. To show him that my way was the truth and that he was the one who was blinded by the Maya. A battle of kings would be historical.

Just as I chased after my war of the kings, another king emerged from the shadows.

Ayanokouji Kiyotaka, how I hate that boy with a burning passion.

At first, I looked at him like he was a waste of air. Appointed to the Student Council just by his name. For the first time since I'd met him, Horikita Manabu looked excited as he told us. I couldn't believe what I was seeing. Nothing I'd done for two years had ever given me recognition by him. Simply by Ayanokouji Kiyotaka joining us, he was elated.

When Nazuna told me about him, my contempt for him continued to build. Yet another rich kid who rode on the coattails of his fathers' name. A handsome but mediocre student with an indolent attitude that only cared about maintaining his body for vanity. Then while interviewing first years for new slots in the Student Council, I saw her for the very first time.

It was instantaneous. Everything about Ichinose Honami was perfect and I knew I wanted her immediately. I'd already started to make plans on how I could get close to her and build a relationship with her from the ground up. I knew that everything would fall into place exactly how I wanted it, just like everything that I'd ever wanted all my life. Before I even had a chance, Horikita Manabu assigned her to Ayanokouji Kiyotaka as his secretary. My agenda had been thwarted before it even began. Ayanokouji Kiyotaka had yet again had everything fall right into his lap.

Time went on and everything that should have been mine became his. Then the Zodiac Special Test happened.

I knew I smelled a rat from the beginning. There were too many inconsistencies. There was just something about Ayanokouji, he always has this air of arrogance around him. I'll admit, I was naive. I allowed the mere mortals around me to poison my mind, to let my guard down. All because I refused to believe that this person was truly capable all this time. Even as I brushed Horikita-senpai off while the three of us were having dinner, even I could barely believe what was coming out of my own mouth. When Ayanokouji ushered me closer, saying he'd tell me how he did it, that was the genesis. The disrespect, the arrogance...

"I'm a wizard..."

Even Horikita-senpai's laughter was humiliating. It also made me realize that my succession was no longer guaranteed. The way that Horikita-senpai seems to be grooming Ayanokouji spoke volumes; there was a strong possibility that I would be passed over and Ayanokouji would be handed the reins to the Student Council.

That's when it began. I contacted my people and they all followed Ayanokouji around. None of them could spot anything remarkable about him. He never studied, wasted his time with friends and spent all of his other spare time with Honami inside his dorm. It made me envious, I didn't want to think about what was happening behind those closed doors. She was supposed to be mine.

There are experiments on animals that are conducted to measure how intelligent a species can be. At times, it's difficult to ascertain which is actual intelligence and what was sheer dumb luck. I won't lie, this discovery by one of my moronic followers was 100% pure coincidence. I don't care how it happened, only that it happened. One day, one of my Class D students reported what they'd found.

This stupid moron was trying to see if there was anything on his OAA profile that he could find that others had missed. As if any of the other more capable people under my control hadn't thought to do the same weeks ago. By sheer accident he searched in a Search Engine instead of OAA and everything about Ayanokouji Kiyotaka was revealed.

It seems ridiculous that all this time he's been hiding in plain sight. As someone wealthy and who'd been public about the fact that he was home-schooled, I simply never thought to just search for him online. After all, I've never searched for anyone in the general public on a search engine. As vain as I am, I haven't even searched my own name. Despite the fact that I'd won numerous Academic and Athletic Awards, why would I search for a nobody when I didn't even do it for myself?

But as I read and I watched and I continued to read, all I could think about was that this was what I was waiting for. To go up against a miraculous talent, one that completely transcends comprehension. While others would be scared, I relished it. I wanted all of it. I wanted to destroy Ayanokouji before because he'd taken everything that was meant to be mine without deserving it, but now I wanted it for another reason. To prove to myself and the world that Ayanokouji Kiyotaka isn't a God, he's mortal. He lives and breathes just like all of us, he has weaknesses that I've studied meticulously. This competition was a chance to humiliate him for all the world to see and that accomplishment would solely be mine.

"Nagumo? I need a word," Horikita said, opening the door to my office and calling me out.

He waited at the door while I stood from my office chair and followed him out. The moment we reached his office and he opened the door, I entered to find Ayanokouji lying on his couch like he owned it with another of his comic books.

"Get up, Ayanokouji," Horikita-senpai said sternly. "This is not your office,"

"You called me here and I was in the middle of something important," Ayanokouji frowned, continuing to read.

"What was so important?"

"I tripped over a vine, fell off a cliff and now I'm engaged to a water sprite volume 4 was released today. I need to finish it tonight so that Sotomura and Hondo don't spoil it for me tomorrow," Ayanokouji said, waving his hand at Horikita-senpai as if to tell him to shut up.

"Chairman Sakayanagi is here to see you," Horikita-senpai said casually.

Ayanokouji shot to a standing position immediately, throwing the comic over his shoulder behind the couch quickly as if it were on fire. He looked up, saw me and his eyes grew contemptuous. Turning around to Horikita-senpai, Ayanokouji glared at him balefully as he took a seat at his desk before pulling paperwork from his leather binder.

"That wasn't funny,"

"Neither is you lying on my couch when we have the Sports Festival to discuss,"

"Well if that's all we have to talk about then you called the wrong person. Give Honami a call and she'll take care of it. Just get her to forge my signature on anything you need and everyone is happy," Ayanokouji said dismissively, making to leave the office.

"I won't be happy, Ayanokouji," Horikita said sternly. "I thought I made it very clear that it was all hands on deck. We need to confirm background checks on employees, authorize passes, show guests to their lodgings. You will have to do your own share of work."

"Oh, come on," Ayanokouji whined. "You don't need me for all of that. Even a monkey can take care of this,"

"Then it's a good thing I have my obedient little chimp here. Sit down," Horikita said.

Ayanokouji didn't move, he looked over at me before tilting his head in the direction of the chairs in front of Horikita-senpai's desk.

"Psst, didn't you hear him? I think he's talking to you,"

It's only now that I know what he really is that I could see this for what it was. This attitude, this act. While it may be his true personality, it served a purpose. This was his way of getting under people's skin. To throw them off their game by messing with their minds, wounding their mind and striking at their ego.

Even knowing this, Ayanokouji has a unique gift to piss me off with just a sentence.

"No he was talking to you," I said with a smirk. "After all, you're the only pet I can see here. Better get to it and do as you're told, kohai,"

The Government's dog didn't react in the slightest, just continued looking at me challengingly. I already warned him, this was his last chance. Either he did as I told him to or I would ruin his life.

Horikita-senpai looked up from his paperwork at the two of us questioningly. After regarding us carefully, he put down his paper and readjusted his glasses, folding his hands under his chin and leaning on his desk.

"What is going on here?" Horikita-senpai asked with authority.

Ayanokouji and I continued to glare at each other, neither of us backing down.

"Ayanokouji here has something he wants to tell you," I told him while still glaring menacingly at that arrogant bastard.

'Do what you're told like a good little boy' I thought to myself.

Ayanokouji wasn't backing down either. This was everything that I was waiting for, finally a worthy opponent.

"Manabu," Ayanokouji started.

I felt like he was mocking me, this arrogant bastard. Only he had the audacity to refer to his elders by their first name or with some stupid moniker. As much as I loathed him, I begrudgingly had to admit this little game that we were playing was fun. It was as if the one I was searching for my whole life was finally before me, the only one who could pose a challenge.

"I want to be Student Council President," Ayanokouji said seriously.

This little shit. Even now he was spitting in my face. I was conflicted because while it was frustrating that he wasn't doing as he was told, it was as if he were throwing down the gauntlet in a challenge. The only problem was Horikita-senpai's bias. Even if he were to lose, Horikita-senpai has always favored Ayanokouji over me. I knew now that he had the ability but he didn't have the drive. He wouldn't do what was necessary for the school, only for his own selfish whims.

At least my selfish desires had merits to the school. His legacy would consist of naps on his couch while the school devolved into chaos.

Horikita-senpai continued to watch the two of us, not reacting to what he'd heard and trying to read between the unspoken lines.

"Are you sure this is the road you want to go down, Ayanokouji?" I asked.

"Definitely," He smirked back. "You have no idea who you're provoking,"

"Oh, I know. I know exactly who I'm dealing with, it just makes me want to destroy you even more,"

"I will not ask again," Horikita-senpai warned.

"Last chance, Ayanokouji,"

"It's your funeral," Ayanokouji said seriously.

I could see it in his eyes, he was serious. There wasn't a trace of fear, only of challenge and utter contempt. He was ready for this, he truly thought that the moment I said anything that I would be signing my own death warrant. As if it was a foregone conclusion that he would be able to bury me with little to no effort.

"Horikita-senpai, there's something you should know about our little kohai here," I said confidently.

"Is this about his life before he was adopted?" Horikita-senpai asked.

It was the only time I looked away from Ayanokouji. Horikita Manabu stared back, he already knew. The expression on his face was tense, he knew this day was coming and while he'd already prepared himself, I could see that now that the day was here he didn't like it.

"How long have you known?" I asked angrily.

Horikita looked at Ayanokouji who still hadn't turned from facing and staring at me. He didn't even look surprised that he knew, perhaps he told him.

"Since roughly the first month of his enrollment," Horikita said truthfully.

"All this time," I seethed angrily. "All this time you knew that he was capable and you let him treat this school and this council like a joke?"

"People come to this school for many different reasons, Nagumo. Not all share your hunger for conflict,"

"You are unbelievable," I scoffed, completely baffled. "All of the hoops I had to jump. All of the barriers you put in my way, refusing my challenges and refusing to recognize any of my accomplishments and you acknowledge him immediately? All because of some sob story?"

"Nagumo," Horikita said gravely. "I warned you from day one not to provoke him."

"When did you lose your competitive spirit?" I spat angrily. "Why aren't you even curious to fight against him? To push past your limits and actually go up against someone who's worth it for once,"

"Only a fool tests the depth of a river with both of his feet," Horikita said sagely.

I couldn't believe what I was hearing. The one I idolized... He actually didn't think he could beat this arrogant bastard. Ayanokouji is intelligent, of that there was no doubt. Physically gifted beyond measure but he had weaknesses. No matter how talented one man is, there's no way he was gifted enough to go against an entire class or even an entire year group alone.

"You really want to fight me, don't you?" Ayanokouji laughed mockingly. "You're not afraid at all, even knowing everything you know. You really think you can beat me,"

"I know I can," I said confidently. "If anything knowing everything about you just makes me want to go against you even more,"

While Ayanokouji always looked bored and lethargic, for the first time I could see it. The way his eyes turned cold at a challenge, I knew that I was about to get exactly what I wanted.

"Alright then, let's go," Ayanokouji said coldly. "The Sports Festival, I'll win it. I'll get the MVP for the Representative Challenge against you and President Horikita. Is that good enough for you?"

I could feel the excitement. How long had it been since I felt this? How many days, months and years had I wished for a worthy opponent? Now thanks to all my patience, the years of being unmatched and suffering in silence, I finally had everything I could possibly want.

"I'll even sweeten the deal for you, just in case you're afraid. After all, from what I've heard your only wins have been off the backs of others anyway. I'll bet you that not only will I win the Representative Challenge in first place, but my class will finish first against the first years as well,"

This arrogant bastard, I was already going to accept just on that alone. That was the problem with people like Ayanokouji, too drunk off success with their own abilities that they had no idea how to work within a team. A team was only as good as its leader, Matsuo was notorious for being weak. As I look back now, knowing what I know, Class C's only successes were due to Ayanokouji's proficiency, both mentally and in lurking in the shadows. Without him there guiding Matsuo's decisions, they were doomed. He may be able to come up with sufficient preliminary strategies and he may have the strongest athletes. However when the fight was dragged into the mud and Matsuo had to come up with contingencies, they would be doomed.

"Alright then, what do you want?" I asked confidently.

"Your private points," Ayanokouji answered. "I want all of them."

Arrogant fool. Even if he managed to take my private points, I'd have them all back in the coming months. My opponent was formidable, even if he was being cocksure. I'd have to use most of them anyway with my preparations, he'd have nothing left regardless.

"Before you go thinking you'll empty the cupboard before I have my taste," Ayanokouji added as if he were reading my mind. "I want you to give the points to Manabu to hold as escrow. I'll allow you to keep 10% so that you can use it for any of your plans and for your daily life, but the moment I win, you'll empty your wallet straight into my balance."

It was the first time in a while that Horikita-senpai was mentioned. He remained completely still. Stone-faced and watching every single moment as if this were a live-action play taking place before his very eyes.

"And if I win,"

"Ask me for anything you want. Anything. It doesn't matter, you're going to lose," Ayanokouji vowed seriously.

Now I was furious with this conceited bastard. Even now, despite the fact that I had cornered him and forced him to fight against me, he was mocking me. I'm Nagumo Miyabi. I'm the sole king of my year. I subjugated the peasants and forced them all under my flag, working for me and worshiping me whether they cursed me behind my back or bowed down willingly. I was a king. Ayanokouji was a lab rat. Every word that came from his lips made me hate him even more, I'd surrender my soul to the devil to crush this failed experiment.

"I want you expelled," I said coldly. "If I win, you will remove yourself willingly. No borrowing points from anyone, no one will be allowed to save you."

Ayanokouji laughed as if he knew what I wanted all along. Those eyes. Those endless pits of hazel. For the first time in my life, I became guarded. I thought that I was the one pulling his strings but it was as though he knew all along. As if this was what he wanted and I just played exactly to my nature. There wasn't any time to second guess, this was everything I wanted and I will have it. By any means necessary.

"So predictable," Ayanokouji chortled. "Alright then, if that's what you want. Let's put it down in a memorandum. I don't want you crying foul play when everything falls to pieces around you."

"What are the rules?" I taunted him. "Are you going to be like Horikita-senpai over here and ask for a friendly contest?"

Ayanokouji laughed again but this time it was different. It was hollow, evil even. It was as though my suggestion was utterly ridiculous and suddenly it looked as if I wasn't watching the arrogant bastard I'd grown to hate for all these months. It looked like I was looking into the eyes of savage monster who'd been chained in a sea of white for the good of humanity.

"No, Nagumo-senpai. There are no rules, do whatever you wish. Threats, extortion, bribes, alliances, sabotage, subterfuge. Even violence, use it all. You'll need all of it. Ask everyone in the second year to back you up, tell them that I said it from my own mouth. I won't go back for revenge for anyone else. The only one that'll suffer the consequences is you."

That last slight was the push I needed to snap me out of my apprehension. Once again this arrogant bastard looked down on me. Telling me that I could use any means necessary and that it would all be in vain. Never in my life had I been more insulted. The meeting that Horikita-senpai wanted to have was ruined, now all that mattered was our bet. He watched in silence, wrote up the memorandum to what we specified and accepted my points to hold. He said absolutely nothing, his poker face was in full force. Ayanokouji left immediately after looking every bit the fellow king that I recognized him as.

"One last thing, Ayanokouji," I called out to him before he could go.

I already prepared for this. There was a part of me that knew that he wouldn't accept my compassionate offer. That even if I threatened to expose him, that it would only cause him to dig in his heels even deeper. He was pompous and overbearing, I knew that he wouldn't accept my generosity to tell Horikita-senpai on his own accord that he was bowing out of the race for Student Council President.

Which is why I already prepared my post for the school boards. I refuse to let reporters and the media steal my glory. A king doesn't bow to anyone, a king doesn't allow shows of insubordination. If anyone was going to reveal this failed experiment, it would be me.

With just one tap of my empyrean thumb, I watched as my post went up for everyone to see. Ayanokouji Kiyotaka's past had been laid bare and all of ANHS would know, the one who brought it to light was Nagumo Miyabi.

"Enjoy the aftermath," I smiled confidently.

I watched as he looked down at his phone and checked the school boards. He read over the post and I waited. I waited patiently for any kind of reaction but it never came. He just smirked confidently at me twirling his phone in his hand before catching it and shoving both hands into his pockets.

"It would be as naive to study the song of the nightingale, as it would be ridiculous to try and win a King's Gambit against a representative of the old chess guard." Ayanokouji said as he walked away.

It was only then that I realized how agitated I was. Horikita-senpai still remained silent for quite some time, sitting there as I took my seat across from him and calming myself. We sat there in silence until eventually, Horikita Manabu looked at me over the top of his interlaced fingers.

"Nagumo," Horikita said seriously. "You've just made the biggest mistake of your natural-born life."

As I looked at Horikita Manabu I couldn't help but feel my respect for him dwindle. The only regret I would have is if I'd never got the opportunity to test myself against Ayanokouji at all.

SS You're my friend

"Hey, I guess we're seatmates. I'm Shibata So," I greeted the girl beside me.

I couldn't believe how pretty she was. I was a little worried at first, usually girls who looked like this turned out to be stuck up. I couldn't help being concerned that I was going to be stuck with a real bitch, regardless of how good she looked. She smiled brightly, extending her hand without hesitation and beamed enthusiastically.

"I guess we are, Shibata-kun. I'm Ichinose Honami. Please take care of me, let's be friends,"

Let's be friends...

"Hey Ichinose!" I called out to her as I chased after her in the hallway. "Everyone's meeting for lunch in the cafeteria, you left before we could invite you. Let's go!"

When Tsube suggested we all get lunch together, I watched as everyone agreed and moved to go together. Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed my seatmate discreetly try to leave without bothering anyone. It's why I chased after her, maybe she thought none of us had any plans.

"Oh..." Ichinose said worriedly. "I'm really sorry Shibata-kun, I already have plans... I'm supposed to meet with Ayanokouji-kun and Asahina-senpai for lunch. She said she had something to tell me... Can I get a raincheck?"

"Oh... Yeah, sure! I'll tell the others. Next time, right?"

"Thanks for understanding Shibata-kun," Ichinose breathed in relief. "I'm so lucky to have friends like you,"

Friend, friend, friend. I'm sick of being friends. I hate being your friend. I didn't know it then but that was a lie. The days before, Ichinose started having lunch with Ayanokouji ever since she got on the Student Council as his secretary. Ever since then, she never had lunch with us from that day forward. The raincheck was never cashed, every day we'd see her in the cafeteria or elsewhere eating lunch with him. He always looked rather bored but with everything he said she'd laugh with her whole body.

I'd get jealous every time, why couldn't she laugh like that with us? Why couldn't she let her guard down with me? I was her seatmate, we spent all day next to each other. I met her first, what was so special about him?

It was early morning, the results of our mid-terms would be out soon. At first I was worried, I studied hard but I'm not a particularly studious person. I knew I was lucky, Ichinose was a genius! She figured out a way that we'd be able to pass without us getting expelled and we wouldn't have to study either! All we needed to do was believe in each other and have faith. As long as no one betrayed the group, we'd all be able to pass these midterms.

A moment later the door slid open and I saw her. She looked beautiful, far prettier than she had been on any other day. It wasn't just my eyes. As she grew closer a delicious scent filled my nose with every step she took, taking her seat while greeting people as she passed.

"Are you wearing perfume?" I asked in surprise, sniffing at the strong scent of citrus that was coming from her direction.

"Oh... Yeah, you noticed!" Ichinose smiled brightly. "I just... decided to give it a try. You know, the girls went shopping and I thought I'd treat myself a bit. I got a few things... perfume, make-up. Stuff like that. Silly, isn't it?"

"I think it suits you," I said honestly. "You did your make-up well too, not too much but it really brings out your eyes."

"Thank you Shibata-kun," Ichinose smiled gratefully. "You're such a good friend."

"No problem, I'm sure everyone will be able to notice your effort."

"I hope so," Ichinose said, continuing quietly under her breath. "I hope he notices..."

You're such a good friend...

"Did you hear?" Ando whispered quietly.

"About Ichinose-san?" Minamikata whispered back.

I stopped eating my lunchbox and quietened down as much as possible. Ever since the class voted on allowing Himeno to take over, I'd hear little things like this from time to time. Ichinose was always exhausted, falling asleep and struggling to remember things. It wasn't right, Ayanokouji should be helping her. It's not even her problem to deal with, why should she have to do everything?

Still, I'd be lying if I said that the sole reason why I supported Kanzaki's suggestion was solely based on her sake. If she'd just commit to us like Kanzaki said... If she just agreed to leave Class D's problems for them to sort out. If she'd just stop seeing Ayanokouji...

"I know, right? I didn't think she'd actually go through with it,"

"I never thought she was the type... She seemed like the studious, ambitious type. To think she'd confess... and to Ayanokouji as well. He's good looking and everything but... they have next to nothing in common!"

"Shh! The others will hear you," Ando whispered frantically, giggling to herself. "They're always together whenever they're not in classes, it was bound to happen eventually. I'm surprised that Ayanokouji-kun accepted, you know what the rumors are..."

"Come on, it's Ichinose-san. What guy wouldn't want a confession from Ichinose Honami?"

What guy wouldn't want a confession from Ichinose Honami? Why couldn't I get a confession from Ichinose Honami? Why couldn't I confess to Ichinose Honami...

No... Why didn't I confess to Ichinose Honami...

If I did, would she have said yes? If she said no, would I be able to handle it? I guess these are questions I'll never get answers to.

After I heard the news, while everyone was congratulating her I just smiled and did the same. It was so forced, anyone who looked could see that the smile was fake. Ichinose didn't notice and if she did she didn't say anything. I guess she was too happy, happy for herself while I was heartbroken.

Hoshinomiya-sensei went through everything with us with a fine tooth comb. She explained everything within the rules, answered every question and vaguely commented on what strategies were good or not.. Even now, just as we could hear all the other classes leaving to go about their business, Hoshinomiya-sensei made time for us and everyone stuck together as a group to try and find solutions to our problems.

"This... This is probably the worst possible scenario for us," Ichinose said worriedly. "We may have a few slight chances with the girls but aside from Shibata-kun most of our athlete's are pretty average,"

"Katsuragi-kun, Machida-kun, Yamada-kun, Koenji-kun, Sudo-kun," Ando listed off the top of her head. "Kamuro-san, Ibuki-san... Onodera-san, Horikita-san! Every other class has really strong athletes."

"Hundred Meter Dash, Hurdles, Capture the flag... Tug-of-war, Fifty Meter Dash, High Jump... Sudo-kun is going to eat everyone alive..." Amikura groaned.

"Class C is stacked," Hamaguchi added with a frown. "It's almost like this is rigged for them to win,"

"If we lose again... We're going to get knocked down to Class C," Amikura said sadly.

"I think we should do our best, don't get down guys," Ichinose said soothingly. "It's a sports festival, it's supposed to be fun. If we happen to get knocked down to Class C, we'll just bounce back on the next one,"

"Would you even be here for the next exam?" Himeno asked.

I could see that she wasn't trying to be rude, she was asking herself as if it was already a foregone conclusion. It was an inner thought that happened to leak from her lips. Despite that, it was loud enough for Ichinose to hear as she pursed her lips and hung her shoulders.

"I... I've already had the discussion with him, he knows I don't want to leave our Class. He'll listen, he won't force me... Maybe..." Ichinose trailed off.

"He will," I said resolutely. "I asked him pointblank. I asked him if he'd take you from us if he won the ticket. He said, and I quote 'I wouldn't be taking you from her, she's already mine,'"

I was hoping that it'd make her mad that he was being possessive like that. Hoping she'd look at least a little bit sad that he basically promised that he'd remove her from Class B against her wishes. Although she tried to make it not so obvious, I saw it. I've been watching her for months, ever since I met her. She ducked her head bashfully with the tiniest of smiles on her lips and her ears pink.

"If you want to stay then we need to make plans. We can't be nice in this exam, we'll have to sabotage him," Kanzaki said seriously. "Can you do that?"

"I can try..." Ichinose frowned in frustration. "It won't be easy."

All of us looked at her in surprise, not believing that Ichinose Honami would be willing to use dirty means to win. I was surprised too but for a different reason. She used to be so kind. One of the only moral people that I looked up to and admired. Someone who cherished her friends and wouldn't want others to go through the pain of losing others through expulsion.

"I'm surprised you're willing to do it," Himeno said in shock.

"Well, if he loses it's not like he'd get expelled," Ichinose pointed out while scratching her chin. "I don't want to leave our Class, I made a promise that I'd do my best for us to reach Class A. If I don't keep my promises, none that I make have any meaning anymore.

"Besides, for some reason I think he'd be strangely proud if I managed to pull it off," Ichinose joked lightheartedly.

"You two are weirdo's," Amikura said, rolling her eyes.

"Quiet you," Ichinose scolded her jokingly.

Inside, I was seething. No, I was furious.

These are my classmates. They were people who were the closest to me, the people who all promised each other that we'd support each other, do our best as a team to reach our goals. These people were supposed to be my friends, they were like my family.

So why was everyone speaking as if I didn't have a chance? Why was it a foregone conclusion that Ayanokouji would win? That he'd be able to beat all of the older upperclassmen but I would be the loser before I even put on my shoes?

"You should tell him," Hoshinomiya-sensei advised her. "Just be honest and tell him you don't want to be transferred, a good boyfriend should listen to his girlfriend's feelings,"

"I... can't do that," Ichinose said reluctantly. "I made a promise that I wouldn't let anything to do with Class Battles get between us. That neither of us would be obligated to help out the other's class unless it benefited our own. I made those conditions. If I go back on it... he'll throw it right in my face, I know he will,"

Hoshinomiya-sensei groaned and pulled a small bottle from her bra, turning around with her back to the cameras and taking a sip of her apple juice.

"Ah.. we're doomed," Hoshinomiya-sensei groaned in defeat. "All my plans on stealing Kiyotaka-kun from Sae-chan are going down the toilet,"

"You knew this was coming, that's why you brought him to Karaoke," Ichinose suddenly realized.

"Ah! Honami-chan," Hoshinomiya-sensei whined while moving behind her and hugging her, pressing their faces together cheek to cheek. "It hurts that you'd accuse me of something like that, have a little more faith in sensei,"

I couldn't take it anymore. I didn't want to listen to this. I always tried my best to keep my feelings inside, not wanting to be the only one in class who wasn't in control of his emotions. Locking them all away so that I could fit in with the rest of the group. I couldn't anymore, listening to all of this pushed me beyond the breaking point like a dormant volcano that finally erupted.

Slamming my hands on the table, I stood from my chair in anger. It flew back and hit Ando's table behind me with force before it bounced back and I angrily kicked it aside when it hit me in the back.

"Why is everyone talking as if I'm going to lose? Why is everyone making out like Ayanokouji's won before he's even had a single race? I can understand if we were talking about all of the Representatives.

"Everyone talks about Horikita-senpai. How he's the most gifted student and athlete the school's seen so far. Nagumo-senpai was the football club's ace, Ichigo-senpai is the captain of the swimming team! All of them are older than us!

"Even knowing all that, all of you are making plans like we've already lost! As if Ayanokouji already won and we don't even need to have a competition. I'm the football club's MVP now, I'm the fastest on the team! If he has a chance, why don't I!?"

Ichinose at least had the decency to look like she felt bad. While the others only averted their eyes, Ichinose reached over and patted me on the shoulder soothingly.

"Sorry Shibata-kun, I should have been more considerate. This situation is a little difficult for me... it's no excuse. I know you have a chance, just like anyone else out of the Representative Challenge. I'll be rooting for you," Ichinose said.

"Can we get him to sell it? I'm sure someone would want to buy it, it's practically a transfer with a bonus. Surely a class in 2nd or 3rd year would buy it," Hamaguchi thought out loud.

"The reward can be used that way," Hoshinomiya-sensei nodded thoughtfully. "The school wanted to have flexibility in the reward if the winner didn't want to use it because they were happy in their class, they could use it on other people. If it was limited by year, it wouldn't be fair. If a first year won, the market would be much smaller than if a second or third year won. They have more points to spend."

"So... Honami-chan just has to convince him to sell it, right? Either that or we find someone who Ayanokouji-kun would rather use the ticket on instead," Amikura joked.

Kanzaki looked like he'd been hit with a lightning bolt. Without saying a word to anyone, he packed up his things and left the room quickly before anyone else could say anything.

"Shibata-kun," Shiranami said quietly, tugging on my sleeve. "I'm sorry if it seemed like we didn't think you could win."

"Yeah, I apologize as well," Hamaguchi offered. "I'm just trying to think of solutions for every scenario... I wasn't trying to insinuate anything. I'm sure both you and Ayanokouji have a puncher's chance. Anything could happen,"

The others in the class agreed, all of them encouraging me with a friendly smile on their face as they hyped me up. I knew though, I could see it. Shiranami started the snowball rolling and just like everything in this class, everyone rolled with the consensus. I didn't need to be smart to see it, none of them believed what they were saying. All of them... All of them thought that Ayanokouji would win.

We stayed back to discuss things, none of it had to do with me. Our class had changed under Himeno's leadership. Amikura agreed to try to get Class C's participation table, Minamikita was friends with a boy in Class D and was going to try to get theirs too. We didn't have anyone close to Class A but Himeno came up with the idea of getting Yonezu to approach Sakayanagi-san and buying a leak from her. With how things happened since the Zodiac Exam, she seemed like the person to approach.

They wanted to try to sneak wins where the groups were weakest. It wasn't finished but it was a start. Even as we all made plans, the class didn't have the same self confidence that we used to have when Ichinose was our representative. The tactics differed, all of us just... weren't as close anymore.

Ichinose didn't seem bitter, she was just as helpful as ever. Pointing out how to deal with certain people, encouraging them that if they failed that it would be okay. She didn't even push back on being like this, Ayanokouji really had changed her. It was like the moral compass I always admired no longer pointed North anymore.

As everyone filtered out little by little, Ichinose and Amikura were among the last to leave. I followed them out as Shiranami excused herself and ran in the opposite direction.

"I'll try and sniff out whatever I can from Matsuo-kun," Amikura promised. "Although, I don't know how successful I can be. He's really tight lipped when he wants to be, I haven't been able to pry anything out of him about Ayanokouji-kun or the Zodiac Exam,"

"Matsuo-kun's really loyal to Kiyotaka," Ichinose smiled fondly. "He'd never betray him, I told you you were wasting your time,"

"Yeah, yeah," Amikura grumbled. "You always know everything, all hail the enlightened Ichinose Honami!"

"Well if you already know that... When are you going to tell him the real reason you continue spending time with him?" Ichinose said teasingly.

Amikura glared at her, for whatever reason she looked annoyed now. Am I missing something here?

"I'll get that table if it's the last thing I do!" Amikura shouted, stomping off down the hall.

Alone in the hall, it was quiet. The sun going down, the hallways darkening. The silence was deafening when I realized I was alone with her after what felt like a lifetime. If possible, I wanted this moment to stretch to eternity.

"Well, Shibata-kun. Do your best! If I'm going to stay in our Class like I'd like, it looks like I'm in your care," Ichinose said jokingly.

"I don't mind, I'll do my best and win this thing," I promised seriously.

"Thanks Shibata-kun,"

"Are you doing anything now?"

"Now? Why, was there something planned with the class? I was a bit distracted at the end, did I miss something?"

"No, no," I said with my hands waving. "It's just, it's kind of late and I was a little hungry. If we go to Keyaki Mall now, we can get something to go. My shout,"

Ichinose looked surprised but stayed quiet and looked at her feet. Before she could say anything, I already knew what the answer was. I wanted to stop her and tell her it's okay, simply so I wouldn't have to actually hear the rejection. I couldn't though, as the words caught in my throat.

"I'm sorry, Shibata-kun. Kiyotaka's my boyfriend now, I can't just make decisions thinking only for myself anymore. It wouldn't be appropriate for us to eat alone, I don't want to upset him. Thank you for your offer, but I'll have to politely decline," Ichinose said apologetically.

"Yeah, sure," I forced out a smile and a nod, rubbing the back of my head. "I understand,"

"Thank you, Shibata-kun. You're a wonderful friend. I'm very lucky to have you," Ichinose said fondly, turning on her heel and walking to the dorms.

It was over. I lost. I'm kidding myself, I never had a chance in the first place. Ayanokouji and I were similar in our OAA scores, it's not like I'm ugly either. I had more than a few confessions in middle school, I'd had to reject quite a number of girls. Now I knew what it was like to be on the other side of it, I felt horrible. More than a few times, I'd get a confession and laugh about it with my friends afterward. Not knowing what the person who mustered up their strength to confess was going through, how much it hurt afterward.

Now I knew. Now I knew what it meant to have your heart broken, to be on the other side of that equation.

I don't know at what point I reached the bench outside the Student Council office. I seemed to walk aimlessly, under normal circumstances I wanted to cry. I stopped myself realizing that it was not only not going to be helpful, but this emotional side of me was probably what made me lose in the first place. Ayanokouji always just looks... cocky. No matter who he talks to, it's like he just manages to fit in.

At Karaoke, I realized just how much of a gap there was. Some people are just born to be social. He's fun and outgoing when he talks to Amikura, he's attentive when he's around Ichinose and when he's around Himeno he's ambiguous. Hamaguchi's pretty quiet, even around him he just sat with him, giving prompts for polite conversation but otherwise he seemed comfortable just sitting in silence. The only time he seemed uncomfortable was around Shiranami, glancing at her and trying to stay out of her line of sight. I thought that maybe he had a thing for her, hoping it'd be true selfishly. So that maybe I'd have a chance with Ichinose but who am I kidding. Who would leave Ichinose Honami?

I sat there with my head in my hands feeling sorry for myself. When did it all go wrong?

"Shibata-kun? Are you alright?"

Sitting up and looking around, I watched as Kushida walked down the steps. Her eyes full of concern, she took a seat next to me and soothingly rubbed my back as I sighed in resignation.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Just fine," I said bitterly.

"Is it because of the announcement? I would have thought you'd be excited! You're going to be on TV!" Kushida said cheerfully.

"Yeah... I suppose you're right..."

Kushida frowned at my lacklustre reaction. Kushida was an angel, everyone loved her and I could see why. It was as though she just had this gift of seeing people. She was friendly to everyone, being everyone's support and knowing when someone was sad and needed to be cheered up. Class C was lucky to have her, I wondered why she wasn't in our class. She'd fit right in with everyone.

"What's wrong, Shibata-kun? I can see that you're upset,"

In a Class where no one believed in me, I needed to get this off my chest. Although Kushida wasn't in our class, she was everybody's friend. If I couldn't talk to anyone in my class, who could I talk to? At first I wanted to brush her off, realizing that she was Ayanokouji's classmate and anything I said could be used against the class...

"Shibata-kun, I'm your friend. Anything you tell me stays between us. I know we're in different classes but everyone talks to me. If I can help you, I promise I'll do my best,"

It was like she read my mind. I needed to get this out before I exploded.

"You promise? This stays between us, alright? Can you keep a secret?"

"Don't worry, Shibata-kun," Kushida said seriously, hugging my arm into her chest and squeezing. "You can trust me."

Just with that caring action, it was like a dam burst and I told her everything. My feelings for Ichinose, the Representative Challenge. What Ayanokouji said, what happened in the classroom, everything. It was like once I started I couldn't stop, without my even knowing I laid myself bare. Kushida never cut me off once, listening to every word with concern. I could tell she was actively listening to me too, not like my classmates who simply humored me. She nodded along, adlibbed at certain parts and never broke eye contact with me the entire time.

"Wow, that's a lot," Kushida said thoughtfully, letting go of my arm and leaning back in her seat. "I can see why you're struggling at the moment, I guess I was just naive. I didn't think of the competitive side of things, it must be tough when your own classmates think you'll embarrass yourself with the entire school and country watching."

"I don't think they were trying to be hurtful," I said defensively.

"Of course not, Shibata-kun!" Kushida refuted urgently. "No one would want to do that to their classmates knowingly.

"Even still," Kushida continued. "As much as I'd like to give you words of comfort at the moment, I really think that Ayanokouji-kun is going to win this. It'd take a collective effort, head to head I don't think he would lose."

"I know he's a fast swimmer but this is Athletics," I argued. "I'm the fastest on the football team, I'm the MVP. I have a chance don't I?"

"Sadly Shibata-kun, I don't think so. Ayanokouji-kun is... really physically gifted," Kushida said wistfully.

I know she didn't mean it that way but I begrudgingly had to admit she was right. Another way Ayanokouji beat me, that fucking thing dangling between his legs. It was like some kind of CGI out of a science fiction movie...

As if she came to a decision, she clapped her hands excitedly before turning to me and taking my hand in both of hers. She looked angelic as she smiled up at me, even in the night it was like she was my shining beacon of hope.

"Don't worry, Shibata-kun. I'll help you win this thing," Kushida promised excitedly.

Eh? Why would Kushida help me beat her classmate?

"Are you serious? How? Why?" I sputtered in confusion.

Kushida let go of my hands and sat back, thinking carefully on how to articulate what she was thinking so I could understand.

"I don't know if you remember but Sudo-kun was suspended for fighting. We lost Class Points for it but Sudo-kun's really changed. He studies with Matsuo-kun everyday, he's more patient with everyone and he's starting to be friends with a wider group of people.

"That suspension changed his whole personality. Before he was mean to people, bullying my friends even if all they did was bump into him. Sudo-kun's my friend too but it was difficult for me, I don't like taking sides between my friends. I just stayed quiet and apologized afterward if it happened in front of me or if people brought it up in private."

"Wow," I said in awe. "You really are an angel. You shouldn't have to apologize for someone elses mistakes,"

"Sudo-kun is my friend," Kushida shrugged.

"Ayanokouji-kun is my friend too but I don't know if you've noticed this but he's really, really lazy. He doesn't contribute much of anything during special tests and he always leaves everything to Matsuo-kun. It isn't fair on him but Matsuo-kun never holds him accountable. Ayanokouji-kun should give his fair share when it comes to his own work, right?" Kushida asked me with a tilt of her head.

It was like Kushida was speaking to my soul. This was exactly what I was thinking when it came to Ichinose. He gives her everything to do, from what I heard she does all of his Student Council duties and everything else.

"I think that if Ayanokouji-kun loses, especially in a public event like this, maybe he'll start to give more of an effort," Kushida said thoughtfully. "He wouldn't be expelled or anything like that. Maybe this would be the kick that he'd need to start taking school seriously. I think that if Shibata-kun could work with another Representative Athlete, the two of you could work together to make sure Ayanokouji-kun doesn't win."

"You're willing to help me? Even if Ayanokouji is your classmate?"

"Like I said, Shibata-kun. I'd be helping the both of you," Kushida smiled kindly.

I didn't know who she was talking about but after everything today I didn't want to win anymore. I hate Ayanokouji Kiyotaka. I tried to be nice to him for my own selfishness, thinking that if I was nice to Ichinose's boyfriend and staying by her side, that when eventually he dropped the ball and they broke up that I'd be there to help her pick up the pieces.

I can't do that anymore. Even more than wanting to win, I wanted Ayanokouji to lose so much more.

"Alright, let's do this," I said with a determined nod. "Thank you for your help Kushida, let me know what you need me to do."

"Of course," Kushida smiled kindly. "I'll do my best to help you any way I can, Shibata-kun. You're my friend."

Chapter 49

A/N: Thanks to Zook and megadonkeykong for reading over this and giving me suggestions before I uploaded it.

It's not April yet but I decided to be nice...

Or maybe this was Horikita's Plan all along...

I knew I was on the clock. This was what I wanted but once again my laziness had bit me in the ass. As soon as I heard that Eiichiro had a plan and Chabashira said that I couldn't help them, I automatically assumed that I wouldn't need to know the rules for the class to compete.

Nagumo Miyabi was incredibly confident and capable. I had to admit that he'd surprised me. Most people who'd discovered my past and the White Room had revered me, shying away from confrontation in fear or awe. There is a reason why I choose the people around me. There is a method to the madness despite the fact that my circle of friends, acquaintances and lover seems like such a hodgepodge of glaring differences.

I don't like people who simply allow me to do whatever I want. I like people who hold me accountable. There are other factors as well but when you live a life of people lying and doing all they can to appease you, people who push back and tell you when they think you are wrong are scarce. Life gets boring when everyone around you simply agrees or lies to stay within your good graces.

It took a number of detours to avoid being spotted by people, it was getting later. More and more people were making their way back from Keyaki Mall but with the bomb that Nagumo just dropped on everyone in ANHS it would seem that more people were staying out. I quickly switched off my phone for the moment. I needed privacy and quiet in order to see what kind of hot water I'd landed myself in.

I really was arrogant. It was pure unadulterated narcissism to bait Nagumo into a competition without knowing any of the intimate details of this special test. It relies on too many factors outside of my control. Even still, despite the fact that I'd blindly taken a challenge with seemingly everything up against me, I was quietly confident.

I knew this was the only route to take the moment that the White Room was about to be exposed. Exceptionalism breeds competition. While there would be many that would be afraid of me, there would be people with delusions of grandeur. Nagumo was the most obvious assailant, the only way to remind people of their places was to crush him and make an example of him. He would have accepted no matter how small the challenge, instead I chose a route where the odds were insurmountable. That way, once he lost, there would be no doubt as to what happens if anyone tries to provoke me.

Which is why I needed to be alone, I needed privacy. Nagumo's gambit may have been due to ego, not wanting the media to take his prize of exposing me. However, I couldn't help but respect how effective it would be. While eyes were on me and all the people that I was close to would be looking for me for various reasons, it would hinder my ability to move while he could put plans into motion.

Kiryuin was right, Nagumo Miyabi was not an idiot. Cheap tricks and playing chicken weren't going to work with him. He also wouldn't be stupid enough to blindly leave me to my own devices, he would watch me. He'd watch me and my class to see if there were any notable changes in their demeanor, trying to see if any of them would give up if I had any plans. Which meant I'd need to keep them in the dark and move about in the shadows to give them as much support without pressuring them with my wager.

Reading through the special test, I realized just how badly of a hole I'd put myself in. No... Perhaps this time I really had set myself an impossible goal.

50 Meter Dash

100 Meter Dash

Hurdles

Capture the Flag

Tug-of-war

High Jump

Long Jump

200 Meter Relay

It was a true Athletics style event, all track-and-field activities. I was confident that I could win quite easily. None of the other Representatives really stood a chance in that regard. The problem was the class.

The rewards were based on placing. One Point for third, Two Points for Second and Three Points for First. Eiichiro was predictable, he'd place one of our best competitors in each event and spread them out to maximize our chances. Once the participation table was set, they'd have to compete in that team of competitors with one exception. The only way you'd be able to substitute a participant was to pay 1,000,000 per change. You were not allowed to move competitors within groups, you could only pull from the people that were not listed in any group.

This meant that if Sudo, for example, was injured and couldn't continue, he'd be able to substitute someone who wasn't participating in the main events. They would have to be on standby, unlisted in any of the other groups. It also meant that you maximized value by making a substitution early, the price didn't go down as the day progressed.

Thinking things through we had two outstanding athletes and a few above averages. Koenji and Sudo were strong in their own rights. Hirata and Miyake would both prove to be formidable. The problem was with the girls. Aside from Horikita and Onodera, we didn't have stand-out female athletes. If I had to guess what Nagumo was going to do, he'd be able to win through arbitrage. Meeting with Ryuen, Himeno and Katsuragi and making an agreement with them. If he was able to get the three of them to funnel their wins into one class with the promise of paying them private points, we'd need to win every single event in order to stay on top and win. If he was successful, that'd mean that even if my Class played everything perfectly and won every single event, it'd still result in a tie and I would be expelled.

My greed and foresight was already paying dividends. Locking up his wallet by making him put everything in escrow with Manabu now proved to be crucial. He'd have next to no points to hand over immediately for bribes, meaning he'd have to go on promises and go into debt. While that would be rather difficult to do under normal circumstances, by revealing the White Room he'd be able to capitalize on the fear and confusion a revelation like that would cause. He was the leader of Class 2-A. He'd naturally already taken the time to analyze everything and realize just how stacked the odds were in his favor.

As if on autopilot I started to code. With my phone off and the laptop signed out of my email, I enjoyed the night sky on the bench as far out into the campus as I could go. No one would think to look for me here, the lazy genius wouldn't travel this far out for no reason. If anyone was looking for me, they'd look in my room or any of the closest amenities. I wondered just how worried people were for me, whether this would be enough of a change for Arisu to finally approach me to make amends. The reaction would be pivotal, it would dictate just how difficult my task would be.

I sat there for hours writing code in the ambiance. BUDDY hadn't seen any updates at all, today would finally be the day when I would actually muster up the effort to charge the phone that I had sitting in my bedside drawer. I vaguely wondered just how many points I'd managed to save. I knew that once this was over I'd be 32 million points richer thanks to Nagumo, the competitive side of me wondered just how much wealthier I was than the other Student Council Vice President.

With this win, I'd finally be able to spend some points.

I hadn't used BUDDY much despite making it. I couldn't spend the points even if I wanted to. No one knew it was mine and everyone knew that I didn't work. I stopped charging the phone out of sheer laziness but also out of self-preservation. If I didn't see how many points I had, I wouldn't be able to spend them. Now wasn't the time to be worried about what others would deduce, all of the points I'd farmed from the school would have to be my war chest for my final stand. It wasn't until the earliest hours of the morning that I finally stopped, the school had long since fallen silent as I walked alone in the desolate streets towards my room.

When I opened the door and put down my things, I noticed. An empty plate in my sink, a coffee cup on the coffee table. When I went into my room, I noticed a female school uniform folded on the chair and what seemed to be my recently used shower, steam still barely visible on the mirror. Even the sudden light of the room didn't wake Ichinose Honami, asleep in my bed wearing one of my shirts and her underwear.

My pillow had a large spot of dried tears. Honami was asleep, probably exhausted while waiting for me and emotional. Her hair was all over the place, still slightly damp from her shower with her eyes puffy and her nose red. It wasn't until my weight disturbed the bed when I took a seat next to her that she finally awoke only for the waterworks to start once again as she started to cry at the sight of me.

"Kiyotaka," Honami cried. "I'm sorry, I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to read it I swear, everyone was tal-"

"It's alright," I cut her off, patting her back as she cried into my shirt. "I thought you already knew, you didn't seem surprised when Sasaki mentioned knowing me,"

"I was suspicious," Honami sniffled. "I had a feeling you were known for being a genius or something. The fortune teller, the staff at Keyaki Mall, even the teachers. Everyone seemed to know you somehow..."

I continued to pat her back as she continued to cry. I should have known that she would have noticed, Honami was perceptive. She was honest and loyal too, even if she suspected she had the discipline not to look even if she was curious. It's the clever man who plays the fool and a foolish woman who doesn't recognize it.

"I didn't want to pry into your private life so I didn't look. Then our group chat in our class started talking about it, they thought that I knew... I didn't mean to,"

"It's fine, it's fine," I continued to comfort her.

"H-how could he do that to you..."

She didn't have to say who he was. Anyone would be able to deduce by the context.

"I don't know, want me to ask him?"

"The articles said that he was dead," Honami asked in confusion, prying her face from my chest.

"There are reports of seeing your family when you have a near-death experience," I said thoughtfully.

Before I could finish my joke, Honami pounded me in the chest before burying her face in my neck.

"That's not funny!"

"Did you forget? Isn't that how Baki got so strong? I could kill two birds with one stone, maybe I'll get your answers and a conselation prize of a Demon Back,"

Honami choked between a sob and laugh but hit me again as if telling me to stop.

"Why are you crying though? It happened a long time ago, I'm fine now,"

"I have to cry for you. You wouldn't cry for yourself so I have to cry enough for the both of us,"

"It's alright, don't worry about me. I'm fine, really. You should go back to your room, it's past curfew."

I tried to get up from the bed while holding her hand to take her back only to get stopped and dragged back down to lay with her. Honami looked serious, not wanting to leave and daring me to try to force her.

"I'm not leaving you, not tonight,"

"I'm not going to disappear. No one's coming to get me either. Everyone from that place is long since dead,"

Honami went quiet as I continued to stroke her back. She wasn't as hysterical anymore but she was still sobbing as she continued to try to stop crying. Eventually, the sobbing subsided as we continued to lie down with our legs and arms intertwined.

"So what they said... It's true. The army killed everyone, your father too..."

"My father is still alive and well, Sakayanagi Narumori is and will always be the only father I'll ever recognize. That man is nothing to me,"

"What... What did they do to you in that place? I had to stop reading. Is it really true? They really found you all alone?" Honami asked quietly. "You were really by yourself all those years?"

"Well, not always. There was staff there but whenever I didn't have to do anything I was alone. I didn't really have a lot of choice in the matter,"

"How can you joke about that? How are you so normal? The early articles were debating whether or not you were some kind of monster! One of the top searched images of you was a before and after of you smiling for the first time!"

"I still can't believe all of this, it's like I'm dreaming," Honami trailed off.

It was late at night, probably 1:00am. My concerned girlfriend was willing to do anything to comfort me. This... was a golden opportunity.

"We should probably go to sleep then, I'll go and switch off the light,"

I really had been far from that place for far too long. I must have had my nefarious thoughts written all over my face. Honami was planning to stay the night, dressed in one of my t-shirts with the only other article of clothing being her panties which I couldn't see with the oversized garment. I'm still a teenage boy, my girlfriend was hot and I was machiavellian by nature. Maybe I should have played more into the sadness route if I really was desperate for things to progress but that wasn't going to happen. Ayanokouji Kiyotaka doesn't resort to pity se-

"Just so you know, we will not be doing anything tonight that isn't PG-13 Ayanokouji Kiyotaka. Your hands better not roam into any... unchartered territory," Honami warned me.

With my back to her, I was sure that the disappointment wasn't evident as I switched off the light and returned to my bed. Words were one thing but who knows what could happen when the room was dark?

"I'm insulted you think so low of me,"

"You think I didn't notice you staring at my legs? Pervert,"

"You do know I sleep naked right?"

"No you don't. I wash your clothes, I know you have sleepwear,"

"Nope, I sleep naked,"

"Since when?"

"Since tonight,"

"Just hurry up and get your butt in here. With your clothes on,"

Attempt thwarted, looks like tonight wasn't the night. After changing for bed and lying down next to her, we settled in and I already started to drift off. It was a long day and I was already ready to sleep hours ago but got distracted. I would have stayed awake for other things but not for a night long deep and meaningful.

Just as I was about to fall asleep, Honami combed her fingers through my hair and continued to talk.

"So... you're a true genius. Like some kind of savant, right?"

"I know a few things," I mumbled, falling in and out of consciousness.

"So you're really good at math?"

"A little,"

"Science?"

"I can make coffee,"

"That's not science,"

"Good coffee is,"

"Can you speak other languages?"

"I know a bit of this and that,"

"What languages can you speak?"

"A few,"

"English?"

" Who knows," I said in perfect English.

Honami frowned, not knowing what I said exactly but continued listing languages.

"Spanish?"

"Quién sabe,"

"French?"

"Qui sait,"

"Swahili?"

"Nani anajua,"

"Russian?"

"Кто знает,"

"Mandarin?"

"谁知道,"

"Korean?"

"누가 알아,"

"Why do I feel like you're messing with me?" Honami huffed and poked my cheek.

"Who knows," I mumbled.

By then I could barely keep my eyes open. This time, I wouldn't be blessed with a dreamless sleep as the memories of a time long past came alive in my subconscious...

I stared at the glass as I continued to wait. How long had it been? Minutes? Hours, days, months? Years...? This place was all I knew. In this silent room of White, my ears felt comfortable. When they continued to ring endlessly. It hurts when people talk. When they come and disturb my solitude. The sounds, the shutting of doors, the voices. It vibrates through the air and crashes into my skull like a tsunami. When all you hear is emptiness for all the time I've spent in this place, sounds aren't a privilege. It's torturous.

All that I've experienced is being a captive. Reading those stories isn't stimulating. Ishmael's quest while realistic is simply a parable to the likes of me. Other children would read stories of flight and magic, phenomena they'll never experience because it would simply be impossible. I read of plausible life experiences and know that that is my magic. To someone like me, the concept of an ocean or a whale will forever be just that; a concept.

To taste pure freedom. To eat the foods that I've only read about in literature. To see places beyond this sea of White. While they may exist outside these four walls, they may as well be tales of the Gods for I will never experience them.

This does not sadden me, I have long since forgotten what it feels to be sad. I doubt that I've ever experienced such a thing. I am a tool. A pawn. The White Room's philosophy is all that exists for me. I've long since discarded anything that resembles what it means to be human. The only human characteristic that's left inside of me, is the desire to survive.

Usually, there was a sound. A beep, something of that nature. It was the first time that my door was opened so ferociously. The deafening sound echoed torturously as something rammed itself against the door lock and the glass cracked at the entrance to my quarters. A man I'd never seen before with a bulletproof vest, a rifle and full protective gear walked into the room to see me with his gun pointed in my face.

There was no fear in my eyes. What was fear? Anything resembling such a feeling had long since left me as I stared back at the black goggles that regarded me carefully as the man put down his gun and removed his protective eyewear. I saw something that I'd only read about in books, the softening of eyes as the man knelt down on one knee and held out a hand to me.

He had a large build. Short black hair with a rather large scar over his right eye. I'm sure most would find him intimidating but he resembled a gentle giant to me.

"Hey kid, are you alright?" The man coaxed me gently.

I watched on guard, perhaps this was another test. Failing this may have some kind of deeper meaning, what was the reason for this drill? Instead, I backed up and fell into a defensive stance. Analyzing my options, this had to be a test. He didn't even have his weapon drawn on me, perhaps this was a drill on how to take down an armed assailant.

"I'm here to get you out of here kid, who are you?" The soldier asked with his hands raised in surrender.

"Subject 01, Generation 4," I answered instantly out of habit.

The man stared at my introduction but hadn't said a word. When he reached into his front pocket I dashed forward, kicking him in the side of the neck before grabbing him around the throat in a rear naked choke.

"Woah, woah! Kid, it's okay. I'm not going to hurt you. It's just a snack, I'm just reaching into my pocket for a snack," The man said quickly.

He didn't even defend himself or struggle. He simply waited for me to say something, to remove him from my grasp. What kind of test was this? Was it a simulated scenario of what would happen if someone were to help me escape?

At my hesitation, he reached into his pocket again before pulling out a small clear plastic wrapped package with an individual piece of food inside. It was brown... it had color.

"It's mochi, chocolate flavored. Want one?"

I'd read about chocolate before... I wondered what it would taste like. I stared at the morsel and wondered just how long this man would continue this test. It must have been a sedative of some kind, perhaps poison.

As if understanding my apprehension, he unwrapped the plastic before taking a small bite from the corner and showing me the food. He made a show of swallowing before opening his mouth to show that it was gone.

"It's a sweet, it's really good. Would you like to have one, Subject 01?"

I looked around the glass walls, wondering who would be conducting this test. I couldn't understand, for once I wasn't sure what the answer to this scenario they posed for me was.

Still, the temptation was too great. This would be the first time I'd be able to taste something that wasn't the nutrient-dense tasteless white goop that I had eaten all my life. I'll suffer the consequences even if it meant that I'd be isolated for a year after this.

Rather than answering, I snatched the soft offered sweet I now knew as 'mochi' before devouring it as fast as I could before they could take it from me. I didn't even get to savor it as I chewed and swallowed it swiftly. It was delicious, like a gift from above.

"Woah there kid, I wasn't going to steal it from you," The man joked, pulling another treat from his pocket. "Would you like another?"

"What is the objective?" I asked.

This was the first time I'd ever been put into an impromptu role-play such as this. Usually, I would be informed of the objective before they would start their tests. This was highly irregular. He looked to be confused by the phrasing but answered anyway.

"I'm with the army. We're here to rescue you guys, the boys are outside cleaning up. We're just searching for other hostages. Do you know if anyone else is in this wing?"

"No, there is not," I answered as I took the mochi offered by the man. "I'm the only one left. The others failed, I'm the only subject remaining."

The man looked sad. So this is what sadness looks like. The hunching of the shoulders, the downturned eyes. How fascinating, what was there to be sad about?

"Do you have a name, kid? Or do they only call you Subject 01?"

A name. How long had it been since I'd been referred to anything other than Subject 01?

"Kiyotaka," I answered. "Ayanokouji Kiyotaka."

The man nodded with a smile as he sat with me. He seemed a little dizzy, rubbing his neck gingerly and groaning as he swayed in his spot.

"You have a hell of a kick there, Ayanokouji-chan,"

"It served its purpose. I judged the amount of force you would be able to take, avoided hitting you near any major blood vessels and I also didn't hit you in the head. I deduced this was an examination, I wouldn't be able to question you if I had killed you or impaired your equilibrium."

The man looked at me as if I were speaking another language. Perhaps this one was stupid, he didn't seem to be one of the White Room staff and I was most certainly speaking Japanese. The army... a body of militaristic force controlled by the Government. Why would they be here? A training exercise?

'Report, Alpha. Have you fou-'

A device attached to the man spoke. As he reached for it I snatched it before grabbing the device and smashing it against the floor. I jumped at the man just as more soldiers entered with their weapons drawn.

Before anything else could happen, the soldier grabbed me in a hug and shielded me with his body, turning his back to the other men and screaming at them frantically.

"STAND DOWN, STAND DOWN. HE'S JUST A BOY!"

All of them instantly put their weapons down, the one at the forefront stepped forward and stood at attention with a salute.

"Lt. Colonel. The assailants have been detained and the facility has been captured. General Amasawa has ordered that the remainder of the facility be swept and that all hostages be moved to the gymnasium,"

"Alright, alright. At ease, this wing has been cleared. No one's here except Ayanokouji-chan here," The man said, patting me on the head.

"Ayanokouji!?"

The gentle giant ceased with patting my head before turning and glaring at the other soldier angrily.

"Silence, that's an order! He's a child, it's not him,"

"I know Lt. Colonel. Professor Ayanokouji has already been detained," The other soldier said in disbelief. "It's just... he... his own son..."

"I said that's enough Corporal, did you not hear what I just said? Out, now! Before I have you put under disciplinary action."

This was unlike any other test I'd experienced before. Perhaps it was a new year and the difficulty would be raised. This must be a simulation, one where I was put into a situation and tasked with an objective that wasn't given up front. Perhaps a task to test my decision making? What was the key...

"Alright, Ayanokouji-chan. We'll have to relocate. Would you like me to carry you or can you walk along beside me?" The unnamed Lt. Colonel asked me.

If I had the capacity to, I would frown. The White Room had never prepared me to make my own decisions. What was I supposed to do?

"Maybe it would be best if we stayed here for a while until you've grown accustomed to the situation," Lt. Colonel offered when I hadn't answered.

It seemed like the assessor had assisted me with the correct answer. Following his lead, I nodded before sitting on my bed with my hands on my lap as I waited patiently for the next stage of this test to begin. The curriculum had changed but I would succeed as I always did. The White Room accepts nothing less than that...

I felt like I'd only blinked and it was already morning. Uncharacteristically, I slept in. I already missed my morning gym session, the sunlight pouring in from my window told me that immediately without even needing to check the time. That was the least of my problems, I realized that the moment that I recognised that I'd done it again...

I don't know how or when it started, ever since I was adopted I developed a strange habit. Arisu and I slept in the same bed for quite a while, she always wanted to be close to me as soon as I moved into the manor. I had no reason to deny her and we stopped when we grew older but in the beginning we slept in the same bed. Father thought it was cute that Arisu never wanted to leave my side.

That's when slowly but surely over the years, I became a cuddler. For some odd reason in my sleep I'd always grab at the closest thing to me and wrap myself around it like a boa constrictor. Perhaps I inherited it from Arisu, at first she would always cling to me but eventually relegated herself to being the little spoon.

Which is why at the moment I was in a predicament. Ichinose Honami was wrapped up in my clutches. With Honami lying on my left arm, my hand inside the neck of her shirt and clutching her breast with my other hand snaking its way between her thighs. To make matters worse, she even had my morning wood pressing into her back.

How... How do I get out of this predicament...

I still have time. I thought to myself as I tried to slowly pry my hand out from between Honami's thighs without waking her up...

"So you decided to remove that hand first?" Honami asked with her back still facing me.

My brain froze, what do I even say?

"And for your information," Honami continued. "My boob is not mochi,"

Eh?

"Mochi?" I repeated in confusion.

"Mochi," Honami confirmed. "You kept on groping saying 'Mochi' over and over in your sleep."

If this would be the moment that I'd either die or be castrated, I may as well enjoy it. I looked down at the mountain of strawberry blonde hair that camouflaged Honami's face but saw the tip of an ear that was a violent shade of red. Giving a light squeeze with my left hand, I could have sworn I heard a moan as Honami grabbed my wrist and turned to face me. I could now see just how badly Honami was blushing, how long had it been since she'd got used to the physical side of our relationship and I'd seen that shade of red?

It was softer than I thought it would be, heavier as well. No wonder Honami always had sore shoulders and an aching back.

"Kiyotaka!"

Deciding to be safe, I removed my hands as Honami turned in the bed before burying her face in my chest to hide. Today was a momentous day, I just groped my first boob. Bare skin too, so that's what a woman's nipple feels like...

"...did you sleep well?" I asked awkwardly.

All I got was a nod with her face still buried in my chest. I knew it had to be a lot for her. Honami told me that I was her first kiss, it hadn't even been that long ago. Things were progressing quickly. Even if it was subconsciously, I did feel a little bad about the whole situation. Although I think I have a new favorite thing aside from those thighs...

"Are you tired?" Honami asked, muffled from her face in my chest as she held me tighter.

"I'm okay, I slept in though. I'm normally up earlier than this,"

"You were really restless, you seemed to be having a bad dream. Then you grabbed me and..." Honami trailed off before shaking her head, probably trying to shake the memory.

"Did you like it?" I asked curiously.

"No!" Honami denied quickly.

That blush told a different story though.

"Liar,"

Honami looked like she was going to deny it again before huffing and glaring at me.

"Fine, I liked it... AH! What am I saying!?," Honami cried, covering her face.

Getting up with a groan, I went into the bathroom to take care of my morning ritual. I barely noticed Honami's gaze lower as she seemed to glance at what was previously poking her in the back.

She has the audacity to say I'm the pervert.

Women, honestly.

"So... what should we do today?" Honami asked from the doorway.

Spitting out my toothpaste, I looked at her in the mirror in confusion.

"We have classes soon,"

"You're going to go to school today?"

"Why not? It's Tuesday, we have classes,"

Honami frowned in concern as I continued to brush my teeth again. She waited patiently until I was finished before hesitantly telling me what was on her mind.

"No one will hold it against you if you took a day off,"

There was no point in doing that, it would show weakness. Nothing changed in the grand scheme of things, whether I'd been exposed by Nagumo or the news, either way this was going to happen. There was nothing to gain from shying away from confrontation, I wasn't the type of person to cower and hide away while crying foul. I face my problems head on.

"It's fine," I reassured her. "You should probably get ready for classes though, don't you have to go and get changed?"

Honami looked hesitant but nodded regardless, changing into her uniform with her back turned to me as I watched discreetly from the reflection in the mirror.

She'd changed into her uniform to go back to her room for a fresh set. Nothing screamed the walk of shame like wearing your boyfriend's clothes while you left his floor in the morning. Even if nothing happened. Well, almost nothing...

"I'll see you at lunch?" Honami asked, kissing my cheek.

"Yeah, I want some mochi for desert," I grinned.

Honami slapped me on the arm with her cheeks pink at the memory. I could tell that she wanted to ask me what I was dreaming about but now more than ever. I wasn't going to give up any information unnecessarily. Mystery is the spice of life, if she was willing to hand me the keys to tell her anything about myself it would have to be a mutual trade. The articles were thorough but they were outdated. I was far more formidable now than the White Room could have ever hoped to produce.

The struggle continued for another moment before she left to go about her business.

The walk to school was uncomfortable. Entering the lift resulted in nothing but silence. No one wanted to look in my direction, no one said a word. Everyone seemed to shy away as close to the walls as possible as I stood at the center. The moment the doors opened I exited first without a care in the world as I made my way to class.

Second years, Third years. There was no difference. A few of Arisu's classmates looked at me as if I were a monster. As if they knew all along but didn't dare believe. I wondered just how many would apologize to Arisu for doubting her. If I knew them like I thought I did, many of them would continue to support Katsuragi. While their pride would be hurt at being tricked, their natural dispositions to self preservation and their status would never allow them to admit they were wrong.

They'd also be too afraid to provoke me.

When Totsuka crossed my path he went pale. I'd never seen someone move out of my way so fast, trying to make himself as small as possible as he cowered next to the wall of the hallway. I ignored him completely before opening the door to my class to find a sight I didn't think I'd see.

My entire class. Every single one of them were sitting in their seats with Hirata at the podium. The look of guilt on his face told me everything I had to know; this meeting was called and I wasn't invited. They must have assumed I wouldn't be coming to class today and agreed to meet to discuss the situation.

The moment he saw me, Eiichiro got up from his seat and grabbed me in a brotherly hug before throwing his arm over my shoulders as we walked to our desks.

"I've been trying to call you all night, I went looking for you," Eiichiro frowned in concern.

"Why? What's wrong?" I asked, feigning confusion. "Did something happen?"

With that reaction, everyone assumed I didn't know. I watched as they all averted their eyes in shame as Hirata suddenly approached to interrupt.

"No, nothing's wrong. Don't worry about it Ayanokouji-kun,"

"Enough Hirata-kun," Horikita said quietly. "He already knows. He's doing it again,"

"Doing what?" I asked again.

"Pretending like you don't know what Nagumo-senpai did," Horikita said with her teeth clenched.

"Oh, that," I acknowledged with a shrug. "What's wrong with that?"

Eiichiro stared at me, not understanding what my agenda was. Neither of us had the chance to talk about this, he was flying blind at the moment. I suppose that he thought I'd be angry, that I'd seek revenge or that I'd be angry. I was but I was in control of myself unlike how I was with Ryuen. Nothing could be gained by showing any sort of reaction or emotion.

Be that as it may, I tried to read the room to see what the consensus was about the revelation.

Sudo looked rather sad, avoiding looking in my general direction at all.

Ike looked to be a little afraid, sitting quietly with his face paler than usual.

Karuizawa looked like she'd been crying, no doubt she felt sorry for me. I knew she wouldn't approach me in front of the class but she was on my side, probably now more than ever.

I seemed to underestimate just how close the two of us were and how highly she thought of me. We had always been friends, she supported my relationship with Honami and I was the first one she turned to when she needed someone to help her. I gained a valuable ally with my exposure, one look at her told me I had a friend that would follow me straight into the fire just like Eiichiro would.

Yukimura looked like he was angry but seemed to be biting his tongue. No doubt not wanting to be the bad guy in a general consensus where everyone seemed to be wanting to protect me.

"Ayanokouji-kun," Mii-chan called quietly. "I'm... I'm really sorry that you had to go through all of that..."

Koenji looked up at the exchange but said nothing. He was the only one I couldn't read, he sat there staring at the front of the class for the most part with his hands crossed behind his head with his feet up.

"It's alright. It happened a long time ago, there's nothing to be sorry about,"

"What the hell is Nagumo-senpai's problem?" Satou said angrily. "Isn't this against the school's rules or anything like that? This is like... bullying or something. Who invades someone's privacy like that!?"

"It's public information, there's nothing the school could do about it unless they censored it," Horikita said. "I'm surprised that Ayanokouji-kun was able to keep this a secret for as long as he did,"

Horikita was surprisingly incredibly reserved. I thought she'd be angry at me, at the very least for not contributing to the class to the best of my abilities. I even thought there was a possibility that she'd be jealous of my intellect. Instead she seemed to be incredibly quiet and distant.

"I guess that's why you lied and said that Sakayanagi-san gave you the names?" Yukimura asked.

I could feel the shift in the mood. Apparently this was not a part of their agreed plan. Some of them glared at him with anger, others seemed curious but didn't want to be the one who brought it up. Hirata seemed to be worried about where the conversation was heading.

"Yukimura-kun, I don't really think that's really something we should be talking about right now," Hirata tried apprehensively.

"Why not?" Yamauchi asked.

One look at Yamauchi and he averted his eyes. He seemed to be curious but rather frightened of me. I could tell, he was afraid of me. No doubt he'd read everything. My story, my public academic accolades, my amateur fighting record. All this time the person he hated and vocally stood against turned out to be a talent that could mop the floor with him both intellectually and physically. Even still, his curiosity was stronger than ever. Just like everyone else in the room even if they didn't want to be the one who asked.

"I understand why he did it," Yukimura said. "Everyone has a past, I'm not a real fan of people lying. We're a class, we're supposed to stick together and trust each other. Even still, I understand. He was trying to keep a secret, he had to hold back and hide what he was capable of. Everything's out in the open now though, what's the use in lying anymore?"

"Even if you guys know the truth, Kiyotaka doesn't have to tell any of you anything. It's his business, no one else's," Eiichiro said with barely contained anger.

"Why should we trust you either?" Yukimura challenged. "All this time you knew and you lied as well. You're his best friend, you could have asked him to help,"

"Why should he?" Eiichiro spat. "Is that what you want? To get dragged to Class A off his back? Would you be happy with that? To get taken on a bus ride to Class A so you can brag to your co-workers later on in life that you were dragged there by his efforts?"

"We had zero points since the beginning up until recently," Yukimura argued back. "If he contributed more we could have at least been in a better position than we are now,"

"Guys, stop. This isn't helping," Hirata tried weakly.

Apparently Eiichiro had been boiling like this for a while. This argument seemed to be something that they'd already started during the meeting.

No... This wasn't just from the meeting, this had been going on throughout Eiichiro's life. Ever since he became my friend, he'd had to suffer in silence while people looked to use me. They were the children of people in power, he had to stay silent. He wasn't only thinking of himself, his father could have been impacted so I understood. In this place, he was a leader. Here he didn't have to swallow all the thoughts and feelings he'd had to keep bottled inside to keep the peace.

"Kiyotaka has never been the cause of problems in this class," Eiichiro said angrily, slamming his hands on the table and standing up. He grabbed Yukimura by the front of his shirt and got in his face just as Sudo and Hirata both rushed to stop him.

"Who the fuck do you think you are?" Eiichiro said coldly, not letting go of his shirt even with Sudo and Hirata trying to pull him off. "You think you're entitled to the truth? You think you're entitled to know everything about your classmates? Why don't you start spilling your secrets then? Go on, tell us all about you. What's your past? What makes you so perfect?"

"Matsuo-kun, stop it. Let him go," Hasebe rushed towards him, trying to calm him down.

"Matsuo, let him go. I know you're angry but you can't do this. The cameras are still watching, you could get suspended," Sudo warned him.

"Like I give a fuck about getting suspended or expelled!" Eiichiro shouted at him. "Kiyotaka has done more for this class than any of you will ever know! Just because he doesn't go telling everyone every little thing he does for us like he's asking for praise doesn't mean that he's done nothing for you, for any of us!

"So he didn't get the highest scores on tests and held back. So what? I've been his best friend for years. I've watched him grow into an actual functioning person. I've seen people trying to use him all his life and I will rot in a fucking hole in the ground before I let any of you try to do the same! I'll drag this fucking class into the deepest pit imaginable before I let any of that happen!"

I let this go on long enough. While I thought it was healthy for Eiichiro to let this all out, I knew that if I let this continue then everything would devolve into chaos. I didn't begrudge Yukimura, he was someone who gave his best in every examination. The fact that someone, a peer who he sat with everyday had been giving anything less than his best would be unthinkable to a person like him.

I also needed them to be united. In a time like this where teamwork was important, I needed them to focus on the Sports Festival or I'd have to withdraw from the school. Standing up calmly from my table, I put my hand on Eiichiro's shoulder. He looked at me as I smiled gratefully at him, thankful that I had such a good friend who would go to war for me.

I always knew he would be like this, it's why he would always be my best friend.

"It's okay, Eiichiro," I said soothingly. "Let him go. Really, it's fine,"

Eiichiro tightened his grip for barely a moment before sighing and letting go of Yukimura's shirt. He took a step back but continued to glare, Yukimura watched it all unfold uncomfortably. No one had seen Eiichiro get angry like that, the goofy pushover who always smiled and chewed with his mouth open. Everyone looked at him with a bit of fearful respect as he sat back down and I made my way to the board at the front of the class.

I didn't need to look at my phone, I memorized that table perfectly as I wrote the names of each of the groups. I wrote the regular members in white before picking up the yellow chalk and writing each of the VIP's names in yellow so that they could see the diagonal line of all of their names, Mii-chan gasping in surprise at seeing her own name there in the Pig Group.

"Oh my God,"

"There's no way it was that simple," Horikita breathed in shock.

"Are you kidding me? That was it?" Yamauchi said in disbelief. "Even I could have figured that out,"

"Even still, now that we know the result it seems obvious but just with this it would have just been a guess," Miyake thought out loud. "How did you confirm that the names were correct?"

"I confirmed the names with Class A," I said with a shrug. "I told them their VIP's and the reaction confirmed that I had the right key. I sent Eiichiro the names after I figured out how they were selected."

"But how did you get Ryuen-kun to submit the wrong names?" Horikita asked.

That was something I wasn't ready to reveal. I'd take that secret to my grave and deny it til the end of time even if Ryuen opened his mouth. He wouldn't though, of that I was supremely confident. He was a similar type to Arisu, he had an appreciation for the underhanded. Street types were like that, snitches were frowned upon harder than any other in that environment.

"Who knows,"

"Look, I know that Matsuo-kun has done his best for us. I know I appreciate it and I like him a lot," Shinohara said. "I understand why he took up the role in leading us so Ayanokouji-kun could keep his secret... but now that everyone knows..."

"If you're going to ask me to take over the class, that's not going to happen," I cut her off.

"Why not? If you were leading the Class, it'd be easy for us to get to Class A," Hondo said excitedly.

I didn't hold it against Hondo, he wasn't being malicious. He was a friend of mine, while distant he was still a friend. He was just lacking in social skills, he was tactless. It didn't make him a bad person, just incapable of reading the mood and the consensus of the room. Irrespective, he continued on from the point that Shinohara had brought up reluctantly. He continued to ask the question that everyone else in the room was too afraid to bring up.

"Are you stupid?" Karuizawa turned in her seat to him angrily. "Ayanokouji-kun is the laziest person I've ever met in my life. You think he wants to order you space cadets around?"

"I'm just saying..."

"Come on, Kushida-chan," Ike called out to her. "Say something. If Ayanokouji leads the Class, it'd be easy for us to get to Class A. Tell him to stop being lazy and do it!"

"Ike-kun... I don't think forcing someone to do something they don't want to do would be the right thing to do. He should want to do it," Kushida said diplomatically.

"Don't you see though," Ike pressed. "Class A has Sakayanagi-san, she's a genius. Class B has Ichinose-san, she's in the top when it comes to grades in the school. Class C has Ryuen, he beat everyone on the island. You saw it all, Ayanokouji's the smartest in the country! If you asked him, I'm sure he'd say yes."

"Ayanokouji-kun doesn't want to do it," Matsushita said quietly.

Matsushita looked around the room at the rest of the class who fell silent at her voice. When her eyes met Kushida, who'd been strangely quiet throughout the whole ordeal, her gaze lingered for a moment before she turned away and continued.

"Matsuo-kun knows Ayanokouji-kun best. He's had people try to use him all his life. If Ayanokouji-kun wanted to, he could have led the class from the beginning. If he showed us the articles from the start of the term, I don't think any of us wouldn't have supported him leading us.

"Ayanokouji-kun just wanted to be normal. He wanted to be treated like any other person. He wanted to make friends. Ayanokouji-kun doesn't want to be treated like he's special, he just wanted us to be ourselves around him.

"Now everyone knows his secret," Matsushita continued emotionally. "Can you imagine what that feels like? All of us have secrets. None of us have to worry about news articles exposing us. Ayanokouji-kun doesn't owe any of us anything,"

I could feel a bit of pride building at Matsushita's impromptu speech. The spineless girl who cowered at Chabashira's onslaught at the beginning of the year had grown. She didn't waver at all, she didn't even stutter or pause to think. Matsushita had everyone's attention.

"However, we owe everything to Matsuo-kun," Matsushita continued. "He's had to deal with a lot for us. He fought for Sudo-kun. He's been bullied on our behalf by Ryuen-kun. He didn't abandon us on the island. Most of all, he's responsible for keeping Ayanokouji-kun in our class. If he wasn't here, Ayanokouji-kun would have probably already transferred to Class B or even Class A."

"How?" Yamauchi scoffed. "With what points?"

"If you think that he couldn't have thought of a way to do it, then you're underestimating him," Matushita said firmly.

What Matsushita theorized seemed to bring about a scenario that none of them had ever considered. Suddenly the mood changed, everyone knew what that outcome would mean. No one wanted to say it out loud though, as if acknowledging it verbally would somehow make it a reality.

"If you push him to do something he doesn't want to do, you will lose him," Matsushita warned them seriously. "If that happens and Ayanokouji-kun feels compelled to transfer and help another class, you can kiss your chances of reaching Class A goodbye."

Chapter 50

A/N: I hope you all enjoyed my little joke. I tried to make it as obvious as possible just in case a few of you took it seriously and thought I left the story.

I haven't quit so you can all rest easy again.

It didn't take long after classes were over for everything around us to turn into a caricature of an apocalypse.

The classes itself were torturous. Everything I did was scrutinized by the people around me. Nothing went unnoticed, from taking a drink from my water bottle to scratching my nose. While we waited for teachers to enter to conduct our next lesson, everyone sat in complete silence. No one got up to speak to their friends, they all simply remained seated and glued to their phones.

It didn't take a genius to figure out what they were reading.

It was for that reason that I realized something, not everyone had read absolutely everything. Nagumo had very specifically only linked my accomplishments, leaving out the other atrocities of the White Room. Probably to stall people from having sympathy for me, perhaps trying to sow discourse within the class simply due to ignorance.

The more they read the more the looks would come my way. Perhaps I overestimated them, at the end of the day they had started out in Class D. They still had Class D tendencies, regardless of anything. They had low attention spans and probably spent most of the time gossiping amongst themselves. It was already late when Nagumo had decided to expose me, some of them probably would have gone to sleep without reading the rest.

Based on their initial reactions to my life, I could see what aspects of my past they focused on. People like Hirata and Mii-chan focused on the tragedy. More than likely Koenji had reacted to Mii-chan's sympathy because of it. She really was a pure and innocent soul, uncaring about my abilities and more about the content of my character. This was probably a trend that seemed to be shared amongst the girls, none of them brought up my abilities and all remained quiet or outraged at my upbringing.

The guys on the other hand seemed to focus solely on my abilities. I could see some looks of apprehension but others of pure jealousy. I couldn't blame them. To the uninitiated, my curse looked like a blessing. Everyone wants what they don't have, there are many times when I'm envious of the oblivious. Wondering curiously about how the majority see the world through the eyes of regular people.

It's a condition I have. One that makes me tailor-made for a curriculum like this where noticing all of the small details and loopholes that was purposefully left for the keen-eyed exceptionals. It's a secret that was never published, a condition that was only diagnosed when I left the White Room and was only uncovered during my extensive therapy sessions.

Low latent inhibition. A secret that not even Arisu knows about, a distinct advantage that I never speak about. It would have been impossible to self-diagnose, as far as I would be aware it would be normal for everyone else. It wasn't until I was tested by a psychologist that I was made aware that I had yet another difference from normal people.

Latent inhibition is a term used to explain our observation of various stimuli. Put in simple terms, let's assume that someone had broken their glasses. If someone had replaced them with an identical after-market one as a cheaper replacement, most wouldn't make the connection that it is a new pair. They'd disregard little details like the color being slightly more vibrant or that the logo had a variation to it in order to avoid legal action. Our brains filter out unnecessary information and purposely omit certain nuances because if we had to process every little detail our senses came across, it would be too much. It's why some people can't notice a smell or a sound until someone points it out.

Someone with low latent inhibition's cerebral filter removes fewer of those unnecessary details. They notice when there's a change, they're drawn to it. Not only that, they're able to draw conclusions and connections based on that stimuli.

While normal people see objects as their brains filter out the unnecessary and group things together, I see things in components. It's a condition where if someone suffers from it with a low IQ, it almost always results in Mental Illness. For people with a high IQ, it almost always results in creative genius.

If a used cup were sitting on a table, you deduce that someone had been there before. My mind wanders further down that rabbit hole. I'd notice if there was lipstick on the rim, indicating it would likely be a female. The condensation on the glass may tell me that the person was there recently. That leads to thoughts on who that person was, perhaps there's a strand of hair nearby that narrows it down and thus the rabbit hole is created.

All from an empty glass on a table.

It's not just with environments, it's with everything. If someone were to see a drink bottle for the first time, they'd analyze it. Its purpose, functions, components. Everything they can observe about it to file away for future use. The next time they see a drink bottle, it's instantly labeled as something they know and have seen before.

For me it's different. I see the drink bottle and analyze it every time as if it were a new object. Asking questions and building new information on the previous definition I had in the past.

It's part of why I enjoy laziness. A break from all of the mental load life seems to bring. It's a bittersweet accident that the White Room was as it was. It was tailor-made for me even if it was purely by chance. That doesn't mean that it was effective, I thrived to a greater degree outside of that place in a loving environment but that doesn't change the fact that my condition made that place far more bearable while others went completely insane.

Even with this condition, it didn't take Low Latent Inhibition to figure out that everything in this school was about to be turned upside down as my first move in my war against Nagumo came to light.

"WHAT THE HELL!? BUDDY IS DOWN!?" Sotomura yelled uncharacteristically, shooting up from his desk and knocking over his chair.

"What do you mean BUDDY's down?" Hondo asked, looking over his shoulder at his phone.

One by one, all of them looked at their phones to confirm that Sotomura was telling the truth. It took a while to do, coding errors into the app and making it look like it would be functional when I submit the update to the school's IT department for deployment. Unfortunately, I accidentally deleted the original source code as well. It would take our IT department months to fix the code that I'd ruined.

"It's down! As in offline! It was working fine yesterday and there was a patch this morning, now it's not working at all! The app won't even open!"

"So what?" Satou scoffed without even looking up from her phone. "So you'll have to get your own food today, big deal,"

"Does it say if it's down for maintenance?" Mii-chan asked. "Maybe it's just temporary?"

"What are we going to do? My part-time jobs are done through the app," Hasebe groaned.

"I'm sure it's only temporary everyone," Hirata said. "We still have to plan for the Sports Festival anyway,"

Everyone was still distracted by the fact that BUDDY was down. Hirata tried in vain to get everyone to focus on the matter at hand while Eiichiro shook his head in contempt at the people he was supposed to be leading.

"No," Eiichiro said. "We don't. I've already submitted the participation table,"

Silence. Most had done a double take as they looked Eiichiro. We hadn't spoke about who was participating and who wasn't, none of us had seen this list that Eiichiro had supposedly worked on. This was news to everyone as they all turned to each other, whispering frantically and trying to see if their seatmate had seen what Eiichiro was talking about.

Horikita was furious. She sprang up from her table and shouted at him angrily.

"What have you done!? You didn't consult with anyone before you submitted a participation listing that affects everyone?"

"I already told you, I don't need to consult with anyone. I'm leading this class. All of you chose me, Chabashira-sensei's already accepted my list,"

While everyone around me was reading and glancing at me out of the corner of their eyes between classes, Eiichiro sat silently the entire time. Facing the front of the room without saying a word or moving a muscle but he was watching. Every single time, I could see him getting angrier and angrier. I can read him better than anyone else, I already knew what was going through his mind and seeing through him from the beginning.

He probably expected something like this to happen, he'd seen it before. Even with this ragtag bunch of misfits, the reactions were still the same. I could see it in their eyes, all of them trying to figure out ways to convince me to take over. Once again I felt guilty. Merely by my existence, Eiichiro was yet again being discarded as useless and I'm sure his pride had taken a hit.

"Did you at least consult with Ayanokouji-kun this time? Even if you didn't speak with any of us, did you at least ask him?" Horikita asked.

"No. As I said, I didn't need to consult with anyone,"

"Have you lost your mind!?"

"Why do I need to consult with any of you?"

"Oh yes, this arrogance makes so much sense," Horikita spat. "Your previous track record of decimating the other classes in every special test speaks volumes,"

"When have any of you ever helped me in special tests in the past? Everyone points the finger at Kiyotaka as if it's his fault that we hadn't had any Class Points before and not pulling the load based on his abilities but what about all of you? It's not like any of you did everything to the best of your abilities either,"

Horikita's eyes burned with a raging inferno. Her cheeks flushed as the blood rushed to her brain in pure unadelterated rage while Sudo seemed to notice the pending explosion and decided to try to stop this from escalating any further. Sudo and Eiichiro had become close since we came back from the cruise, even he noticed that something had changed with him.

"Hey Matsuo, come on," Sudo said hesitantly. "Look, I know you were mad before and everything but come on,"

"I for one am thankful that I decided not to participate in this farce of a competition," Koenji said, leaning back in his chair with his feet up on the desk.

This was news to me. It seemed like this was news to the rest of the class as well except for Eiichiro who simply continued to sit quietly. The two of them had dinner last night at the Pavillion. Whatever Eiichiro had planned, apparently it all went out the window. I knew Koenji would probably take it as a slight that he wasn't selected to compete against the best but we were in the same class. Surely he understood that if I could, I would have traded places with him in a heartbeat.

"What do you mean you're not going to participate?" Horikita said.

"Yeah, what gives?" Karuizawa said in disbelief. "We need you, we already lost Ayanokouji-kun to the challenges. You're the second best we have in the class,"

Even I knew that wasn't the best thing for her to say in this situation. I sat in silence and allowed them to work this out on their own. Nothing would be gained from saying anything at this stage and risking angering Koenji any further. Even if the participation table had been submitted, I'd have to see just how badly Eiichiro had messed up in his anger. It would seem that the reactions of the class last night while I was AWOL and whatever happened in the meeting this morning before I'd arrived had caused some kind of bitter resentment between him and the group. The timing couldn't have been worse.

"I care naught for the rewards the challenge promises," Koenji started pompously, fixing his hair while looking at his mirror. "It's an insult to ask me to compete against the rags and dregs that the remainder of the year has to offer. While I understand that Ayanokouji-boy is obligated to compete against his will, that does not mean that I am obligated to compete against peasants where I will not be at the forefront of the nation.

"I refuse to play around in the children's pool while there is a tournament worthy of me being played within my sights. I've secured Private Points to indulge in from the upperclassmen already. I have neither the will nor the need to compete in your minuscule competition."

"This is ridiculous," Horikita spat angrily. "Am I the only one who cares about getting to Class A in this class? Ayanokouji-kun brought us back to life, we had no chance before the last special test. We should be riding the momentum. Instead you're getting complacent instead of using this as a chance to make some strides! This is our best chance of moving up to Class B and all of you are being selfish!"

"Who said I care about getting to Class A anymore?" Eiichiro said callously.

The person who I expected to placate everyone simply stayed quiet the entire time. Hirata hadn't said a word and everyone continued to argue as he sat staring at his desk in silence. I was wondering what was wrong with him, normally he'd be the one to stop everyone from fighting and attempt to keep the peace. Instead, he sat there and watched as everything devolved around him without even trying to stop them.

Eiichiro tapped on his screen before a notification chime went off on everyone's phone. As I looked down and read the participation table, it didn't look good. Eiichiro submitted a participation table that looked like it was a purposeful submission to lose. Not a single one of our best athletes was listed. Horikita, Hirata, Koenji, Sudo, Onodera... Every single one of them was left off the list.

"There's your participation table," Eiichiro said as he got up from his seat and made to leave the room to go to the cafeteria. "Maybe the rest of you who contributed nothing and expected to get carried to Class A can do something useful for the class for a change,"

"Um... Matsuo-kun," Onodera started hesitantly as she read the attachment. "Are you sure you sent the right participation table?"

"What in God's name is this!?" Horikita shouted not as delicately. "Why have you left out every single viable athlete!? What in the seven hells have you done!?"

Eiichiro stopped in the doorway and glared at her over his shoulder. The rest of them sat in silence, watching the exchange without any of the spines to chime in as well.

"All of you seemed to forget that less than a month ago we were defects who everyone looked down on as a joke. Kiyotaka single-handedly dragged us from zero. Instead of being grateful, all of you treat him like he's some kind of meal ticket to an easy life. I've torn my hair out trying to lead you selfish people at the expense of my sanity. Maybe now all of you will take things a little more seriously.

"The names on the participation table are people that haven't contributed a single thing this entire year. Use the two weeks to make sure you don't embarrass yourselves with the entire country watching," Eiichiro spat.

The room was silent when he left, no one said a word. I tried discreetly to gather my things to make my own exit without anyone noticing but despite the fact that I was at the front of the room literally closest to the exit, it may as well have been an infinite distance away.

Either way, I'd have to cross it. Regardless of whether or not I'd have arrows shot into my back.

"What the hell is he thinking!?" Horikita screeched angrily.

"I don't know," Hirata said. "I think we should leave him alone for a while, maybe he just needs time to gather himself,"

"We don't have time!" Horikita fumed.

"I understand how you feel, Horikita-san. I'm not exactly happy with this situation but right now there's nothing we can do but move forward with what we have to work with. Nothing will be gained by fighting and pointing fingers at each other,"

Just as I put the last of my things in my bag, I tried to very carefully slide my chair back without making any noise. The class had got up from their seats, all congregating as a group in the middle of the class as I attempted my escape. I moved to the door on the tips of my toes as I tried to exit with my head down as quietly as possible. Just as I managed to tip toe to the door, I gently tried to pry the door open as quietly as I could...

"Where do you think you're going, Ayanokouji-kun?" Horikita's voice sounded from behind me.

Sigh.

"To lunch, I'm hungry,"

"We have more pressing matters to deal with than your stomach!"

"I don't have anything to deal with other than my stomach at the moment. This is your problem, not mine,"

"We can fix this though, right? You can come up with a plan, can't you?" Karuizawa asked warily.

"Why are you asking me?" I said in exasperation.

This was everything that I was trying to avoid. Karuizawa defaulted to looking to me to save her, as if because I'd done it once that I'd always be there to pick up the pieces for the class. It was as if the revelations only confirmed everything for her. That I was the host for this parasitic group of defects that always looked for the easy way out.

The dam that was Horikita Suzune had finally burst. In so many ways, she was just like Arisu. To her, it was unfathomable that someone who was so gifted would be so content to leave everything as it were. If she had my ability, there'd be no way that she would mirror my actions. To her, this was a blatant violation of her ideals.

"If you can think of something, just tell us! I'm not asking you to do any of the heavy lifting, just think of something and give us a solution! It's doesn't take much effort to think of a course of action. Why are you being so selfish?" Horikita said.

"Selfish?" I repeated in disbelief.

"You're a part of this class too, aren't you?"

Horikita was getting on my nerves now. I chalked it up to fear and helplessness, inexperienced in how to deal with a situation that you had no control over. Inept at dealing with people and the delicacy required to have some empathy for other people. Regardless, she was infuriating me right now.

"Before you start talking about me being selfish, how about you consider the fact that on my way to school today, not a single person spoke to me. I had to walk to classes while everyone looked at me like I was someone with an infectious disease.

"I've just had everyone in this school read about everything to do with my life. My best friend has been working day and night to lead this class only for all of you to suggest replacing him the moment you knew about me. You have the audacity to say that I'm being selfish because I want to eat lunch on my lunch break? To have a little bit of normalcy on a day like today?"

I stepped forward and brought my face closer to Horikitas who shrunk away slightly at the direct confrontation.

"You asked me to be your friend, you said that I was the first and only friend you've ever had. If this is what it means to be friends with Horikita Suzune, then you can stick that friendship up your ass,"

No one said a word, even Hirata was too stunned to move. You could hear a pin drop in the room as everyone stood with baited breath, waiting for Horikita to say or do something. To her credit, she took it all with shame. Shrinking in on herself with her head down as she stared at her feet without a single biting remark. I didn't even feel any guilt when I saw droplets fall from her cheeks onto the floor.

I left immediately, shutting the door behind me with finality as I made my way to Class B. Even as I walked, I was given a wide berth as people parted from my path and shrunk away from me. The stares and whispers continued all the way until my path was blocked by someone who'd been avoiding me all this time.

"Hello Kiyotaka,"

Of course it would take something like this for her to finally swallow her pride and seek me out.

Using the opportunity, I spread out my arms and beckoned her closer as Arisu walked towards me and gave me a hug. She indulged me, moving into my arms and hugging me in the middle of the hall as the rest continued to steer clear of us.

"You really are an opportunist," Arisu scoffed.

"What are you talking about?"

"You're not upset or angry but I still am. Using this situation to get a hug from me..."

"I learned from the best,"

"Stop trying to flatter me,"

"It's working though,"

"That's exactly why I'm telling you to stop," Arisu huffed.

I chuckled to myself before Arisu took my arm and we continued on to my destination. Despite the fact that we hadn't spoken for a while, Arisu knew my habits well. This was how it always was with us, both of us too proud to apologize and neither of us needing to offer platitudes of comfort. Whenever Arisu got in a mood like this, I'd leave her alone and she'd eventually find her way right back by my side. Whether it was healthy or not was irrelevant, we simply continued on as if nothing happened.

"You're awfully cheerful for someone who's been exposed," Arisu observed.

"Why wouldn't I be? Did you think I'd hide away in my room feeling sorry for myself?"

"Well no, not exactly," Arisu frowned. "I expected you to be mourning more than anything,"

"Nothing's really changed to be honest," I shrugged nonchalantly. "Just because people know doesn't mean I'm going to be more active. If anything I'll probably be left alone now. Judging by everyone's reaction so far, most people are afraid of me now,"

"I hate that you're right," Arisu sighed. "My class think you're some kind of demon that'll crawl out of a mirror if they say your name,"

"They haven't asked you to take over? Haven't apologized?"

"Heavens no," Arisu said gravely. "They're far too proud for that. Hashimoto is begging me to recruit you but the rest are putting their heads in the sand. They're afraid of you. What on earth did you do to them?"

"I showed them 5% of my darkness," I joked.

"You're an idiot," Arisu snorted. "I'm glad that this hasn't dampened your spirits. I wasn't expecting a reaction like this,"

"What were you expecting?"

"I don't know really," Arisu said thoughtfully. "I expected most to feel sorry for you, I thought it would endear people to you. Like how I always doted on you,"

"You call that doting on me?" I scoffed before I felt her nails dig into my arm.

"Irrespective, I'm not doing so well Kiyotaka. Everyone ignores me. It isn't the same anymore, it's a miserable experience. I have no one,"

Just as we were about to arrive at Class B's door, Arisu stopped me. I looked down at her in confusion as she avoided eye contact while shifting her weight.

"Do you think we could have lunch with just the two of us today?" Arisu asked shyly.

...What was going on here? I hadn't seen Arisu like this before in what felt like a lifetime. The last time I'd seen her like this we were children, the only other time she'd shown vulnerability like this was on the island when I was walking her back to Class A's camp. That was when we were in the dark and she was on my back, held up by a hammock in the middle of the forest. I couldn't shake the feeling of suspicion but I ignored it.

I missed her.

"Of course," I said, patting her head with a smile. "You'll always be my best girl,"

Arisu beamed with a nod as I turned back to open the door so I could let Honami know. The moment I opened it, the room went silent at the sight of me in the doorway. I noticed Honami discreetly shoving a piece of paper under Himeno's butt before she jogged over and noticed who I was with.

"So you two are finally talking?" Honami said with a smile.

"I guess I have to," I sighed. "She groveled and begged on her knees for me to forgive her so I ended up caving,"

I grunted as Arisu punched me in the stomach while Honami continued to smile at the interaction.

"It's good that you two patched things up. He was so mopey," Honami told her, covering her mouth with the back of her hand as if that would stop me from hearing.

"I wasn't mopey,"

"Sure, sure. Whatever you say my dear,"

Everyone in Class B was in the room, not one of them left. While they weren't outright trying to avoid breathing the same air as me, it was noticeable that all of them were uncomfortable by my presence. No doubt none of them knew how they should treat me now that everything was out.

"Don't stop on my accord. What were you guys talking about?"

"Class stuff," Honami said with a cute glare. "Stay away from that table,"

"You don't trust me?"

"How can you ask me that with a straight face?"

"Why are you so suspicious of me? What am I going to do?"

This was the downside of being outed, now everyone was suspicious of me just by my presence. It would make gathering information far more difficult from now on, people would be on edge about saying anything not only to me but also to anyone from my class from now on.

Mako stood from her seat before crossing her arms over her chest.

"You're joking, right? I can't believe I missed this. I've been needling Matsuo-kun for weeks now! All this time you were hiding right under my nose!"

It would seem that Mako-chan would be one of the few who would continue to treat me normally. Apparently she was more upset that she wasn't the one to uncover my secret while she had been actively looking to uncover it.

"Who would have thought that that was the truth," Ando frowned. "Here I thought that Ayanokouji-kun had a twin sister running around that couldn't find her brother,"

"Twin sister?" Arisu repeated in confusion.

"Don't ask," I said dismissively.

"It's one thing being an academic genius," Mako continued in frustration. "Now I find out you're an amateur fighter too with an undefeated record, a musical prodigy and a polyglot? Is there anything you can't do!?"

"He can't cook to save his life," Arisu said with a snort.

"You're an amateur fighter?" Honami blinked in surprise.

"Twenty-four official fights, all first round knockouts," Arisu said proudly.

"Please stop," I groaned in frustration.

"What? I've had to keep quiet all this time. I've been waiting for a chance to gloat about you," Arisu grinned. "Although, if you keep eating like this you'll have to go up a weight class. You're getting fat,"

One look at Shibata and I could see just how pale he was. He looked defeated, staring at his desk without moving or acknowledging anyone around him. As someone with possessive tendencies, I couldn't help but want to twist the knife.

"I'm going to have lunch with Arisu today, is that alright?" I asked Honami.

Honami smiled and nodded at us before kissing me on the cheek and hugging Arisu with one arm.

"Sure, you two should have some time together. Besides, I need to help out with this so it all works out. Thank you, Sakayanagi-san. Keep him busy for me so we can work on our game plan,"

"Arisu," Arisu corrected her. "You're dating my brother now. It's only right that we call each other by our first names now,"

Honami nodded and gave her a squeeze as I surveyed the room. While Mako had shown that nothing had changed, the rest of them continued to avoid eye contact awkwardly. The anxiety in the room was palpable, while Honami seemed quietly confident and willing to do her best, the rest of them looked as if they'd already resigned themselves that they'd been defeated. This Special Test was hard for them, they only had one strong athlete while the rest were mediocre. If this were a team game where they could borrow strength from each other, a class like this would thrive. Individually, they were at a distinct disadvantage.

"Well it's good for both of us," I continued looking around the room at others one by one. "I'll get to catch up with my sister while you can spend a bit more time with your class. While you still can that is,"

It had an immediate effect, I could feel the air grow tense almost instantly. While most of them seemed to sag in their shoulders, Shibata's hands curled into fists as his knuckles turned white. Kanzaki remained stoic while Arisu looked like all of her Christmas' came at once. This was everything she'd wanted to see from me right before her very eyes.

Honami made eye contact with Himeno. I noticed her nod at Honami who gave a resigned sigh before turning back to face me.

"Kiyotaka, we've talked about this before," Honami said hesitantly. "I don't want to change classes. We agreed..."

"We agreed that we wouldn't ask each other to betray our classes," I reminded her. "I'm just using a reward that I'll rightfully win,"

"I understand that Kiyotaka. I get it, I really do. I'm not telling you what you can or can't do, I'm just asking you..."

There was something about the way that Shibata seemed to smirk, hiding his eyes by ducking his head that infuriated me. I didn't plan to take things this far, it was supposed to just be a mild jab to break his spirits. The fact that Honami was actually pushing back and trying to convince me not to use my ticket on her was annoying me. I wasn't expecting this from her, especially not now with how my day was progressing.

"Neither of us are under any obligation to help or bail out the other class unless it's to our own classes' benefit. That was your rule, not mine,"

"I know..." Honami said weakly, hanging her head with her shoulders sagging.

"So why are you asking me to give up a tactical advantage of weakening this class by swapping you with someone like Yamauchi or Ike and strengthening my own?" I said coldly.

The names I dropped even made Arisu wince visibly beside me as she watched everything unfold in front of her. Apparently even she thought that was cruel. Kanzaki's stoic demeanor seemed to break from the names I'd listed.

"I'm sorry," Honami said quietly.

I couldn't keep it from showing on my face. I was more than annoyed by now. The growing smirk on Shibata's face added fuel to the fire.

I could tell that she hadn't wanted to do this in the first place. She'd succumbed to peer pressure and once again Class B left her alone on the island to face the storm like sheep. None of them even had the decency or the strength of character to watch as Honami was being rebuked by me. All of them had their attention elsewhere as our fight continued on.

"Perhaps it would be best if we stop this now," Arisu offered. "I'm hungry, let's go to the cafeteria before our lunch break ends."

I looked at Honami once more as I saw her wipe at a few stray tears that managed to escape. In the span of a mere half an hour, I'd reduced a friend and my girlfriend to tears. I was normally more tactful and in control of myself than this. My secret being revealed and the way I was being treated affected me more than I thought. Being treated like an outcast, having people fearful of me. This wasn't what I wanted.

Sure, I was being left alone. No one had openly confronted me or said anything nasty to my face. It wasn't that. It was the constant whispers and suspicious stares that were plaguing me no matter where I went in this school that was bothering me more than I'd care to admit out loud. It wouldn't be long before Ryuen would start with his campaign. He'd call me a monster, he'd allude to what I did without admitting to anything and their imaginations would run wild. From there things would get worse.

Before I'd allow Arisu to lead me to the exit, I looked at Shibata who now seemed to be in better spirits.

"Maybe you should introduce yourself to Yamauchi and Ike," I said. "At least now Class B will have its very own idiot duo just like we did. Looks like you'll have a new seat mate beside you that you'll have more in common with."

My jab had the desired effect. That smirk disappeared almost immediately as it morphed into a cold hard glare. Shibata's OAA scores spoke volumes and it was an obviously sore topic for Shibata judging by his reaction. In many ways, he was similar to Sudo. He seemed to be a talented athlete, being the football club's ace spoke to that. Unlike his physical abilities however, in terms of academics he was very close to the bottom of the class.

"You haven't won yet," Shibata said seriously.

"Yes I have. You just haven't realized it yet,"

Chapter 51

In all my years as a member of the Sakayanagi household, never has my Father ever been angry with me. I have always been the poster child son, never have I embarrassed him or made him angry. Even with small mistakes, he's always been understanding and kind. Knowing that I was socially awkward when I was first brought to the manor, Father has always been patient with me. He had never lost his temper, become cross with me or yelled at me for any reason.

Which is why I was mildly uncomfortable while I sat in the principals office with my father sitting across from me looking at me with pure unadulterated rage.

If possible, in the mere 24 hours or so since I'd seen him last, he looked even more tired and stressed. More so than I'd ever seen him before.

"I thought I was blessed that both of my children were geniuses, Kiyotaka. You have always been a well behaved boy who never gave me any stress or grief. If you were aiming to make me angry, you've done a marvelous job," Father said with barely contained fury.

"I apologize father," I said with a bow of my head. "I'm not sure what you're referring to but if I've upset you then I'm truly sorry,"

Apparently he wasn't happy about the fact that I didn't know what he was talking about. It wasn't until he threw a copy of my memorandum with Nagumo across the principal's desk and it slid onto my lap that I realized what was going on here.

"Care to explain that?"

I sighed calmly, placing the paper back onto the desk before crossing my legs and folding my hands.

"I think that it's fairly self explanatory,"

Father slammed his fist on the desk with a loud thud. I barely winced, not because I was afraid but because I felt guilty that I'd angered the man that I owe everything in my life to. He glared at me as he shot from his seat and leaned forward with his palms on the table.

"This-" He started while grabbing the paper and shaking it in my face. "Is reckless and beyond stupid, Kiyotaka!"

"I'm aware of the risks,"

"Are you!?" Father shouted. "If the terms of this memorandum are met, not even I can prevent you from having to withdraw from the school!"

"I understand," I said with my head bowed.

"Do you!?"

"I thought the rules of the school was that there was to be no outside interference," I said in exasperation.

"Don't give me attitude," Father spat angrily. "I have been more than understanding, Kiyotaka! I've had Sasaki and the government breathing down my neck constantly about you! I've covered for you on more occasions than you'll ever know! This is too far, Kiyotaka!"

"You think that I'll lose?" I asked with a raised eyebrow.

The question had him reeling for barely a moment as he gathered himself. I knew he had the utmost faith in me and my abilities, but something like this where it relied heavily on teamwork with the risks as great as it were seemed to be a bitter pill for him to swallow.

"There are too many factors that you can't control!" He screamed. "I have no doubts that you'll win the representative challenge but to guarantee that Class C will win in first place with no restrictions on what Nagumo can do is beyond the pale! One aspect fails and you'll be forced to withdraw!"

"So you don't believe in me," I said sadly with my shoulders sagging and my head down.

I could see from my peripheral vision that he started to lose his fire. Father was incredibly easy to manipulate, this almost wasn't fair. As if remembering who he was dealing with, his posture instantly righted and he glared at me.

"Don't you dare think that will work on me this time Kiyotaka. I don't care what you have to do but you will go to Nagumo as soon as possible. Once you meet with him, I want you to very respectfully , very humbly ask him to cancel the memorandum. Right now, Kiyotaka. I am not joking,"

Damn... I was so close.

"No," I said firmly.

"I didn't give you a choice," Father said coldly, staring me right in the eyes.

This was the first time that I'd ever disobeyed him. There was something about having respect for someone that made this a very difficult thing for me to do. Truth be told, I had no reason to be afraid physically. I could fold him like a pretzel if he raised his hand to me if I wanted to. The truth was that if he ever struck me I would take it like the obedient son if he ever felt the need to discipline me. Father was someone that I respected more than any other, I didn't enjoy anything about this situation.

This was my life though, my choice. People can't expect me to do my best and give it my all only to try to tie my hands behind my back when I decide to make a move. This would be high risk high reward for anyone else, Father looked at it through the lens of any other exceptional student. For me however, this was like taking candy from a baby.

"Is there anything else you need from me, Chairman Sakayanagi?" I asked calmly as if the conversation was over.

Father's blood started to boil. I could see his face go red as he grew angrier at the blatant disrespect and the fact that I called him 'Chairman Sakayanagi'.

"You refuse to back out of the memorandum?"

"I do,"

"I'll take away your revenue stream from BUDDY,"

"While I think that's unfair, if you see fit to do so then I will accept that without any complaints,"

"I'll confiscate the points you've generated from the app so far as well,"

"Then you will be sealing my fate," I said truthfully.

Father sighed in defeat as he started to deflate at my stubbornness. I watched as he collapsed in a heap on his seat in frustration.

"Why are you being so difficult?"

I said nothing and remained quiet as I sat and waited. We could talk around in circles like this forever but I wasn't going to back down from this. Now that my secret was out, there would be others like Nagumo unless I did something about it now. I expected a reaction like this from Honami, possibly Eiichiro as well. Arisu would be like a kid in a candy store if she ever found out about my bet with Nagumo, I thought Father would be happy that I was applying myself like this. Evidently, I was wrong.

He continued to sit there and stare at me, quietly seething without saying a word. I could tell that this was just the tip of the iceberg, no doubt there were other things bothering him as well. More than likely this was just another compounding factor of stress. Sasaki and the Government were putting pressure on him and this was just the straw that broke the camel's back.

Since he couldn't vent his frustrations on them, evidently I was chosen as the emotional punching bag.

"Why is BUDDY not operational?" Father said eventually, uncomfortable with the silence.

"I needed to do a system upgrade, I made a mistake with the code,"

"I find that hard to believe," He scoffed.

"It's true. Coding is a delicate process and I'm only an amateur. I'm sure that the IT department can make up for my shortcomings,"

"They can't even find what's wrong with the code,"

Father narrowed his eyes as he peered at me over his glasses. He was a fellow alumn of this school and the chairman. Surely he could fill in the blanks without me needing to admit to anything.

"Is this to stifle Nagumo from being able to leverage the second years to funnel points to fund his moves?"

"Hmm..." I hummed thoughtfully with an oblivious look on my face. "That never even occurred to me,"

"The school is under enough pressure without this. Every business using part-timers through BUDDY has been panicking and complaining to the administration department. We have enough on our plates without having to deal with this, we don't have the staff to cover things while BUDDY is down,"

"That's very unfortunate," I sighed. "I can imagine how much of an inconvenience this is to the sch-"

"Don't patronize me, Kiyotaka," Father cut me off. "This war between you and Nagumo is causing issues already. How bad will it get if this continues? Students and teachers are already causing a panic as it is. Fix it, now,"

"I wish I could Father but unfortunately it looks pretty bad," I said. "I made too many mistakes on the code and I accidentally deleted the original source. Between classes, Student Council duties and preparing for the Representative Challenge, it will take me weeks to fix it,"

"How convenient. Weeks you say? As in, after the Sports Festival. Is that correct?"

"Coincidences can be freaky," I nodded.

Father sat back down heavily in his seat as he rubbed at his temples in frustration. I watched as he sighed tiredly in exhaustion, rubbing at his eyes and taking off his glasses. I didn't want to be the cause of so much stress but it was necessary in this situation. I made a mistake, it happens. I'm not perfect, it's not like I could predict that this would happen. It's time that the IT department earned its money.

"Is all of this necessary for you to win?" Father asked seriously.

I tilted my head in confusion, unsure about what he was referring to. I wasn't sure whether he meant the errors in BUDDY or whether it was necessary for me to have this war with Nagumo. As someone who was chairman of a school where sabotage and subterfuge was a part of the core mechanics of success, surely I didn't need to answer that question.

Father continued to stare at me calculatingly as I sat there patiently waiting for this meeting to end. All of this was unnecessary, I had enough on my plate as it was. For someone who preached about the importance of no outside contact, this was a breach of his own rules.

"You refuse to back out of this with Nagumo?"

"I do,"

"Very well then," Father nodded in defeat, dismissing me with a wave of his hand. "If you refuse to listen to reason from me, perhaps someone else will be able to convince you of how foolishly reckless you're behaving,"

I nodded with a bow as I made to leave the office. Father was probably planning to tell Eiichiro about this, possibly attempting to get him to put pressure on me. He'd tell him about the stakes knowing full well that Eiichiro had a propensity to panic and aired on the side of caution. Atleast he let it slip about what he was planning, now I could prepare.

The walk back to the dorms would be an annoying one. Most of the students would still be loitering around the school at this hour. The stares and whispers were getting cumbersome, the moment I'd look in their direction they'd all avoid eye contact as if I were infected with the plague. For a school that boasted that it was a classroom for the elite, all of them were cowards. I vaguely wondered what my life would be like if I were in a different school, one where it wasn't as cutthroat as this. If my secret was revealed in an environment like that, would it be more bearable if I was allowed to return home once school was over?

All of this was annoying. Eiichiro was avoiding everyone, leaving class as soon as it was over and returning to his room. I didn't need him to hold my hand but I expected him to spend more time with me at a time like this. It was as if the moment he realized that I was alright, he abandoned me to take care of this on my own. It was the problem with being a genius like this, people always expected me to have the answers to tackle problems like this alone. While others would be able to draw strength from the people around them when they didn't have the answers, people assumed that I didn't need anyone and that I would be fine by myself.

I hadn't seen Honami either after making her cry. The meal with Arisu at lunch wasn't as enjoyable as I would have liked. All I could offer was half-baked answers to every attempt of conversation that Arisu had made. I was too focused on analyzing the situation and making plans in my mind to all of the variables that were taking place in front of my eyes. I couldn't help but notice many of the Second years could be seen following Class C in the cafeteria and camping outside the First Year Classrooms after lessons were over. Observing and filing things away to report to Nagumo. The man moved swiftly, he wasn't taking this challenge up half heartedly.

As I made my exit from the building, I was surprised to see Manabu standing there waiting for me. Maybe he was the one father was talking about, judging by the look on his face he wasn't too happy about any of this either.

"Heading back?" Manabu asked.

I nodded once and went down the stairs as the two of us fell into step next to each other. With the sun slowly making its way down, the two of us enjoyed the ambience and the setting as we made our way silently down the road.

"I heard about what happened in your class today from Suzune," Manabu said, breaking the silence.

"While I understand your position and your reaction, in my opinion you were needlessly harsh,"

"Is that so?"

"It is. Suzune respects you immensely, surely you realize that. She looks up to you and values your insight. I thought that you valued people who spoke up when they think that you're wrong. You will not win this fight with Nagumo if you alienate people by attacking them,"

I knew he was right. Perhaps I wanted to lose, I was already sabotaging myself as it were. Antagonizing the very people I needed on my side right now was not the optimal way to go about things.

Even with this war where all of the odds were stacked against me, where one misstep could end in my failure, I was still trying to have my cake and eat it too. To be able to win with minimal effort while still hoping that once this was over with that I could return to my lazy laid-back lifestyle.

"You won't beat him if you take this lightly," Manabu warned me.

"I know,"

"So you have a plan?"

"You do realize that in order for me to beat him, I have to beat you too right? I'm not telling you anything," I joked with a chuckle.

Manabu stopped me suddenly as the dorms came into view. Students around us watched curiously from a distance, not close enough to hear anything we were talking about.

"This is not a game, Ayanokouji. You lose this and you're out. I can't save you and I won't be able to do anything to stop it. I also can't help you at all, otherwise this clown show you're putting on has no meaning in the first place,"

"You knew what I was aiming for from the beginning, didn't you?"

"Of course I did," Manabu said seriously with a nod. "Otherwise I wouldn't have allowed this to take place at all. This will be the biggest test you and your class will go through. Quite possibly in your entire high school career at that.

"If you're going to do this, don't leave it to chance. Make sure you bury him. If you tell me right now that you're treating this as a joke, then I will put a stop to it right away. Memorandum's can be terminated. Your father is trying to appeal to your better judgment rather than going over your head.

"Can you handle it? Tell me, right now," Manabu asked.

I could have just lied. His threats were empty, he couldn't stop that memorandum now that it was official. He doesn't know Father like I do, if he could have canceled the deal he would have done so already. Irrespective, I was tired. I'd been functioning on little sleep, I missed my routine morning training and I'd had more arguments today than I'd had in the entire time I'd been in this school.

All I wanted was to crawl into my bed and fall asleep. So I could put this day behind me and have a fresh start with my routine back to normal in the morning.

"Don't worry about it. I've got it covered, just prepare yourself mentally to finish second at best,"

The smirking bastard was back as he adjusted his glasses and turned to make his way back to the third year dorms.

"You're underestimating me, Ayanokouji. I'm not one to be taken lightly. I haven't got to where I am by giving up so easily."

Oh nothing is going to make me happier than putting that smirking bastard into the ground. I'll drag him right into the deep waters. People didn't realize this, the Sport's Festival wasn't just a test of speed and power, it was a test of endurance.

Competing against worthy athlete's back to back in varying competitions was a test of your stamina just as much as it was a test of your ability. Bunbun-senpai was about to be a busy girl. By the time I'm finished with Horikita Manabu, he won't be able to feed himself.

Once again as I made my way to the entrance to my dorm, I was given a wide berth as people avoided me. The very people who would greet me enthusiastically or smile as I passed avoided crossing my path.

I don't know what it is about my past that makes people treat me like this. Natural talent aside, it was as if people thought I was unhinged. Like I would snap at them if they spoke of my past in my vicinity. I walked with purpose as the doors to the elevator opened once I'd entered the lobby, only to turn and see that the others who had waited to go to their floor decided to wait for the second lift, leaving me alone as the doors closed.

I couldn't help the reaction, the moment I was alone my shoulders hunched and I stared at the ground. While it had only been a day, I couldn't help the thoughts that plagued my mind.

How long would this continue for? Was this how the remainder of my school life would be?

I'd always wanted to be left alone, undisturbed. Now that I had what I wanted, I felt lonelier than I ever had before. Lonelier than I was in that place. In there I felt nothing. Out here the burden of being ostracized cuts deeper than a knife.

Even as I approached my room, I had the smallest hope that Honami would be there. Perhaps with a meal, reading Baki or knitting like she'd been doing the past week. When I opened the door to find it blanketed in darkness, I couldn't help but feel disappointed. I was discovering the meaning of 'be careful what you wish for' in real time. Before all of this, I would have been ecstatic at the prospect of a quiet night alone.

I didn't even entertain reading a light novel, manga or watching an anime. Instead I had a shower, standing with the scalding hot water running down my back as I rested my forehead on the cold tiles in front of me. The steam clouded the bathroom as if I were standing in the mildew of the earliest hours of the morning. After changing for bed and resting my head on my pillow, the exhaustion took over. The moment I closed my eyes I fell into the peaceful abyss...

Two bodies, both of them approaching rapidly from both my left and right side. The girl threw a high kick, aiming for my neck while the boy tried to sweep at my legs. Their timing was perfect. Both blows were thrown simultaneously while giving me little options.

I hopped, twisting my body as I dodged mid-air, my body parallel to the floor. I righted myself ready to land. The moment my feet were close to the ground, another assailant moved forward with a side kick to knock me straight in the stomach.

I dropped. Just as they touched the ground, my feet slid effortlessly as I fell into a full split, dodging the kick as it sailed dangerously close to my face before righting myself and moving into an imanari roll. I grabbed the girl's ankle while rolling up and knocking her over into a leg lock.

Abandoning the hold, I was forced to dodge once again as the first boy attempted to stomp on my face. All four of us were silent, outward displays of exertion were not tolerated in the White Room. Cries of pain or frustration while fighting was met with punishment, one must always be in control of their breathing. When fighting, one must keep their breath and their minds in check.

Just as I was back on my feet, the third boy moved in for a hook kick. Catching his leg under my arm, I viciously swept his other leg with force. He yelped in pain as he crashed onto the floor, unable to catch himself as he fell on his back and the wind was knocked from his lungs. Before he could recover, I was ready to drop my knee into his chest to break his ribs before the girl lunged at me and tackled me.

We rolled several times, the fight for position began. The raven haired girl fought admirably to end up on top. I passed her guard, grabbing her in a rear-naked choke. I planned to put her to sleep, before the other fifth generation boy recovered and jumped at me to break my hold.

Abandoning the choke, I wasted no movement as I rolled backward onto my feet before viciously slamming my knee into his stomach as I pulled him down with both arms. The sickening crunch didn't affect me in the slightest. The boy groaned in pain as he fell to his knees while desperately clutching his midsection.

Taekwondo, wrestling, Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, Karate. All on full display for those who ordered us to fight.

I could barely hear the soldiers screaming and cheering at the performance. The four of us were locked in battle as the soldiers were shouting out bets on who would come out on top. The surrounding audience had no effect on us, we were instructed to fight and demonstrate our abilities and we obeyed. The White Room does not tolerate insubordination. When given an order, we must achieve that goal to the best of our abilities at all times.

It's why we continued even when there was a sudden loud bang. The doors to the training hall slammed open and the Lt. Colonel ran in furiously. The soldiers ceased with their cheering in shame as they all moved out of the circle and Lt. Colonel saw what the four of us were doing.

"STOP!"

The four of us stopped with our fight, immediately falling into single file at attention. The other White Room generations hadn't said a word the entire time. All of them lifelessly looking at the display while waiting for their own instructions.

An enormous older man walked in slowly with authority. He eyed every child, every soldier. Every soul. With every step his boots echoed through the hall. The room was silent as the depth of the night, as if everyone needed permission to make noise even by breathing.

Without warning, the old man backhanded the soldier who seemed to be in charge of watching us.

"What is the meaning of this?" The monstrous old man asked the fallen soldier.

Even with blood now pouring from his mouth, he stood to attention and snapped in a salute as he seemed to swallow the blood. He tried desperately to keep the blood from spilling down his mouth and onto his uniform. Despite standing at attention, he hadn't said a word.

"I asked you a question, First Lieutenant,"

Even when pressed, the First Lieutenant didn't say a word. The others surrounding also remained silent, all of them sweating profusely at the large old man who was reprimanding them. One of the smaller ones with the simplest uniform was quaking in fear as his legs started to shake and his salute trembled.

"Lt. Colonel," The old man called.

Lt. Colonel stepped forward, snapping to salute by his side and awaiting orders.

"Have these men beaten until they understand how to speak again. Once they've informed you of what in the hell they were doing here, have them beaten again until they understand what happens when they act outside of my command. If they do not have a suitable explanation, do not feed them until I have a report on what in the seven hells was happening here. Then I want them beaten again for wasting my time."

"Yes Sir!" Lt. Colonel called loudly.

As the men were led away, my eyes met with the first man I'd met from the army since we had been removed from our rooms. He gave me the barest of winks as he passed, slipping a mochi into my hand surreptitiously as he left with the other soldiers. The action did not go unnoticed by General Amasawa who turned to look at me as the men left.

The man was enormous, he had to be ancient with how frosty his hair was. His eyebrows were bushy, only the barest hints of scarlett hairs hiding among the silver foliage. Even with his age, it was obvious that this man continued to train vigorously on a daily basis.

He seemed to be a kind man as he knelt down next to me. His gradient red eyes were nurturing as he kindly patted my head and spoke soothingly.

"What is your name, young man?"

His voice was gruff and abrasive, a juxtaposition of his kind nature. The man was a walking paradox. Just like the Lt. Colonel, this man gave the same vibes. A gentle giant that was obviously fierce as a bear if the scars that adorned his face and neck were anything to go by, but kind in the face of a child.

"Subject 01, Generation 4," I said on instinct.

The giant grew sad at my answer, continuing to pat my head with pity as he seemed remorseful at my answer.

"Your name. Not what this place has labeled you,"

"Kiyotaka. Ayanokouji Kiyotaka," I corrected myself.

The giants removed his hand as if he was burned. He took in my features, a sudden look of realization as he scanned over my golden orbs and brown hair. That was the second time I'd experienced a reaction like this, I wasn't sure what was so special about the name or why it seemed to shock everyone who heard it.

Once the shock wore off, the giant looked down at my hand which was now empty. I shoved the mochi into my pocket the moment everyone's attention was averted. These clothes were strange, I'd never worn anything like it before. All of us were dressed in a mismatch of clothes that varied in size and color. As if they were hastily acquired with little care for who would receive them. At the time, I was confused as to why there was a rather large teddy bear printed on the front of my bright yellow shirt and what the rough texture was that seemed to glisten when the light hit it at different angles. It seemed to mismatch with my bright green pants that were too short for my legs.

"Hello, Ayanokouji-chan. I'm General Amasawa but you can call me Ojii-chan. Can you tell me what was going on here?" Ojii-chan asked kindly.

This old man seemed to be in charge. If he were the one who was asking, I'm sure that Lt. Colonel would want me to be truthful.

"The small one with black hair ordered me to fight against Subject 17, 18 and 19, Generation 5. The others were placing bets on who would win," I said honestly.

Ojii-chan's face turned red as his hands clenched into fists and he trembled. I watched curiously as the gentle giant man suddenly resembled more of a bear as he grew angry.

I wasn't sure why he was angry. This was a regular occurrence in this place. The three I was fighting against were a bit out of place, normally the people I was instructed to fight were older and far larger. Most of the time it was only one at a time but the fact that they were younger than me skewed the odds in my favor. Why was he angry?

"Why do you call them by numbers? You should call them by their names, Ayanokouji-chan,"

"My apologies, Ojii-chan. I do not know their names," I informed him.

I watched as he calmed himself. He looked around the room as if this place disgusted him. The room was sterile, nothing was out of place without a speck of dirt and yet he looked like this were a cesspool. I watched as he continued to gather his thoughts before he seemed to remember what happened earlier.

He checked my hands. His were rough and calloused, far more textured than the smooth perspex that the walls of my quarters were made of. Since these men had entered this place, the textures of my clothes and the vibrant green of their uniforms were quite jarring for my eyes and my sense of touch.

"What did the Lt. Colonel give you?" Ojii-chan asked me as he reached for my pocket.

What should I do? If I tell him that I was given a mochi, will Lt. Colonel be in trouble? Will he be beaten as well? Will Ojii-chan take it away from me?

Ojii-chan didn't press for an answer, watching me carefully as I continued to think silently. My face showed no outward signs to the turmoil going on inside as once again I was stuck with the dilemma on how I should act. This was not a problem that I was accustomed to solving or analyzing. The White Room was yet to equip me with the knowledge of understanding situations like this.

I'd begun to feel something, I had the knowledge from books on psychology and what feelings were. I had no basis or experience on how to identify those things while they were occurring within me.

"I will not take it from you and Lt. Colonel will not get in trouble," Ojii-chan reassured me as if noticing what was causing my inner turmoil. "I was just curious what it was."

I scanned his features, trying to identify if this was some sort of trick or manipulation. The giant was a Stonewall, I couldn't read anything. Not even a micro movement of any of his facial muscles.

As he waited for my answer, his eyes drifted for a moment to the others behind me. His eyes went wide with shock as he shot to his feet before he hurried past me, stopping in front of a scarlet haired girl who stared back at him. The resemblance between the two was uncanny, their facial structures were similar with the same red eyes. The girl looked emotionlessly at the man as he dropped to his knees in front of her in shock.

"Ichika?"

SS "Dirty" Tactics

A/N: I got a picture from Reddit since it kind of embodies what I imagine Kiyo would look like at the moment. Messaged the original poster and got permission to use it for the story.

My afternoon with Matsuo-kun wasn't what I was expecting. Normally he's goofy and funny but not today. Today he sort of just brushed me off and then apologized saying he wanted to be alone.

I didn't notice it before but Matsuo-kun reminds me a lot about him. They have a lot of similarities. I normally put boys in a box, they'll always be friends. After all, my first love was both unrequited and impossible. I wouldn't even see him until I left this school and in that time, he very well could have met someone already. Maybe that was the blessing of this place, out of sight out of mind. If I saw him with another girl, it would tear my heart to pieces.

That's why I like hanging out with Matsuo-kun. For some reason, whenever I hang out with him it's just different. I notice things about the boys around me whenever we hang out and I can't help myself. I nitpick certain things. Not that I don't like them, they're my friends. I just can't help the thoughts of comparing the boys around me to him and they always fall short. Even now, I can't even bring myself to say his name because it hurts. I end up thinking about that time back in middle school when I'd agonize over my feelings that would never be returned.

For some reason, whenever I'm with Matsuo-kun that doesn't happen. I don't know, it's strange. I never compared the two of them. He never comes to mind when I'm with Matsuo-kun, I don't know why. Perhaps it's because they're just so similar as people. They have similar mannerisms, they even have similar features. The only main difference is that Matsuo-kun is taller. Much taller...

No Mako-chan, no! Stop it! They're wrong. You do NOT like Matsuo-kun, stop that.

This thing with Ayanokouji-kun is really tough though. I don't understand why people are like this. Ayanokouji-kun's never done anything to anyone. No scratch that, Ayanokouji-kun doesn't do anything. Sloth's around the world are taking notes of that lazy bum. So why are people calling him a monster?

It's mean and cruel. Ayanokouji-kun is not a monster. He may be lazy and a little rude but he treats Honami-chan really well. Not just that but he's hot as hell. Especially with that bulking diet that Honami-chan researched and had been secretly forcing him to eat. If monsters are built like that... someone sign me up with a ticket to the demonic realm.

Hold on, I'll see if I can find one. You'll see what I'm talking about...

...Hmm, where is it. I'm sure I had it here somewhere...

I mean, come on look at this. LOOK AT THIS!

Look, I'm no homewrecker or anything. He's Honami-chan's boyfriend and everything, but I'm a girl. It's not my fault, I'm not the one taking the photos. The 'Ayanokouji Kiyotaka Appreciation Society' or whatever they're calling themselves now are the ones who are to blame. They're the ones uploading the photos, I just look. On a couple of them, my finger just happened to slide over to the download button by accident.

...By the way, don't tell anyone I showed you that. I'm not supposed to be sharing my best friend's boyfriend's photos. I only showed you to prove a point.

...Yeah, let's go with that

Honami-chan really has him wrapped around her finger, just thinking about it makes me laugh. She predicted this, apparently Ayanokouji-kun always falls for it. She has a certain way she looks at him when she asks him to do something and he just sighs and does what she wants. It's so cute.

He's just a lazy introvert that wants to be left alone, what's wrong with that? Sure he has some weird tastes that Honami-chan is starting to get into as well. I swear I've never been able to eat an ice cream ever since I agreed to watch that stupid anime with Honami-chan. I can't even walk past the freezer at the grocery without my face turning into a ripe tomato.

I just don't know what to do, don't know what to say. It's hard to read that one of your friends was tortured and abused endlessly as a child. His abilities don't matter to me. He's a good person who's had a terrible upbringing, who's seen some truly heinous things. I can't even imagine how traumatic it would be to see people die right in front of you, let alone when you're still a kid. I'm afraid to even talk about it or bring it up, I don't know how to ask him if he's okay.

One thing's for certain, I hate Nagumo-senpai so much. What he did was cruel, how could he do something like that? I could see everyone avoid Ayanokouji-kun when he left classes and I wanted to say something but I couldn't muster the courage.

I've grown to respect Ayanokouji-kun so much, he looks normal. None of this is affecting him. The mental strength... to be able to come into classes the day after everything about your life is exposed and not even looking hurt as the people whisper around him is something I could never do.

All I can do now is sit while Honami-chan continues to chew at her fingernails worriedly. A part of me really wants Ayanokouji-kun to take her away from Class B. It wasn't fair, all of them ganged up on her. I felt like I was alone, I fought desperately as Shibata-kun, Kanzaki-kun, Himeno-chan and the rest all pushed Honami-chan to tell Ayanokouji-kun not to use his exchange ticket on her. Honami-chan tried to tell them that this was what he'd do but I think even she was surprised with how mean and angry he'd reacted. Perhaps I was wrong, maybe all of this really was effecting Ayanokouji-kun. I've never seen him talk to her like that, I've never seen Honami-chan cry. Not even when they stripped her of her leadership.

"Stop eating your nails, leave some for tomorrow," I said.

Honami frowned and looked down at her nails before changing tactics and drumming her fingers on the table in front of her. The drumming was getting faster and louder, I was going to go insane.

"What did the table do to you?"

"I can't chew my nails, I can't drum on the table. What do you want me to do?"

"Go to Ayanokouji-kun, say whatever sappy thing you've been thinking over in your mind a thousand times and I don't know. Put your tongue down his throat or sleep with him, do something. Sitting here with me won't do anything,"

It was one of the few times that Honami-chan hadn't turned into a blushing mess when I'd suggested she'd sleep with Ayanokouji-kun already. I didn't think she was getting used to it, she was really worried. I hope they do it soon though, mama needs to win that betting pool.

Honami-chan didn't say anything, she sat staring at her desk. I could see why Ayanokouji-kun loved being lazy in their office, this couch was comfortable as hell. I literally groaned as I sat up from my lying position as I watched and waited for her to say something. As if this couch was trying to pull me back down onto its heavenly cloud.

"You there, Honami-chan? Anybody home?"

"What if he breaks up with me?" Honami-chan said warily.

I could see her starting to cry again, I didn't like seeing my friend like this. Even if I wanted to get to Class A just like any other student, Honami-chan's already suffered enough for us. She really cares about the class, willingly stepping down when everyone except for Chihiro-chan and I suggested she take a break.

Well, it was framed as a break. I didn't realize that it would be permanent until the Rabbit Group meeting. Shibata-kun, Kanzaki-kun, Beppu-kun and just about every boy in Class B. All of them had fallen to varying degrees for Ichinose Honami, even a few girls. Some harder than others but the feelings were there. Every single one of them felt a little bit of resentment in their hearts that Honami-chan was prioritizing Student Council duties and Ayanokouji-kun over other things.

While at the beginning of the year Honami-chan had emphasized team building get togethers and hanging out with the class during lunch and after school, that changed when she joined the Student Council. After that, social gatherings took a back seat. While most of the girls were understanding and encouraged her at first, even they seemed to think it was excessive. Honami-chan wasn't able to see it festering, too lovestruck by cupid's arrow and wanting to spend every available moment with Ayanokouji-kun. Unable or uncaring to see that there should be a balance.

"Then he's an idiot who doesn't deserve you," I huffed dismissively. "It won't happen though, Ayanokouji-kun loves you."

"Does he?" Honami-chan asked. "He hasn't said he loves me. Not once since I confessed,"

"Ayanokouji-kun doesn't seem like the romantic type who says 'I love you' very often," I rolled my eyes.

"He does to his sister,"

Honami hugged herself as she brought her knees into her chest, sitting hunched over on the roller chair. I felt bad for her, all of this was Kanzaki-kun's fault.

If you asked me yesterday whether I thought it was strange that Ayanokouji-kun was so creepily close to his sister, I would have said yes before you even finished the question. Now it all makes sense, Sakayanagi-san was probably his first and closest connection. I don't think there was anything Honami-chan could do that would change that.

Honami-chan would never win that war, Sakayanagi-san would always come first for Ayanokouji-kun. A fact that I was certain Honami-chan knew.

"Maybe this is a good thing," I said offhandedly, trying to steer the conversation to something else.

Honami-chan gave me a dirty look as she finally peeked her head out from inside of her knees.

How the hell does she manage to sit like that with a chest that size?

"How is it a good thing that Kiyotaka never says he loves me?"

"No, not that. I meant changing to Ayanokouji-kun's class,"

Honami-chan tilted her head in confusion and stared at me perplexed, waiting for me to elaborate.

"Think about it, when will you get a chance like this? Why would you even choose us over your boyfriend? The opportunity to change classes doesn't come around very often,"

"I promised the class that I'd do my best to get us to Class A," Honami frowned.

"No one can blame you if he swaps you against your will," I said, waving her off.

"This way you can spend more time with Ayanokouji-kun. Hell, you'll probably have a better chance reaching Class A there then you would with us. God knows you're the only one in the school who can get that lazy shit to do anything."

"Don't call him that," Honami-chan scolded me with a frown.

At least she was somewhat back to normal. I watched as she contemplated what I'd said, wrestling with herself as she weighed the gravity of it. For someone like Honami-chan who always prioritizes others over herself, the thought of being selfish like that would have weighed heavily on her conscience.

"But what about you? What about Chihiro-chan? What about the rest of Class B? I can't just leave them like that..."

"Think about yourself, don't worry about any of that. We'll still see each other all the time, it won't change that you're still my best friend."

"It isn't that simple, Mako-chan," Honami-chan sighed, shaking her head.

Honami-chan stood from her seat and grabbed the remote for the monstrous TV that was mounted on the opposite wall. Ayanokouji-kun's such a spoiled brat, being the chairman's son has it's perks I guess. None of the other offices had toys like Ayanokouji-kun had stashed around this damn office. He even had a hidden video game set that Matsuo-kun kept eyeing like a toddler every time we passed the electronic store. I'm pretty sure there's a bunch of other hidden expensive gem's around this office that I hadn't even managed to find.

Hell, Honami-chan's chair was more expensive than anything I owned either in my dorm or back home. The thing looked like some kind of movie prop for an evil villain. It wouldn't surprise me in the slightest if that thing gave massages too.

While I was distracted, Honami-chan had mirrored her phone to the screen with a list of every member of every class in the first year. Honami-chan sat heavily on the coffee table before pointing at the screen.

"If you look at all of the OAA scores of every student of every class, you'll notice a pattern. The classes follow a certain theme. Every class has some people with high Academic scores, others have high in Adaptability and others in their Physical scores.

"If you look at Class A, all of them are balanced. On the whole, most have high scores in Academia, some have above average scores in Physical but none of them stand out. They don't have someone who excels particularly in one field and if they do, they have incredibly low scores in other areas.

"Our class is very much the same, we have varying scores in Academic Ability, Physical Ability and Adaptability. The one thing that our Class excels at compared to the rest is Social Contribution. We're perfectly matched in that regard. If you look closely though, we don't have anyone that excels greatly over the other classes in the other three categories.

"Ryuen's class is probably the most mismatched. They have almost no one that greatly excels in any of the categories. However, they have Ryuen. He's the lynchpin that holds them all together.

"With Kiyotaka's class, they have many people that excel greatly in multiple categories. In many ways, their class is the most talented of the year. Regardless, they have deep personality flaws that prevent them from reaching that potential. From what I can see, almost all of them have very deep psychological scars that hinder them. They also have some people who have the lowest scores across all categories."

Honami-chan stopped speaking, staring at the screen while she gathered her thoughts. I was grateful that the conversation had turned like this, at least while she was distracted she wasn't upset. We'd really made a huge mistake, Honami-chan was a far more capable leader than people gave her credit. She held our class together so much more than we realized, now that we'd lost her, we were already feeling the pain.

"So..." I urged her to continue.

"So if you remove one key component, the Class will fail. I don't mean to be conceited, but I'm one of the students in our class with a higher than average Academic Ability score. If Kiyotaka insists on moving me, you'll have a far more difficult time reaching Class A. Hoshinomiya-sensei knew, it's why she invited Kiyotaka to Karaoke..."

Honami-chan let out a heavy sigh as she stared at the screen. I wanted to ask her why any of that even mattered to her. There are times when I get frustrated with Honami-chan, I often think she's too good and pure for this school. This place... it's cutthroat. Ayanokouji-kun had made progress, Honami-chan was thinking more and more selfishly for herself. In other ways... Well a leopard can't change its spots. In other ways, Honami-chan would always put others first.

She didn't have to be so selflessly loyal to a class that wasn't loyal to her. Her future wasn't set in stone just because she was placed into Class B from the beginning.

The selfish part of me, however, was grateful that she was so fiercely loyal. If she wasn't, we'd already been doomed the moment Class B removed her from her representative position.

"It's why a Class transfer is so expensive," Honami-chan continued. "That balance shouldn't be upset so easily. It's why I can't believe that a reward like this was so carelessly given."

"Why do you think they made the transfer ticket then?"

"Who knows," Honami-chan shrugged. "It could be anything really. My guess though, Chairman Sakayanagi approved it to incentivise Kiyotaka. To guarantee that he'd do his best during the Sport's Festival with everyone watching."

"Your boyfriend is a huge pain in the ass," I huffed in annoyance. "So, what are you going to do? I hate to say it but there's no chance in hell that Shibata-kun can beat him. I don't think anyone is beating him at all."

"I have a plan," Honami-chan said hesitantly. "It probably won't do much, two weeks isn't enough time to make a meaningful difference. However, it'll slow him down a little bit."

Honami-chan switched off the television before getting up from the coffee table. She walked to the front door to the Student Council office before cracking it open and peaking her head out the door. Maybe she was worried about Ayanokouji-kun eavesdropping but she checked outside before coming back after she locked the door. As if the thought never occurred to her, she scanned the room as if the walls had ears or something before sitting back on the coffee table and motioning me closer.

"Alright," Honami-chan whispered.

"Why are we whispering?" I hissed in frustration.

We were alone in the Student Council office. What, did she think that Ayanokouji-kun had a secret room where he was watching us through the air conditioning vent? Honestly, ever since his secret came out everyone thinks he's some kind of boogeyman or something.

"I wouldn't put it past Kiyotaka to have a recording device in here or something,"

"You're being ridiculous," I scoffed, speaking normally again.

"Just," Honami-chan started in frustration. "Humor me,"

Honami-chan was normally always so composed. This situation was really stressing her out, stressing everyone out.

"Kiyotaka has one big weakness. It'll probably be the only one I can exploit," Honami-chan started whispering again. "Kiyotaka is incredibly confident,"

"That's a rather nice way of saying he's an arrogant shi-"

The look that Honami-chan gave me, I'd never seen her make that face before. Her eyes turned cold, it was bone chilling. I'd already noticed that Ayanokouji-kun had influenced her behavior over time. She'd become more relaxed, more free spirited, less serious. This was the first time that I'd ever seen her glare at anyone, it looked so foreign on the normally kind face of Ichinose Honami.

"Mako-chan. This is the last time I will tell you to stop insulting him in front of me," Honami-chan said coldly.

This was not the Honami-chan I'd grown to know and love. It was times like this that drastic times called for drastic measures. So I did what any reasonable and sane person would do.

I stood up from the couch and bonked her on the top of her head as hard as I could. Honami-chan winced before clutching at the top of her head with both hands in shock.

That's what you get for underestimating the power of Mako-chan.

"What the hell is wrong with you!? Ayanokouji-kun's my friend, I always call him that! To his face! Damn that lazy bastard, you're reading too many of his stupid mangas and acting like some kind of edgelord!"

Honami-chan looked away sheepishly, still clutching at her head as I stood there looking down on her absolutely fuming.

"I'm sorry," Honami-chan mumbled. "It's just... I hear everyone too. People are afraid of him now. Some people are outright insulting him behind his back. I guess I got carried away."

"Well come back down to earth! Why the hell would Ayanokouji-kun have a listening device in his own office? You think he's some kind of chess master that predicted we'd talk about this in your office!?"

"Well... he is a chess master," Honami-chan smiled proudly, apparently gearing up for another round of telling me how amazing Ayanokouji-kun is at everything.

"Argh!!" I shouted in frustration pulling my hair. "Can you stop being a fangirl and finish telling me your plan? Like a normal Honami-chan and not... whatever the hell this is?"

Even my outburst did nothing, she had that stupid grin on her face.

God, couples or people who were in a relationship were so annoying. Whenever Ayanokouji-kun becomes the topic of conversation she always makes that stupid face. A cross between an old lecher and someone with brain damage while they stared into space, blegh.

Realizing I'd need to break her out of her trance with another bonk, the moment I raised my fist she snapped out of it before shaking her hands in front of her in surrender.

"Okay, okay!" Honami-chan said frantically.

"Well, the first stage is to stop him from training. I'll need to break his morning routine and convince him to take it easy,"

"That's not going to be hard," I snorted. "Convincing Ayanokouji-kun not to do anything is like convincing water to be wet,"

"Not as easy as you think," Honami-chan frowned.

"Kiyotaka has a set routine. Anything that breaks that routine annoys him. I'll have to stop him from leaving tomorrow morning and convince him to sleep in,"

"After that, I'll feed him a big breakfast. It'll make him lethargic. If I give him a huge lunch with lots of fried food, by the time we finish student council duties hopefully he'll be too tired to train in the evening,"

"Even then, he probably won't go. Kiyotaka hates going in the evenings, the gym is too crowded at that time." Honami-chan finished.

Bless this girl's heart. Her underhanded tactics sucked. Even now when she was trying to sabotage him, it was through feeding him and making him sleep in.

"That's your genius plan? To feed him until he bursts? Are you planning to follow him with a spoon for two weeks?"

"No, that wouldn't work," Honami-chan shook her head.

Don't tell me she took my sarcasm seriously...

"Kiyotaka will see through it immediately. He'll notice what I'm up to right away. Even if I manage to stop him from training tomorrow morning, he'll know what's up and call me out on it the next day at the latest," Honami-chan continued.

"Great, so you'll stop him for one day. I don't see how that's going to make much of a difference," I frowned.

"Well that's where his confidence comes into play," Honami-chan explained.

"Kiyotaka will notice but he'll play along in the beginning. He'll call me out and he'll probably laugh at the ridiculousness of the plan. Knowing Kiyotaka, he'll probably say something along the lines of being able to win easily without even training at all. If I call his bluff and challenge him to do it, his pride won't let him back down,"

"If I can stop him from training for those two weeks, there's a slim chance that maybe Horikita-senpai or one of the others may be able to sneak a few wins and get the Exchange Ticket that way. That's the only way I can think of sabotaging him at this stage," Honami-chan finished.

I hate to say it but while this plan would have been alright for someone else, I didn't think this plan was going to do much. It was probably our best course of action without poisoning him or hiring someone to try to injure him but it was still... I don't know. This plan was so Honami-chan.

I was hoping for some kind of big brain play here, something that made me go 'Eureka! That's it, Honami-chan! Ayanokouji-kun won't stand a chance now!'. Instead, I just felt kind of 'Meh, I guess we could do that'. It was kind of like being chased by a cheetah and throwing a banana peel over your shoulder and hoping it slipped. Hell, I don't think we'd be able to hire someone to injure him either unless we got some kind of assassin. Judging by what I'd seen of Ayanokouji-kun's capabilities though, I'd probably read in the news that Ayanokouji-kun managed to fight off an assassination attempt and apprehended him with the assassin's own shoelaces or something like that.

Even if he managed to break his own leg, I wouldn't put it past him to be able to hop faster than anyone could run.

Eh, maybe I'm getting ahead of myself. Ayanokouji-kun's not a God. The rules of physics still applied to him, no one was invincible. If he was a God, he'd be the God of laying down or the God of avoiding responsibilities or something like that.

Damn it Mako-chan, stop getting distracted.

"So, are you planning to wait outside of his dorm at 5:00am or something?"

"No, I have a spare key to his room," Honami-chan said off handedly, turning the TV back on and scrolling through movies.

'Oh, hello Ichinose Honami... You never told me that...' I thought to myself as I felt my subconscious grinning.

Maybe I'd won that pool after all and I'd never even known...

"So you've done this before? Sneaking into his room while he's asleep?" I asked, trying and failing to keep the teasing tone from my voice.

It was the first time that Honami-chan blushed, her hand on the remote trembling slightly as she continued searching through the list of titles. While they hadn't been going out for long, Honami-chan used to get so flustered and cute whenever the topic of physical intimacy came up. After a while she'd just shrug off my teasing.

It was only when I brought up things like asking if she'd christened their office yet or the time Ayanokouji-kun walked past her in the hall and smacked her on the butt that she'd start blushing and sputtering again.

He really went for it too, I don't think I'd ever seen Honami-chan jump that high. She didn't even tell him off for it either, just stood there blushing and staring at the ground while holding her butt.

There was still the smallest bit of innocence still in there though. I burst out laughing when Sakayanagi-san gave Honami-chan one of her cane's for her birthday. Honami-chan looked so confused but Sakayanagi-san just smiled and said she'll need it one day.

"N-not the way you're thinking," Honami-chan stuttered. "I-It's not what you think. It's just for convenience sake. Sometimes I put his laundry there for him or wait for him to come back or cook. Sometimes he does some shopping for me and puts it in my room,"

Oh Mako-chan, you're the best. To think you'd stumble on two gems in one night.

"So he has a spare key for your room too?" I asked with wide eyed surprise.

I watched as Honami-chan started to turn a deeper shade of red, realizing she'd revealed even more than she wanted to. As she struggled to speak, I really wanted to take a break from all the serious talk. All of this stuff with the Sports Festival and Exchange tickets and Ayanokouji-kun's secret was so heavy.

How long had it been since Honami-chan and I could just laugh and tease each other? When was the last time we could just gossip and joke while not caring about where the time went? I needed a break from all of these wars, it was getting to be so draining.

Even still, we needed to keep planning. Procrastination wasn't going to help us, we needed this plan to be solid. That didn't mean that I couldn't do two things at once. I could tease Honami-chan while we continued to plan.

"Alright then," I said casually. "Let's go through this plan of yours. I'll help you plan out your dirty tactics."

"I don't like how you emphasized the word dirty ," Honami-chan noted while fanning her face, mimicking how I spoke.

"What? I'm just telling it how it is. Since you're giving your best and bending over backwards, I just want to help you get your desired results so you can end up on top ,"

"Stop it, I know what you're doing," Honami-chan sputtered incredibly flustered.

"Well? How are you going to... do it ?"

"Mako-chan..."

"What were you planning to feed him for breakfast? Strawberries? Whip-cream with a side of a naked apron?"

"Mako-chan!"

Chapter 52

Today as a whole has been quite possibly the most annoying one I've ever had in my life. Nagumo Miyabi, I knew that he'd do everything he could to win this bet but I didn't expect his tactics to be so irritable.

It wasn't just him either, it would seem that my beautiful girlfriend was doing her very best to ensure that I wasn't going to be able to win the means to transfer her to my class against her will. I have to say, she's severely underestimating me if she thinks that I wasn't able to see what she was trying to do right from the beginning.

Although, I have to say one thing. Ichinose Honami's underhanded tactics were so... Ichinose Honami. I don't know any other way to describe it, it seemed so typical of her personality.

I've also become weak. That succubus of a woman, she really does have a natural talent when it comes to getting her way. I honestly don't know how she does it, Honami has always been a little shy when it came to physical affection early on. Now it's different, sex appeal rolls off her in waves and I'm sure she knows its effect on me.

Gone was the girl who became a blushing mess just from holding my hand, she'd become confident. Almost as if now that she'd had a taste of the physical side of things she'd begun to crave more. Not only that, Honami was perceptive. Now she knew that she could use it to her advantage, fully aware of the different ways she could coax me into doing things that I'd rather not do with a bat of those pretty blue eyes, a sidelong glance or even a suggestive bite of those luscious lips.

It all started this morning, waking from more nightmares of that place. A place and people that I'd rather not recall ever again. The dreams were coming in chronological order for some reason, it almost made me not want to sleep. Especially because I knew what dreams would follow if my subconscious continued to feed me memories in this order. It made me wonder if the entire day had been a dream as I woke to a weight on my chest and I looked down to see Honami sleeping on top of me like I was her mattress.

She slept here the night before, not last night. Was everything that happened yesterday a dream? Wondering what was happening, I glanced at my phone to check the date to see that it wasn't some form of Groundhog Day syndrome. The light from my phone was blinding as I scrolled through notifications to see many missed calls and unread text messages from Honami who seemed to be incredibly worried about me.

Messages asking if I was still mad at her, texts of apology, questions of if I was still awake. I really was thoroughly exhausted if I'd slept through all of these alerts. I guess she must have come over while I was asleep only to find me in bed.

At least that's what I thought at first until I noticed that something was amiss. I could smell the scent of Honami's citrus perfume. The light from the screen didn't seem to stir her, she was still apparently asleep. The hair on my arm seemed to be slightly damp as if she'd only just showered recently.

Curiously, I moved closer and hugged her. My ear moved near her lips as her breath washed over my face. Minty fresh with not a hint of morning breath. I've napped with Honami on numerous occasions, her breathing pattern didn't seem to match up with any of the other times she'd been unconscious, she was very much awake.

So why was Honami pretending to still be asleep and acting as if she'd been here all night? What was this troublesome woman planning this time?

As I pulled away intent on getting ready to leave, Honami whined in her fake sleep and pulled me closer. Using more force to get up her grip broke as I got up and switched on my bedside lamp as I got ready to leave for the gym.

Honami sat up, pretending to wipe at the sleep in her eyes while faking a yawn.

"What time is it?" Honami asked.

"4:30am," I said as I changed my clothes.

"Come back to bed," Honami whined. "It's too early and I'm cold now,"

Lies, it was summer and the mornings were fairly warm at the moment. One glance at her in the light told me everything I needed to know, she was up to something. She was wearing her makeup and didn't have any bed hair at all.

My curious side wanted to see just what she was up to, I wasn't afraid of anyone. It's not like Honami would be able to come up with some kind of scheme that I wouldn't be able to stop and if this was some kind of ploy she was already ruining her chances by giving me too many hints.

Honami was never this sloppy, what was she planning?

"I always go to the gym at this time, go back to sleep. I'll be back soon,"

"You're really going? Now?"

"I always go at this time, you know that,"

After using the toilet, brushing my teeth and collecting my things, I bent down to kiss her forehead with my gym bag in hand, Honami snaked her arms around my neck before pulling my ear close to her lips.

"You could go to the gym," Honami whispered softly.

"You could walk through the campus, in the cold. Do all that work and spend your morning with a group of stinky sweaty boys. Come back and realize that you could have been here and enjoyed your morning relaxing.

"However, you could come back to this bed with your girlfriend right now. You could lay back down, stay with me and we can... practice," Honami finished as she lightly bit my earlobe.

I've corrupted this girl. The offer was so tantalizing for so many reasons.

I missed out on training while I was on the island, that was for an entire week. Surely I could miss one more day, right? That wouldn't hinder my performance for the Sports Festival, it wouldn't negatively impact me to just skip one more day. Who needs the gym any...

Shaking my head to rid myself of unholy thoughts, Honami's hands snaked her way into my hair and I could feel her change targets from my ear to my neck. Just in that moment, any thoughts of my routine left my mind immediately.

Needless to say, I didn't end up going to the gym. Honami grew more and more comfortable with me every day. She didn't protest or fight back, submissively raising her arms as I removed her shirt. Returning the favor as mine joined hers not long after.

The pile of discarded clothes grew larger as things became more heated. I could feel her nails rake harshly across my back. The pain barely registered as I moved my hands up her bare thighs. She gasped in surprise before I saw her eyes clouded with lust, kissing down my jaw before biting into my neck aggressively.

The moment I attempted to escalate things as my thumb hooked into her panties and started to pull them down though, Honami put a stop to it all hurriedly before gently pushing me away with her palms.

"I-I think we should both calm down a little bit," Honami panted heavily.

"Ah, come on. We can keep going a little bit more," I urged her.

I moved down her collarbone and I could feel her starting to give in until my teeth raked over her bra strap intent on pulling it off before Honami seemed to snap into action, pushing me away more decisively.

"No, we should stop. Before we both do something we regret," Honami said firmly.

I wouldn't regret anything, what's she talking about? Although, I had to admit that I hadn't planned for this so continuing on did pose some risks. Reluctantly, I agreed while my mind wasn't clouded with the chemical reactions in my brain that were screaming for me to reproduce.

Surprisingly, she didn't comment or seem to register the now raging Ayanokouji Jr. that was pressing into her inner thigh.

All I could do was nod in understanding as the two of us ended up talking for the rest of the morning. Both of us were hormonal teenagers. If the look in her eyes was anything to go by, I'm sure if it wasn't against the law, social stigmas and school rules Honami would have given in.

Cooler heads prevailed. Thankfully Honami was still in control of herself otherwise I wouldn't have been able to put a stop to it.

Nevertheless, with Honami's state of undress, I couldn't help but let my eyes roam. The more that my eyes continued to drift over her flawless form, the more Honami seemed to grow restless.

With morning training now ruined and most of the time being wasted with random conversation, we got out of bed intent on preparing for the day ahead. The moment Honami bent down to pick up her clothes to get dressed though, I stepped on them as she tried in vain to tug her shirt from under my foot.

"Kiyotaka," Honami pouted. "I need to make breakfast..."

"You don't need your clothes to cook,"

She looked up at me with a cute glare as I stood my ground. The sight of Honami bent over in her state of undress glaring up at me was quite arousing.

"Fine," Honami huffed, giving up and standing up straight. "I'll just cook like this then you pervert."

Barely a step towards the kitchen and my hand shot out, slapping her hard on the exposed creamy flesh of her butt cheek. It made a loud crack as I watched Honami jump in surprise, an angry red mark where my hand had struck her as it jiggled on her landing.

"Would you stop doing that!?" Honami screeched, the embarrassed blush speaking volumes.

"Why should I? You love it,"

"Y-you... shut up, I'm going to cook! Don't spank me again!" Honami glared warningly before walking out of the room backward until she was at a safe distance.

"Mother warned me to stay away from boys like you," Honami muttered under her breath as she left.

I chuckled as I followed behind her, sitting at my kitchen table while Honami prepared ingredients. I wasn't paying attention at all to what she was cooking, the entire time all I did was stare at her near-naked form as she motored around the kitchen.

I followed every single bounce and jiggle, every glimpse of those creamy exposed thighs without shame. Filing it away in my eidetic memory in case I ever needed to recall the images in the future.

"Boys like me?" I questioned curiously.

"Perverts who'll distract me from my studies," Honami said shortly as she mixed a batch of pancake batter.

"You're a pervert too, you're just in denial. You started it,"

Honami shook her head as she continued to cook. I was curious though. Aside from telling me about how her father left their family when she was young, this was the first time she'd ever mentioned any member of her family.

"What's your family like?" I asked curiously.

The question made her pause, I could see her features begin to darken. This was probably something she didn't like talking about. Irrespective, she opened the door and now I was curious. Besides, my past and everything about me were out there on display. I should know more about my girlfriend's family and life, we can't just keep everything about school and 'practice' all the time.

"My mother... wouldn't be happy if she found out that I have a boyfriend," Honami reluctantly admitted.

"Oh? Why's that?"

The only hesitation was the briefest shake of her hands as she paused before answering reluctantly.

"Well... My mother was pregnant with me around my age. When my father left us, my mother struggled a lot. I don't remember my father at all, he left when my mother was pregnant with my sister. She dropped out of school and worked hard to provide for the three of us, working multiple jobs to keep a roof over our heads.

"That's why originally, I was planning not to go to high school at all. I was going to look for a job straight out of middle school once my birthday came around but my mother was furious. She didn't want me to sacrifice my future by worrying about anything to do with the household, saying it was her responsibility that my sister and I were set up for life's challenges.

"I really studied hard, I tried my best. All I do is disappoint people," Honami continued, seeming sad. "I came to this school to make her happy but... It doesn't matter. All I know is that if my mother found out that I was cooking breakfast wearing lingerie in my boyfriends' dorm room, she would be less than impressed."

While there seemed to be details that Honami left out, it was enough to start seeing things about her from a broader perspective. Judging by her facial expressions when mentioning her mother and sister, Honami didn't really have a good relationship with them. It was odd considering how endearing of a personality she had, everyone loved her in this school.

From what I could tell, it was one-sided though. Honami seemed to want a closer relationship with her family, they seemed to be the ones holding a grudge against her.

The conversation stalled as I processed what Honami had told me, she seemed to immerse herself in cooking. Since she hadn't tried to keep the conversation going and hadn't spoken up again, I could tell that her family wasn't something she wanted to talk about unless I asked.

Distracted by my thoughts, I hadn't noticed that Honami had finished cooking pancakes and was now starting on cooking eggs and bacon while boiling miso soup in another pot.

"Are we feeding all of the first years or something?" I asked in shock at the sheer amount of food.

Honami chuckled to herself but continued to cook, shaking her head no.

"No this is for you," Honami smiled. "You stayed with me without going to the gym and it's a bit of an apology for yesterday. I really am sorry, Kiyotaka. I didn't mean to make you upset."

I couldn't help but furrow my eyebrows in suspicion as I reached for my phone on the table, an action Honami noticed immediately.

"Kiyotaka, I swear. If you make me sign that ridiculous memorandum..."

It wasn't until I obediently left my phone alone against my better judgment that Honami brought out all of the food she'd made for us for breakfast. Patting me on the head while setting the table for us to eat.

"Good boy,"

I swear by the time I was done I felt like I was going to burst. Every time I tried to stop eating, Honami would pout. At first, she asked if I didn't like her cooking. Then when I tried to stop again she emptied her plate onto mine and asked me to finish it for her with those upturned eyes. I felt like I was slipping into a coma, I didn't even have the energy to flirt or try to restart our 'practice'.

I gave her privacy to change and while I did I inspected the ingredients bag she brought with her. The receipt was still at the bottom, she'd bought it the night before. Everything, all of this was premeditated. I couldn't help but shake my head at what she was trying to do. I could play along longer and pretend like it was working but if I did I was sure to get sick from all of the fat and sugar.

Blueberry pancakes doused in butter and maple syrup. Eggs, french toast, bacon, sausages, miso soup. Coffee with cakes. All in one meal. I felt like I was going to vomit, every burp tasted disgustingly of my breakfast. It was so much to the point that I was sporting a food baby as I dragged my feet while walking into class, too lethargic to pay attention to anything on the way to class or lessons.

No one said a thing when I groaned after our first lesson, laying my head down on the table and trying not to throw up. I'd never eaten so much food in my life, I don't even know what I was trying to prove. I could have just said no, called Honami out on whatever ridiculous plan she was plotting but I wanted to see where this was going. Half of it was out of an apology, I didn't want to reject her when I'd already embarrassed her in front of her classmates yesterday. Especially when Honami always went out of her way to wait until we were alone to tell me if I'd done something that bothered her or to scold me for something I didn't do.

Eiichiro looked at me worriedly multiple times throughout the day, sneaking out between lessons to get me some water in concern. Chabashira-sensei didn't say anything either aside from asking Eiichiro if I was okay while I rested my head on the table and tried to digest everything after our Japanese History lesson.

"Is he okay?" I heard Chabashira-sensei ask him.

"I'm not sure, I've never seen him get sick once in my entire life,"

"Well, let him rest. If he's still like this at lunchtime, take him to the infirmary or send him back to his dorm."

It wasn't until just after our final lesson that I was approached. Other teachers looked at me when they came in for classes but said nothing. They probably chalked it up to lack of sleep or some other reason due to my past being exposed. I wasn't in a position to care, all I wanted was for the bloat to go away.

It wasn't until the lunch bell rang that I felt a hand soothingly rub me on the back.

"Ayanokouji-kun, are you alright?" Mii-chan asked in concern.

"I'll be okay,"

"Should I get you some medicine from the pharmacy? Do you want me to get you lunch?"

"No!" I sat up in a panic, grabbing her hands and pleading with her. "Please, anything but food."

Mii-chan looked surprised, blushing lightly and staring at her hands held between mine. Eiichiro and the others looked at me like I'd gone insane.

"What is wrong with you?" Eiichiro asked.

"Honami made me breakfast, I swear I've eaten enough to feed a small village," I groaned, letting go of Mii-chan and putting my head back on the table.

"Stop exaggerating and rubbing it in our faces you lucky bastard," Ike scoffed, moving over to our table with Yamauchi and Sudo. "I'd give my kidney to eat Ichinose-san's cooking."

"How much did you eat?" Eiichiro frowned.

"Eggs, bacon, french toast," I listed.

"That's a lot but that's not so bad," Eiichiro frowned.

"Blueberry pancakes, sausages, fruit salad,"

"Now you're just bragging," Sudo scoffed in jealousy.

"Miso soup, homemade cakes,"

"What the hell is wrong with you? No wonder you're sick!"

"Eiichiro, if I die you can have all my stuff," I groaned painfully.

Eiichiro suddenly grew excited, grabbing my shoulders and shaking me back and forth. I almost threw up on his shirt but managed to keep everything down.

"Can I just put you out of your misery right now?" Eiichiro asked excitedly.

"Dibs on the manga collection!" Sotomura shouted, shooting to his feet.

Eiichiro shouted back at him and the two started arguing about who should get what. I knew it wasn't serious, if I wasn't feeling like a beached whale I would be happy. At least now they seemed to be capable of acting somewhat normally around me again.

Most of the people in this class were my friends, I could handle the rest of the school looking at me as if I were some kind of demon. This experience would tell me who I could trust as lifelong friends and who would be trying to use me just like everyone else I'd met along the way since leaving the White Room.

"Honestly, what was she thinking?" Kushida frowned in concern as she pushed through and started rubbing my back.

"What? What's wrong with Ichinose-san wanting to look after her boyfriend?" Karuizawa frowned as she folded her arms with Hirata standing next to her.

"There are limits though, look at him," Satou frowned while joining the now-growing circle around my table.

"The way to a man's heart is through his stomach. Ayanokouji-kun's lucky to have a girl like Ichinose-san. Look at those idiots, they wouldn't say no either," Karuizawa said, pointing at Sotomura, Sudo, Ike and Yamauchi.

As I sat up in my seat with a grunt, I turned to check the class only for my eyes to meet Horikita. It lasted for barely a second before she broke eye contact, picked up her food and left silently without a biting remark. As she got to the exit, she hesitated for a moment before rummaging through her bag and putting a brown paper bag from the pharmacy on my desk without a word.

It was stomach medication, she must have gone to get it for me between lessons. Without a sound or even looking at me again, she opened the door and left before I could say anything.

"Argh," I groaned, flopping back in my chair and letting my head hang over the backrest. "I'm going to die,"

Suddenly, I felt a hand grab onto my jaw and turn my head forcefully to the other side. I could see in the reflection that it was Satou who grabbed me and a heavily blushing Karuizawa's hands shot over her mouth while the others looked at my neck in shock.

"IS THAT A HICKEY!?" Satou squealed.

"It is, it is!" Karuizawa squealed back, reaching the register of a dolphin.

"Check his chest," Mori said excitedly, slapping Satou on the arm in girly excitement. "Maybe there's more,"

It turned into a slapping contest as I fought the invasive girls' hands who were trying to pull my tie off and unbutton my shirt at the same time. The guys were no help as they all seemed to curse me with their eyes while the gyaru brigade was attempting to molest me. Kushida hadn't moved from her spot, staring at the mark on my neck as if she were in a trance.

All of a sudden I felt the room go cold. It was as if it was suddenly winter as a shiver ran down my spine and I saw Honami standing in the doorway with our lunch in hand.

"My, my," Honami observed. "Doesn't this look like fun,"

My savior had arrived and almost immediately the maniacal girls removed their hands from my clothes as if they were burned. They sheepishly took a step back as Honami made her way over and put the bag on my table. Satou decided to change tactics, turning to Honami before looping her arm around hers and dragging her to my side.

"We were just trying to see if we could find any more of these," Satou grinned, pointing at my neck where this supposed hickey was. "Care to explain that, Ichinose-san?"

The anger and jealousy had melted away instantaneously as Honami looked at my neck and I could see her visibly trying her hardest to keep from being embarrassed. She failed miserably though as her face heated up and she realized that we'd been caught red-handed. Or rather, bruised necked.

"W-well,"

"Leave her alone, guys," I sighed, throwing her a lifeline. "What we do in the privacy of our dorms is our business,"

"Of course you'd say that, we want details!" Satou urged excitedly in gossip mode. "Think of the rest of us poor singles that live life through you."

"Since when did you ever care about anything we did?"

"Since you got busted with a hickey on your neck! Honestly, how the hell didn't you notice that earlier? I can see teeth marks there, you guys are really going at it, aye?" Satou said pervertedly.

"Alright, leave them alone," Hirata smiled sympathetically. "It's none of our business like Ayanokouji-kun said, leave them be,"

"When are you gonna get one of those?" Satou grinned, elbowing Karuizawa in the ribs.

Karuizawa blushed and sputtered while Honami grabbed a chair, shaking her head and taking a seat in front of me before pulling out lunch from the bag.

It was the deluxe set from the cafeteria. The most expensive and luxurious set they had available. Tempura prawns, both chicken and pork katsu with mayonnaise, miso soup with rice. A side set of salmon nigiri and other side dishes. The lunch set that Honami never got because she said it was a waste of points, something that she could cook at home if I wanted it.

Just the smell of oil alone was making me nauseous.

There were two of them as well, no doubt for Honami to take three bites and then say she couldn't finish it before she'd shove it in my direction.

"I can't eat another bite after breakfast," I admitted painfully, patting my still-bulging belly.

"Stop being such a baby, Kiyotaka. Eat up, I never buy this for you. I'm just trying to take care of you," Honami said dismissively as she set everything up before picking up her chopsticks and holding out a piece of Pork Katsu. "Say 'Ahh',"

"Lucky bastard, she's feeding him too," Ike seethed.

"What are you doing?" I sighed in exasperation.

Honami pretended like the weight was too much for her arm as she feigned holding up the food like it was made of lead.

"Ah, I'm getting tired," Honami acted as she inched the food to my lips. "I'm going to drop it. Quick, help! Before it's too late,"

I rolled my eyes before pushing the chopsticks back towards her plate as she let it go, the piece of pork dropping back down. Crossing my arms and leaning back in my chair, I decided that I'd had enough of playing along with this farce.

"What are you doing, Honami? Did you really think this would work?"

The rest turned to me, looking at my reaction in confusion as Honami and I stared at each other. As if she were expecting this, she calmly put down the chopsticks before crossing her arms and folding her legs over each other, loosely mimicking my posture.

"What do you mean?" Eiichiro asked, looking confused.

"It was worth a try," Honami shrugged, ignoring everyone else as they all tried to figure out what was going on.

"Can someone explain what they're talking about?" Karuizawa said in a hushed tone to the other girls.

"I have no idea," Mori said back quietly.

"When did you figure it out?" Honami asked curiously.

"From the very beginning. I just wanted to see how far you'd take it,"

"I should have known. I can't slip anything past you, can I?" Honami said in amusement, switching her crossed legs as she watched me.

While normally my eyes would dart down, this time I kept my focus on her eyes. There was a time and place to be a perverted degenerate and this wasn't the time. Honami would learn for the first time what it would be like to go against me when I was focused on a goal. No feminine ways would distract me from the one thing that always followed when I decided to compete; winning.

"I think I know what's going on here," Kushida said quietly.

Sudo turned to Kushida first while the others all tore their gazes from Honami and me while they waited on her to elaborate.

"Ichinose-san is trying to sabotage Ayanokouji-kun from winning the Representative Challenge," Kushida explained to them

The air around us grew tense as they all watched silently, waiting to see what would happen. Eiichiro's eyes hardened as he glared at Honami, not taking it kindly that she was trying to sabotage me. I relished it, I was quite proud of her even if her tactics were childish.

"I could eat burgers, chips and pizza for three meals a day, skip the gym for the next two weeks and drink a laxative the morning of the Representative Challenge and I'd still wipe the floor with everyone," I laughed condescendingly. "You didn't actually think this would work, did you?"

Honami continued to smile, not once showing any signs of frustration at being caught. Not even for a moment rising to my taunts or pushing back on anything. Instead, she continued to carry herself with confidence and grace as we continued the back and forth in front of our spectating crowd.

"Is that so?"

"You know it is,"

"Then prove it," Honami challenged confidently.

Everyone remained silent, watching with interest at what I would do. I wanted to see what the reactions around me were, most notably Kushida but with everyone behind me I couldn't do it without making it obvious. Instead I just continued to watch Honami with amusement as she challenged me confidently.

"If you really can do it, then do it. Talk is cheap, Kiyotaka. Pizza, burgers and chips. I'll pay for it, no training the whole time either. If you're capable of talking big, surely you're ready to back it up, right?" Honami smirked.

"What about the laxative?"

"No, you don't need to do that. That's disgusting," Honami frowned, wrinkling her nose.

"Kiyotaka, do-" Eiichiro started before I cut him off by raising my hand.

"Sounds interesting but no thanks, I don't think I will," I said dismissively.

The confident smile disappeared as Honami seemed to be shaken at the fact that I backed out of her challenge. It shouldn't be surprising, I rarely ever rise to any challenge unless I have to or it benefits me. It also went against what I was doing all of this work in the first place.

I wasn't going through this Representative Challenge just to win, I was there to annihilate and embarrass everyone. I was there to collect souls, I was competing to watch the look on Nagumo-senpai's face when he saw that he was completely outmatched in every single way.

Besides, if Nagumo went through with the plans that I expected he was going to go with, I needed to be the focus of his attacks to keep him away from Class C.

"W-what? You're backing down?" Honami stuttered in shock.

"Honami, I've been ducking pointless challenges from everyone from the beginning. What did you expect?" I snorted

Her eyes narrowed as she pursed her lips in frustration before leaning back in her chair and crossing her arms again.

"How disappointing," Honami taunted me. "I didn't expect that you'd make a claim like that and then not have the guts to back it up,"

"That was your mistake, you expected too much from me," I shrugged indifferently.

At her failed attempt, Honami seemed to be annoyed at the fact that I wasn't rising to the bait. She got to her feet in a huff before stomping out of the room and closing the door behind her. She was gone for barely a moment before the door opened again and she stomped to my desk, taking both lunchboxes with a glare before turning on her heel and leaving again, slamming the door behind her.

The room was still silent at the exchange as I sighed, shaking my head before leaning back in my chair again. I suddenly felt better again, as if the skirmish had eased my queasy stomach of any indigestion. Eiichiro sat back down carefully, chewing on his thumb deep in thought while the rest of them seemed to suddenly come back to life.

"What just happened?" Satou breathed in shock.

"How are the two of you still together when you piss her off like that?" Ike said.

"That was nothing, she's just disappointed that things didn't go to plan for her," I said dismissively.

"Ikemen bastard, you really get away with everything,"

"Well, I guess we should be happy that Ayanokouji-kun said no. This was part of your plan, right? You knew this was going to happen, didn't you?" Karuizawa asked.

"More or less, I knew she was up to something. It's kind of cute," I chuckled to myself.

"I knew it!" Karuizawa cheered before putting her arms over both Eiichiro and my shoulders. "So you two came up with this, didn't you? You guys have a plan to win this thing, right? That participation table was fake too, wasn't it? It was all part of your pl-?"

"Karuizawa, I meant what I said," Eiichiro cut her off, turning his head to stare at her seriously. "I didn't ask Kiyotaka about anything, that participation table is real. You're competing, we're all going to train together regardless of who's on that table. This time, it's not about winning. It's about coming together as a class and everyone contributing.

"Kiyotaka, you're coming too," Eiichiro continued. "You're going to help train everyone with me, you're a part of this class. I know you're not competing with us but I expect you to be there to give them advice. We're going to use this chance to come together as a group, anyone who doesn't give their best when we train will be on their own from now on."

Karuizawa let us go in shock as she stood back up. Her lip quivered as she started to hyperventilate, the reality of what Eiichiro had told her sinking in. She was one of the participants from the girls, no doubt she was thinking that this was some kind of fabrication to hide our true participation table from the other classes. Satou put her arm over her shoulder in comfort while Mori moved to her other side.

"It's true, the participation table is real," Mori said. "Kushida-san and I asked Chabashira-sensei earlier and she gave us the same one Matsuo-kun gave us. Don't worry, Karuizawa-san. I'll help you prepare as best I can, I already asked Onodera-san to give you some tips to get ready."

"Why me?" Karuizawa said in a small voice, shaking in fright as she spoke. "Why did you choose me? Everyone's going to see me lose, I contributed... I didn't hold anyone back, did I? It's not like I did anything to deserve this,"

"It's okay, Karuizawa-san. You're going to do well, we're all cheering for you. We'll help you," Satou tried to comfort her.

Karuizawa suddenly grew angry as she struggled to get Satou and Mori off her before yelling at Eiichiro angrily.

"Why did you pick me!? We're supposed to be friends, everyone's going to laugh at me! You said that you picked people that haven't contributed anything to the class, so why the hell did you put my name down!?" Karuizawa screamed in his face.

Karuizawa angrily pointed at Yamauchi, fuming with a shaking hand.

"Why isn't his name on the list!? Why don't you embarrass him on national TV!? He sold us out on the island, that perverted asshole screwed us over at the beginning of the year!"

I said nothing and watched silently as Karuizawa started to sob. Kushida moved to her side, rubbing her arms in comfort as she quietly tried to reassure her. Eiichiro hadn't moved and seemed to be the picture of indifference but I could tell that this had shaken him. I watched as he wrestled with himself, wanting to say something to comfort her before he seemed to visibly stop himself. Instead, he exhaled to calm himself before his eyes went hard as he continued to appraise Karuizawa.

"I have my reasons," Eiichiro said.

With the mood dashed and everyone beginning to come back to the room, not much was said after that. I continued to observe the class throughout the rest of the day, most of them had gossiped about what had happened during the break. It was the first time that I'd seen Horikita speaking to her classmates socially, listening to what had gone down and inquiring about the details. It was obvious by her demeanor that she wasn't happy about this, glaring at the back of Eiichiro's head between lessons. At one point, I swore I saw her reach for her compass only to put it back in her pencil case a moment later.

After lessons were over, Eiichiro informed us all about our group training sessions. It seemed like the class was still following his lead even if they weren't happy with the circumstances, no one objected vocally or pushed back. They all committed to being there once they were told that I'd also be there to coach them through. Even Koenji made a commitment that he wouldn't be ducking the training sessions.

The Koenji situation was odd, I didn't think that he'd be against participating. Especially considering that I'd given my commitment to do my best in my own participation but I remained silent. There was still time to observe whatever Eiichiro had planned, right now the fact that everyone would be training together was a blessing.

Believe it or not, none of this was what made my day so annoying. It wasn't until I made a pitstop to my dorm, reluctantly doing paperwork for the Student Council and changing in my office to go to the gym that things really started to grind on my nerves.

Bunbun-senpai sent me a schedule for what was expected of me during this time. That smirking bastard purposely rostered my duties separately to Honami to make sure I wouldn't palm off any duties to her. Everything was split evenly, Bunbun-senpai informed me that it was to make sure that no single person was unfairly impacted to give Nagumo-senpai, that smirking bastard and I time to train.

It was just past 7:00pm before I finished, locking my office door behind me when I ran into Kushida. Holding paperwork that Nagumo-senpai had completed, she smiled politely as I passed her before noticing my attire.

"Don't you normally train in the mornings?" Kushida enquired curiously.

"I slept in this morning, I'm going to make up for it now," I said shortly as I passed her.

"Okay, Ayanokouji-kun. Good luck," Kushida smiled politely.

The interaction was strange and uncomfortable but I put it out of my mind as I made my way to the gym before stretching on the mats. I realized why I hated going to the gym at this time, no more than fifteen minutes in and the gym was packed with second years aside from Mashima-sensei who seemed to be left alone to his own devices and a few third years scattered around, the place was packed.

Every cardio machine was taken as I made my way to start my warm-up, I couldn't help but frown in frustration as I watched all of the second years training at an embarrassingly slow pace on every elliptical trainer, treadmill and stairmaster in the cardio section. Deciding to switch gears to another section, I moved to the free weight section to start there instead.

As I walked through the main walkway, a second-year bumped into me with his shoulder. Knocking me into a smaller second-year girl, she yelped as she crashed into the floor in a heap.

"Watch where you're going, Kohai," The second-year boy spat as he continued on his way.

Turning to the girl still on the floor, I offered her a hand to help her up.

"Sorry about that, Senpai. Are you alright?" I asked politely.

The girl glared up at me, ignoring my hand before getting to her feet and brushing herself off. She stormed past me, knocking my shoulder the same way the other boy did.

I shook my head in annoyance before making my way over to the benches. Putting my towel down, I set up to bench press before finishing off my first set. Sitting up and scanning the gym, three second-year boys came up behind me before tapping my shoulder to get my attention.

"Hey, Ayanokouji," The boy said arrogantly. "We were training here first, we just went to get some water,"

"Really? I didn't notice," I said politely. "Sorry about that, I'll jump off. Normally people leave something behind if they leave a station unattended so that we know that the equipment is taken,"

"Know your place, Kohai," The other boy said menacingly. "Are you looking down on us? Do you think that just because you're Vice President of the Student Council that you can just do whatever you want?"

I could already see what was going on here, I knew what was happening the moment that the second years all came at the same time. Nagumo was annoying again but this was welcome. At least if he was focusing this much manpower on me, the rest of the class would be spared. I could handle something like this, I wasn't so sure that Sudo would be able to keep himself in check if they were taunting him like this.

I could see through the reflection of the mirror that another second-year student was recording the entire thing with his phone in an inconspicuous spot. Being careful not to let them know that I'd seen them, I picked up my towel before wiping the bench down and collecting my things.

"My apologies, enjoy your workout," I said politely as I moved to another section.

I continued on in vain, truth be told I could have just left. It was obvious what was going on but leaving would have shown weakness. Instead, I continued on moving from station to station. People continued to bump into me, other second years would loudly confront me about something and one person walked into me with a cup of water. The bump was so soft but they jumped backward like they'd been shot, spilling water all over the floor.

"What is your problem?" The second-year girl shouted angrily as another second-year passed and slipped and fell on the wet floor.

I bent down without saying anything, removing my towel to clean up the mess before the girl slapped my hands away, glaring at me angrily.

"Don't bother. Wouldn't want the Vice President who doesn't do anything to dirty his hands with cleaning,"

By now I was getting pissed off, glaring at the second years that littered the gym like cockroaches infesting an abandoned condemned apartment. Moving over to the punching bag, I pulled out a pair of earbuds before blasting music and wrapping my hands.

Even they seemed to be afraid as I took my stance, working on my footwork to the beat in my ears. It started with jabs, moving onto more technical combinations as I slammed my fists into the bag with all my strength.

I exerted all of my frustrations into the bag. The blaring music in my ears damped the sounds of my fists unleashing punishment on the leather punching bag as the chains clinked in exertion with every strike. The wide berth that I'd been given the previous day was back as the gym goers stopped and watched, seeing my fighting prowess right before their eyes instead of an outdated video from the White Room or my amateur fights.

My timing wasn't for practice. All of it was for power punches. With no one to hold the bag, I used my lighter punches to reset the bag before unleashing power shots and sending the bag back with even more ferocity. My message was sent loud and clear to the second years, all seeming to pale and shrink back in case they ended up on the receiving end of one of those blows.

I kept the pace for over half an hour, not a break in between. The mat was getting slippery from the sweat pouring off me but I wasn't even panting, not even in the slightest. Deciding I'd sent my message, I slowed to a stop. Just as I was about to clean up and leave, I noticed a small tear in the fabric of the punching bag.

It was already there before, hiding in the worn-off paint from years of being used by previous years. Deciding to send one last message, I threw a quick Muay Thai switch kick with all of my strength right at the tear. My shin impacted the leather, crashing into the bag like a whip. The music had stopped long ago and I could hear just how loud the blow had sounded in the gym, the sound exacerbated by the silence of the second years who stopped and watched.

The kick was enough to split the bag open as sand started to pour from the wound. I turned away, collecting my things before making my way to the staff table to report the damage as the second-years moved from my path, a few of them moving closer to inspect the damaged punching bag.

Just as I made my way to the counter, the owner of the gym saw me coming before quickly moving out from behind the desk and ushering me into an office.

"Ayanokouji, I need to speak to you in private. Come in here,"

I followed the man in as he shut the door behind me. He motioned for me to take a seat before taking one himself and nervously wringing his hands.

"Look, Ayanokouji. I know you've been training here and there's never been any complaints about you. It's just that ever since yesterday, a number of people have been complaining about you being here making them uncomfortable. I think it's silly and I don't really understand why the students are afraid of you. You've had a tough life, kid.

"It's just that today, we've had a lot of behavior complaints about you. Another student reported slipping in the gym on water you spilled in the walkway, others have been complaining about you kicking them off equipment. I know it's not your fault but with this many complaints, we have to follow the rules and suspend your membership. Just take the month off until all of this blows over and you can come back next month,"

The situation was annoying but this was most likely Nagumo's plan all along. Even still, I figured that being a model customer, never causing trouble before and not getting into any confrontations would avoid this kind of situation. The owner was probably threatened by the second-years that they were going to cancel their memberships because of me. He was suspending my membership and hoping it'd blow over instead of standing up to them and losing money.

I couldn't blame him but at the same time, I was pissed off.

"Don't worry about the suspension, I'll cancel my membership now and go somewhere else," I said as calmly as I could before standing up and making to leave.

"Come on, Ayanokouji. Don't be like that, this will all blow over," The owner said hastily, trying to take control of the situation. "Kids are kids, they don't know what they're doing. You can't blame them for being a little a-"

"I'll cancel my membership. Please give me the appropriate forms so I can leave," I said cutting him off firmly.

The balding man sighed before hanging his head and nodding. Once the paperwork was done, I left the gym with everything out of my locker that I'd hired to keep a spare uniform in case I was running behind. Just as I turned the corner and passed the cafe near Keyaki Mall, I spotted Nagumo sitting there, raising his coffee cup in a toast as our eyes met.

The way that he smirked, the way he sat with so much satisfaction. Other second-year girls that he had at his table all turned in my direction and giggled at seeing me with a bag full of my belongings. He looked at this as a victory, trying to make my life more difficult. He knew he couldn't beat me physically, the only way he could gain an edge was psychologically. This was just a prelude to his grander schemes and I wouldn't be the target. I didn't need to know anything about Nagumo Miyabi, his face said it all. I wanted that smile, I wanted him to do things like this and any other more sinister plans he could come up with. I wanted him to be confident that victory was a certainty for him. It would make destroying him so much sweeter when he realized that he threw everything at me and I brought him to his knees.

Chapter 53

A/N: Thank you megadonkeykong for reading over this chapter and giving feedback. I've been taking a break from writing and enjoying reading other stuff at the moment but decided to finish off this chapter, hope you enjoy it.

You think it's impossible to be a passive fighter. Well, sometimes fighting just means existing. Existing, not going away, and quietly biding your time...

I'm a firm believer that there's a time and place for everything. From love and affection all the way to cruelty and punishment. People mistake doing nothing for surrender. Too many people do things pointlessly because they feel as though if they're doing nothing, they're achieving nothing.

The truth was that if the Sports Festival was only a couple of days from now, I'd be far more assertive with my plans. The reality is that at this time there really isn't much to do.

Quietly assessing the landscape and making moves based on your opponent is one of the fundamentals of chess. If there was one strategy that steamrolls every advisery then there wouldn't be a need for theory-crafting. When dealing with someone with an offensive mindset, that doesn't necessarily mean that you have to be defensive. Blind offense is meaningless, every strike must be tactical. Every blow has to hurt. Otherwise, you're mindlessly committing resources in places that didn't matter. You must be decisive, you must be calculating.

I could already see into Nagumo Miyabi's mind before he'd made a single move. History tends to repeat itself, leaders tend to fall back on a crutch when it comes to strategy. Falling on previously proven tactics in the face of a strong opponent because they don't have the courage to try something new and different when the old playbook never failed before.

This is a common fallacy.

Every strategy, every move. Every decision must be tailor-made to your opponent. It's the only way to maximize attacking their weaknesses. It's why I approached this fight with Nagumo the way that I did, my plan of action is to pull guard.

Nagumo thinks he wants to win no matter the cost. However, a win for him isn't as satisfying without embarrassing his opponent. He wanted to humiliate me. He wanted to prove himself. So the best course of action was to show that it wasn't affecting me. I wanted to frustrate him, make it seem like I'm not taking this seriously so that he'd act more recklessly.

Nagumo's insecurities are his weakness. He needs validation, both from his contemporaries and his opponents. He longs for admiration and popularity. Nothing infuriates him more than not being taken seriously, being belittled, or being labeled as unworthy. It's why no matter the circumstances, I will not allow him to see me in that state.

Every weapon has a purpose, every tool has a use even when deciding not to use it.

Getting me suspended from my gym was just the tip of the iceberg, he was waiting for me to go to the gym to put this into motion while keeping the second-years on standby. I only realized today how much thought he'd put into that plan, every single gym had suddenly had an influx of membership sign-ups since the day before. He'd signed up to every single gym with every second year he could and backed up their waiting list for new memberships. No matter where I went, I was knocked back. Asked to wait until after the sports festival to sign up again. All because of the sudden lack of manpower with BUDDY down, all of those sign-ups meant that I was without options.

Aside from it being annoying, the move did little to me. I don't like to have my routine broken but the effects would be minimal. I was merely going because it was part of my everyday life. My specialized training would be done outside of the gym. I didn't need to reach new heights, in my current condition I could very easily win every event. My PR's may as well have been Everest for them, they wouldn't reach those heights in a thousand lifetimes. My focus would simply be working on preventing injury and losing the unnecessary bulk Honami had been making me build.

Nagumo was spreading himself thin, he was trying to overwhelm me on too many fronts. Our group chat was chaotic, our entire class was asking each other if anyone noticed that they'd been constantly being followed and observed by second-years. The one who was feeling the heat at the moment was Kushida, people seemed to be turning to her to find out what Nagumo's problem was and why they were targeted.

I was grateful, the more effort he put in the more it would hurt when he lost. There was as close to zero percent chance as possible for me to lose this bet. The only thing that would stop me would be if Father went through with his threat to confiscate all of my points or death, no matter if it cost me every single point I had. I would empty every last Private Point to ensure I won. That smirking bastard was right, I had severely underestimated how many points I would get from launching BUDDY.

Between the transaction fees from BUDDY, my percentage of sales that were done through the app, and the tax of the people who worked part-time jobs, I was a little shaken seeing just how many points the BUDDY phone had.

43,420,200 Private Points.

Without doing a single job.

It validates my phenomenal acting skills, I must say. I bluffed Ryuen's class and made them believe that I had access to over 20,000,000 points per month but wasn't even close to reaching that amount. Even still, this amount of points was unbelievable. I could buy everything I wanted and live a life of luxury without any fear of running low on funds. Unlike the rest of the student body though, I had restraint.

When questioning Chabashira-sensei on the ship, I was able to get some insight into the spending habits of students at the school. When scrolling through transactions that observation was exacerbated. Most students didn't save, they all spent with very little care. People used BUDDY to earn points only to spend it the next day. In the history of the school, Chabashira-sensei told me that only one student had ever come close to reaching the desired 20,000,000 points, successfully reaching close to 12 million points, and was close to being able to buy a transfer.

His hopes were dashed close to his graduation though, he was expelled when it was uncovered that he had been involved in a large-scale fraudulent operation.

That record was now mine, I was the only student in the history of the school who had generated this amount of points purely on my own individual efforts. As minimal as those efforts were, all in a day's work. Now there were another 35 million odd points waiting for me in escargot for my taking.

It was so ridiculously stupid that I kept refreshing the wallet just to see if my eyes were deceiving me. I can be disciplined when I want to be and once I decided that I wouldn't check this balance until necessary I committed myself. The only reason I'm charging it now and accessing my vault is that while everyone in Class C is attacking Eiichiro, I already knew the moment I'd seen our Participation Table what his plan was.

He really was taking this seriously, I hadn't given him enough credit. People could change and grow and this chain of events was a testament to that. Eiichiro used pieces of strategies from all of our failed special tests to get ahead of the curve.

He used Koenji's plan on the island to mitigate risks. By not telling anyone his plan, not even me, he'd mitigated the chance that there was a potential leak. Eiichiro also used what I'd told him before, that sometimes it was necessary to deceive your allies as well as your enemies.

Now he was waiting, waiting for history to repeat itself and for someone to leak our participation table. He was also waiting on Ryuen's tendencies to show as well, Ryuen wouldn't be able to resist. The moment our table leaked, he wouldn't be able to help himself. Once Ryuen came to throw it in our faces, Eiichiro would use his trump card; my BUDDY points.

Eiichiro is probably suspecting Yamauchi. He probably believes that he'll sell the participation table for greed. Thinking that Yamauchi would rationalize it in his mind that this exam was a loss leader already and he may as well capitalize on it. The truth is that I'm positive that our table has leaked already and it wasn't Yamauchi who would have done it.

Kushida had been acting strangely, I'm not exactly sure what she wants but I'm positive that she was the one who told Nagumo that I went to the gym. It's why once everything started to unfold in front of me I decided to get something from a losing situation. Turn lemons into lemonade, if you will. Turn weakness into strength. Nagumo had to send someone to tape the whole thing, it was part of his perverse nature to see it all unfolding. He wanted to analyze and make adjustments, see if there was anything from the situation that he could use to his advantage and I was hoping he'd fall into my trap.

There was only one reason why the second-year boys were so willing to challenge me physically, they were more than likely scared of what I could do to them in a fight but knew I couldn't touch them while they were protected by the safety of the school. I was hoping that my little exhibition would inspire Nagumo to try something bolder, praying that he'd take a leaf out of Ryuen's book to send some of his underlings my way in a place where there were no cameras. The timing would have to be perfect but if he was stupid enough to follow through with my provocations, I could gain something more valuable than points or anything else.

It's because Nagumo is someone with overwhelming resources and is strategically sound that I am able to predict his moves so thoroughly. One only needs to analyze all the possibilities, cross reference that with the tendencies of their personality and you're able to eliminate the least likely possibilities. It's not me who's at an overwhelming disadvantage, it's Nagumo. He may have an idea of my capabilities but he doesn't know the extent of my reach, doesn't know how deep my pockets run. Financially, with all of his points tied up in escargot with that Smirking Bastard, Nagumo can only deal in promises. He can only go into debt, both financially and verbally. His capability of fulfilling those promises is contingent on winning.

However, that doesn't mean that debt goes away if you lose. Those vultures will want their pound of flesh, they won't care whether or not Nagumo has the capability of fulfilling his end. They'll take what is owed to them and I was going to make it happen. Nagumo Miyabi will rue the day he ever crossed paths with me.

It's part of the reason why this situation was incredibly annoying, I needed to meet with people but had no way of seeing them without dropping these damn ticks that kept on watching me from the shadows. It's why when you're dealing with snakes, sometimes you needed a snake of your own that could slither past unbeknownst to anyone.

Eiichiro called for everyone to stay back after class so that we could discuss the situation and figure out why all of this was happening. With the final bell of the day ringing, everyone moved to their various cliques to vent their frustrations to each other.

The ones who had it the worst were both Mii-chan and Sudo. Sudo was constantly being targeted. Shoulder checked by a second-year at almost every turn, loudly mocked in front of others and constantly having people try to pick fights with him. Eiichiro stuck by his side like glue as support but it would seem like it was unnecessary.

The previous suspension seemed to have given him perspective on the consequences of his actions but it wasn't easy for him. From what Eiichiro had told me, he'd clench his teeth and his fists while leaving as quickly as possible before pounding his fists into a wall or door the moment he was out of sight. Eiichiro was trying his best to keep him calm, not wanting to have him injure his hands but as time went on his patience was being tested.

Mii-chan had it worse though, so much worse. The poor girl wasn't built for confrontation. Second-year students complained to her in droves, claiming they got food poisoning from her food. It would appear that Nagumo-senpai also enlisted help from Ryuen's class as well as a few third-year class C students. There were so many of them surrounding her in droves and the poor girl didn't even defend herself. Meekly apologizing and refunding them their points.

Some of them more forcefully asked for compensation to which she fearfully gave in immediately. She cried all morning, telling her friends that between the refunds, compensation, and the cost of the ingredients, she had no points at all anymore. The girl's confidence and spirit were completely broken. I felt bad for her as I watched her out of the corner of my eye as she robotically took notes in class with an all-familiar dead look in her eyes.

To make matters worse, now Kushida was in tears as well. Just before our final class would end, Nagumo posted Class C's Participation Table to the school boards.

"Why the hell would you give Nagumo-senpai our participation table!?" Karuizawa yelled at Kushida.

"Hey, back off!" Ike defended her, stepping between them. "Kushida-chan would never betray the class, what the hell is your problem?"

"Easy for you to say, my name is on that list!" Karuizawa screamed at him.

"Ike-kun, Karuizawa-san is right to be angry," Kushida said, patting his back. "But I didn't give him the Participation Table... He must have got it from my phone while I was in the Student Council office..."

Kushida checked through her email, opening her sent folder and showing the screen.

"There's an email here but I promise I didn't send it," Kushida said. "Still, I don't know why he's doing this..."

"Why would you leave your phone unattended? How does he even have your passcode!?" Karuizawa shouted.

"He asked to use my phone because his battery died. I didn't think he'd do this..."

"Shouldn't you have been more careful?" Satou asked while crossing her arms, backing Karuizawa up. "Isn't it obvious that he has some kind of problem with Ayanokouji-kun? He posted up the articles about him and now Ayanokouji-kun's been getting bullied because of him. How could you be so careless? Why the hell would you agree to work with someone like that?"

"G-guys, I agreed before any of that happened," Kushida stammered tearfully. "I didn't know any of this was going to happen, I don't know why Nagumo-senpai is doing all of this..."

Mori put a comforting arm around her shoulders, the one girl who was a friend of both groups. While Karuizawa and Kushida were both queens and leaders of their own cliques, Mori was the bridge. Close friends with both girls, she acted as a peacekeeper while the members of both groups seemed to want to go at each other's throats for their respective friends.

"Guys, come on. Stop this. Kushida-chan is the victim here, we shouldn't be blaming her. You should be angry with Nagumo-senpai, not her."

"Oh, when I get my hands on him..." Satou seethed angrily, miming a choking motion in the air in front of her. "What the hell is his problem?"

"I'm not sure but tomorrow was the deadline to submit the Participation Tables," Eiichiro frowned. "It seems pretty convenient that ours leaked today. I doubt any other class has submitted theirs, they were probably trying to gather information before they made decisions,"

"You..." Horikita started before clenching her fists and forcing herself to remain silent.

Eiichiro ignored her, remaining seated with his fingers interlaced as he tried to read the situation. While the class continued to discuss Nagumo-senpai, Horikita continued to glare at Eiichiro before he sighed and turned in her direction.

"What is it, Horikita? You keep staring at me. If you're going to confess, I'll save you the trou..."

"Stop trying to act like Ayanokouji-kun, it doesn't work for you," Horikita spat.

"Where do you think he learned it from?"

"Not from you, that's for certain. Probably from that stupid toilet paper you call literature,"

"Hey!" Hondo shouted from the back of the room, clearly offended.

"This is all your doing," Horikita pounded her fist on the table in frustration. "What are we supposed to do now, oh fearless leader of ours? Surely this was all a part of your plan,"

Matsushita watched everything unfold, standing by Satou's side and patting her shoulders as she calmed down from earlier. With Horikita right by her side, she removed herself from Satou before patting her balled-up fist calmly in comfort.

"It's all going to be fine, we're going to be fine," Matsushita reassured her.

This didn't seem to calm Horikita at all. Instead, she looked defeated. She looked to deflate as her shoulders sagged and her line of sight dropped to the desk in front of her.

"Why does it seem like I'm the only one who cares? Am I the only one who wants to reach Class A? Why aren't the rest of you treating this with any sense of urgency?"

Before anyone else could continue the conversation, the door to our class slid open. All of us turned to see Nagumo Miyabi standing there scanning the room before his eyes fell on Kushida. He smiled before striding in confidently to speak to her before Satou moved to slap him. Karuizawa and Mori both quickly grabbed Satou to stop her before Nagumo turned his gaze on her glaring at him with hatred.

For barely a moment, he looked at her as if she were scum. Like she was beneath him.

However, much like Kushida, the look was gone almost immediately before it gave way to a look of complete perplexity.

"Why the hostility? I don't see why you all seem to be so angry with me," Nagumo said.

Turning to Kushida, he nodded his head towards the door.

"We have a lot to do, we're rostered on today. You were supposed to be at the Student Council office an hour ago, I've been looking for you. I was expecting a degree of professionalism from you when I recruited you,"

"I'm sorry," Kushida said quietly with her head bowed. "I'll come now, we were ju-"

"Save your excuses, we've wasted enough time. Let's go,"

"What the hell is your problem!?" Satou shouted at him. "Going through Kushida-san's phone to leak our Participation Table, exposing personal information on Ayanokouji-kun. Getting the second-years to bully us! What is wrong with you?"

"So that's what this is about..." Nagumo sighed, shaking his head.

"First of all, I resent the accusation that I'm the one getting the second-years to bully you. You have no proof of that. I have been dealing with complaints from my year for days now. A third of Class C and D are in the infirmary right now with food poisoning thanks to Wang Mei-Yu and now there are even reports of harassment perpetrated by the members of this class. If it wasn't for Kushida speaking up for all of you and insisting that it wasn't true, this class would have already been under review,"

"As for revealing Ayanokouji's past... well, I had my reasons for that," Nagumo continued. "Nevertheless, I'm surprised that you would take issue with that. I believe your anger is misplaced, isn't it? Shouldn't all of you be angry with Ayanokouji for keeping this from all of you?"

"Why the hell would any of us be angry with Ayanokouji-kun?" Karuizawa spat. "If someone has trauma from their past and wants to keep it a secret, that's up to them. How is that any of your business?"

Nagumo side-eyed Karuizawa with very little interest before ignoring her and continuing to address the class.

"Surely some of you resent him to a degree, am I right? Ayanokouji here is capable of bringing all of you to Class A, the pinnacle of what it means to attend this school. All of you have your futures and your dreams right within your grasp. What does he do though? Installs a puppet? Someone who doesn't have the qualifications, skills, or qualities of a leader who plays interference for him so that he can do nothing."

"Matsuo-kun has the qualities of a leader," Hirata spoke up. "He cares about us, he cares about getting to Class A."

"While I respect your opinion, Hirata, there have been a thousand people who care about getting to Class A in years past. It takes something more than hopes and desires. While I'm sure that Matsuo is a fine person, that does not make him a leader,"

"Just because Ayanokouji-kun is a genius that doesn't mean he's a leader," Horikita said.

"It would seem that you don't have the leadership qualities of your brother either," Nagumo scoffed rudely. "Imagine having a sister in Class D, how embarrassing."

I could see Horikita shaking in rage but unable to say anything to defend herself. The others in the room seemed to lose confidence when faced with such an opponent. I sighed to myself, all of this was a waste of time. I had such high hopes for Nagumo, I really did. I thought this would be some kind of a challenge to some degree.

Unfortunately, it wasn't. I set my expectations too high. Nagumo was focusing all his resources in all the wrong places and now I was just annoyed.

"You must be under a lot of stress, Nagumo-senpai," I said, breaking my silence. "You seem to have forgotten that we're now Class C,"

"Once Class D, always Class D," Nagumo said dismissively.

"I guess that's why you still feel like you're a Class B defect, it must be tough," I said nonchalantly.

That one hurt, I could see it. Having his shame pinpointed so directly in front of people, even if he thought that those people were beneath him, was a massive blow to his pride. Everyone had insecurities, not everyone was capable of moving forward from them. It was such a trivial thing, to need validation from people you didn't care about or even knew. Irrespective, it was a sore spot for Nagumo Miyabi. The fact that the school had deemed him to have any kind of defect when he looked at himself as the epitome of flawlessness.

"I've said it before and I'll say it again, he really does have a unique ability of being able to piss people off without saying much," Akito said quietly from behind me.

"I'll take that as a compliment,"

"He wasn't complimenting you," Hasebe muttered.

"He does have a point," Nagumo said with barely contained rage. "You really do have a unique talent of knowing exactly what to say to annoy people. It makes me wonder how many of them quietly despise you."

"I know I certainly do," Nagumo continued. "This school gives all of us a plethora of opportunities that no other institution in the country offers. All of us here give our best for opportunities that we wouldn't have otherwise. Yet here you are, making a mockery of this place simply because you're privileged and set for life. It disgusts me,"

"For others, Class A is the only way for them to have guaranteed success in the future. For people like you who will have everything handed to them on a silver platter when you graduate, it's meaningless. You're willing to drag this class down so you can have fun while not even thinking about your classmates and how it will impact their future,"

"Kiyotaka has never done anything to drag this class down," Eiichiro refuted him. "He's done more for this class than people will ever know. Just because he doesn't talk about it, that doesn't mean that he's been actively sabotaging the class."

While Eiichiro wholeheartedly believed that and knew how much I'd helped the class, one cursory glance told me that not everyone in this class believed him. To them, I was a genius who let them fall to zero class points. They had no allowance because of my laziness, not realizing that I was the one who'd given the two million points to Kushida. If they knew it was me, they'd be angered that I'd received it back without refusing to be paid back, not knowing that I didn't even have those points anymore because I'd already given them back to Eiichiro to use for the class.

They didn't know that if not for me, Horikita would have been expelled. While I had carried them in the most recent special test, there were doubts that I did it for their sake. I hadn't, but that was beside the point. No doubt there were many of my contemporaries that were sympathetic to my circumstances but still harbored resentment at the fact that I wouldn't use my God-given talent to their benefit.

Before Nagumo could say anything to counter that the door to the classroom opened. My heart sank as I saw the smirk grow on Nagumo's face as I realized that this was what he was waiting for. He'd been stalling and setting the stage to do the reveal to everyone, including the one person that I didn't want to hear about this bet.

I should have expected it, although he must have come up with a foolproof plan if he was this confident to let it leak to Honami. He had to have anticipated that there was a possibility that if he worked with Class B that she would leak information to me. Either he was naive and thought that Honami would take this opportunity to reach for Class A, or he was so confident that he could win that he didn't care if she did and this was another form of psychological torture.

Either way, it was futile. The former seemed to be unbelievable so it must have been the latter.

However, one look at Honami told me that he wasn't planning on revealing our bet in front of her. She was the one who was going to do his dirty work; she already knew. I didn't need to wait long to figure out who had done it, a fuming Asahina followed in behind as Honami walked up to me and stood there with her head down, ignoring everyone else in the room.

"Please, tell me it isn't true," Honami said quietly.

The look on Asahina's face, I never knew such a face could mould itself into that kind of expression of fury. It would seem that look wasn't solely for me as I caught her glare at Nagumo from the corner of my eye as he seemed delighted by the unfolding scene.

"My, my, Ayanokouji," Nagumo said mockingly. "Don't you know that secrets in a relationship are poisonous? How could you keep something like this from her, Ayanokouji? Don't tell me you haven't told your classmates either..."

The class was tense with confusion and apprehension. It was stifling, everyone like strings on a guitar that were mercilessly pulled past the point of being close to snapping.

"Told us what?" Satou asked.

"Ayanokouji-kun... what are they talking about?" Karuizawa asked as well, moving to my side.

"Tell me it isn't true," Honami said again.

"What have you done this time?" Eiichiro grabbed my shoulder.

When Nagumo didn't speak, standing and watching me being grilled with delight, I sighed and admitted what I'd done.

"I signed a memorandum with Nagumo-senpai. I made a guarantee that I'd win the Representative Challenge and that my class would come in first. If I lose, I agreed to withdraw from the school," I said.

While the room turned silent to the point that it resembled that place, it was as if I'd dropped a bomb and we were all collectively experiencing a nuclear winter. Everyone was too shocked to move, to speak. The only one who seemed to have any show of emotion at all was Nagumo, who drank in the shock of the class like a vampire feeding on a fresh collective of corpses that were the occupants of the room.

He relished it, watching the way Honami hung her head until I could no longer see her eyes. The bated breaths from Karuizawa and my other friends, the bewilderment of Hirata who couldn't believe what he'd just heard. It wasn't until Honami wiped at her eyes and hurriedly turned her back on me to leave that life seemed to breathe back into the room.

"Excuse me," Honami said quietly as she left with a choked sob.

The door was barely closed before Karuizawa made to chase after her, battering me with her shoulder as she passed.

"You... are unbelievable!" Karuizawa spat before hurriedly leaving and calling after Honami.

Satou and Mori both did the same, the former glaring at me as she passed while Mori didn't even acknowledge my existence.

Asahina-senpai seemed to have come back to life. Her hands balled into fists were shaking as her shoulders trembled. Without warning, she took one step forward before striking my cheek. The slap echoed ever so slightly in the silence of the darkening room.

"I expected this sort of rubbish from him, but not from you," Asahina said. "You should be ashamed of yourself,"

Nagumo smirked at the sight of me as I stood there in silence, accepting her rage without rebuttal. It was short lived as the sound of his chuckling seemed to enrage Asahina further as she whirled around and slapped him as well. He stumbled slightly in shock, righting himself and clutching at his now red cheek as he glared at her.

"You'll regret that," Nagumo said warningly.

"No, I won't," Asahina said firmly. "You'll regret this, trust me on that. You may win this bet, you may succeed in getting him out and you may end up graduating from Class A."

"Ayanokouji-kun is my friend, Honami-chan is my friend. No matter who wins this stupid bet between the two of you, everyone else loses. The two of you should be ashamed of yourselves." Asahina continued.

"Sometimes sacrifices need to be made when dealing with someone exceptional,"

Asahina didn't but I reluctantly had to agree. I don't enjoy the fact that my classmates were suffering because of this bet or the fact that Honami would be put into a difficult situation. However, sacrifices needed to be made to achieve a goal. Winning is everything, even if you lose it all in the process.

"Don't ever ask me to do something like that ever again," Asahina spat.

With that she turned and stormed out of the room, turning in the opposite direction to where Honami had gone as she slammed the door behind her. The class watched as her angry form stormed down the hall past the windows before she went out of view.

"So, all of this is happening because of Ayanokouji-kun..." Kushida said quietly under her breath.

While she said it quietly to herself, the silence of the rest of the class made it sound as if she'd shouted it. The quiet observation that I'm sure more than half of my class were thinking as well. With Karuizawa and Satou out of the room, no one else seemed to speak up to refute her.

"Did you know about this?" Sudo asked her.

"No... it's the first time I'm hearing about any of this..."

"So Nagumo-senpai is getting the second-years after us so we lose?" Ike frowned.

"As I said, everyone is acting on their own accord," Nagumo said dismissively. "It would seem that quite a lot of people want to get rid of Ayanokouji, wouldn't you say?"

"Everyone knows that the second-years are in your pocket. Spineless cowards, they start losing ground in the class battles and they start licking your shoes. It's pathetic," Horikita spat, moving to my side.

"I admire that tenacity. It's a shame that you don't have the talent to back up your words,"

"It isn't over until the last day of our third year. Matsuo-kun and I don't see eye to eye on many things, but he was right. Ayanokouji-kun has never been the reason why we are where we are. If anything we were able to come back to life because of him."

"Perhaps," Nagumo mused thoughtfully. "But you wouldn't need to come back to life if he was a more willing participant. You could have been Class B or C at the beginning of the year if he'd told you about the S-System. My sources have told me that he had his suspicions from the start.

"Even if that weren't the case, how about on the island? He could have taken charge, been a more active participant. Instead, he let all of you embarrass yourselves again and again. Even now, it doesn't look like Ayanokouji is doing very much. Maybe he looks at you as worthless defects and actually wants to be expelled because he looks down on all of you.

"However, it doesn't have to be that way. Rather than suffer because of him, you can help me. Anyone who wants to help me in this bet can contact me anonymously. I'll be sure to reward you when the time comes. Perhaps I'd be willing to leave 20,000,000 points to the person who helps me get rid of Ayanokouji before I graduate..."

While it wasn't an outright promise, it was enough to make my classmates ponder the point. I'm sure there were more than a few people who resented me for not being more helpful but that was irrelevant. Greed is a powerful motivator, even the most honourable could be tempted if the price was right. In a class like this where unity wasn't a common characteristic, I was certain that more than a few of them would be tempted for far less.

With that his job was done, the only war wound that showed was the angry slap mark on his cheek that mirrored mine. Nagumo could still feel the sting, I could tell. He was holding it together because he was in front of people but I could tell that he was still in pain and he was furiously embarrassed. Asahina-senpai needed to be careful, slights like this didn't go unpunished from Nagumo Miyabi.

Even with the slightly misty eyes and the angry red handprint, Nagumo was the picture of confidence on the outside as he rested his hand on my shoulder before speaking quietly in my ear.

"You're not doing very much. You better start taking things seriously. It's not fun to win when the other does nothing,"

"I'm doing nothing because neither are you," I said back just as quietly. "Your tactics are predictable and all of this is meaningless. You're focusing on the wrong things, I already gave you a hint on what you need to do but I guess you're even more unremarkable than I thought you were,"

The insult cut like a knife but I was sure that he disregarded it as psychological warfare. To someone like Nagumo Miyabi, it would be unfathomable that his tactics were weak. Even if the person pointing out his strategic flaws were so much more capable than he was.

"Nice try, Ayanokouji," Nagumo chuckled, patting me on the shoulder.

"Enjoy trying to get them to work together now, I can already see who's going to come to my side. I've won already, but I won't stop here. It'd be even more fun if I crushed you completely in every aspect. So keep thinking that you can win this without doing anything.

"Now you have to repair your fractured relationship with your class, make preparations for the representative challenge without a place to train and your girlfriend seems to be quite upset with you. Enjoy the aftermath," Nagumo smiled confidently before leaving the room with a dismissive wave over his shoulder.

It was only for a moment but I saw and I noticed. It was just a glance, barely a whisper. Unbridled contempt and disdain, jealousy and envy. To him, this was the clash of titans. A symphony of events in which he was the conductor. Leading his band of sycophants in a battle that I continued to disregard. All leading to a crescendo where he was hoping to see me in despair, so that he had something to brag about that he'd been the one to deal the killing blow to the 'Masterpiece' of the Demonic 4th Generation.

In the end it was futile. As events continued to unfold, the more and more I continued to be disappointed. Wasting time with spectacles like this did more to boost his ego than to win against me. He only had one chance, one course of action to beat me. I'd even given him hints but either Nagumo was too stupid to see it or he was a coward.

The only way he would beat me was through violence. To send his second-years with weapons armed to the teeth. He'd have to kill me, break my legs or force me to fight back. He could promise that he'd save them from being expelled only to turn his back on them at the last minute and victory would be assured. That was his only course of action, instead he wasted time with petty tricks.

In the end, it was my fault for expecting too much. At the end of the day, Nagumo was simply a lamb. So I would do the duty I promised when I agreed to this competition and deliver him the slaughter he so desperately desired.

Chapter 54

Furaidē

Return of the Nation's Son

By: Aoki Asa

It feels like a lifetime ago when the atrocities of the facility known as the 'White Room' was exposed to the public and the frightening state of the children held captive within.

I remember at the time that I was barely older than the children that had come out from that place, my mother crying while hugging me close as if she were blessed that I was not one of those children.

At the time, I couldn't understand. I had heard of Ayanokouji Kiyotaka but didn't know much about him. I was too young at the time to understand just how much these kids had suffered while living in such a place under those conditions.

There was one thing I remember though, Ayanokouji Kiyotaka was cute. Really cute. Despite being a good-looking kid, there was something unnatural about the way that he carried himself. As a child, I couldn't quite put my finger on why. Now as an adult, I can see. He looked so artificial, there was a clear lack of human emotion. No excitement of a child. No happiness, no anger, no sadness. Just nothing.

Ref: Ayanokouji Kiyotaka aged 6.

In researching this young man, I rediscovered many things that none of you young ladies would know about him. Freakishly smart, athletic. A master of many instruments including the piano, fluent in multiple languages, and a registered amateur fighter boasting an officially undefeated record. Not only that but his looks are on par with many other young teen celebrities that many of us fawn over on a day-to-day basis. It's easy to focus on the physical gifts and sweep aside the first characteristic that I mentioned; Ayanokouji Kiyotaka is freakishly smart.

I'm talking genius here ladies. The kind of genius that you'd have to look back through history to find someone to compare him to. This journalist did quite a lot of digging through many of her contacts to find out just how astute this young man is. To the point where families, politicians, and distinguished nobles worldwide have been trying to sink their claws into him. Ivy League colleges in the states as well as many other prestigious higher learning institutions have been offering places in their universities for him since he was eight years of age.

All of them were denied. Instead, young Kiyotaka found himself taken in by Advanced Nurturing High Schools Chairman; Sakayanagi Narumori.

There are many speculations as the adoption hasn't been legalized and Kiyotaka hasn't taken his name. Legally speaking, young Kiyotaka still carries his repulsive fathers' name and isn't a member of Sakayanagi's family. There are rumors as to why but they are simply rumors. Needless to say, sources informed me that Kiyotaka may as well be a Sakayanagi and has a rather large little sister complex. If anyone wants to sink their teeth into this eligible bachelor, you're going to need approval from one Sakayanagi Arisu. The dotted 'adopted' baby sister of Ayanokouji Kiyotaka.

While Advanced Nurturing High School may as well be Fort Knox, several sources outside the school have come forward stating that Ayanokouji Kiyotaka has flourished into quite the young gentleman. A socialite among the inner circle of the aristocrats of our country.

That isn't to say that he's snobbish though. From what we've learned, Kiyotaka's best friends are both everyday people. While one of them is attending Advanced Nurturing High School with him, we were able to track down his other best friend. While she was a little shy and reluctant to give us a quote, we managed to find her to hear what she had to say about our little heartthrob.

"If I could say anything to him? I don't know... I hope you're doing well? I miss you but I'll see all of you soon. I'm fine so please don't worry about me. Please take care of Chiro-kun and Ah-chan... Please try not to sleep too much and eat well. It won't be long until I can see all of you again."

When asked if she expected him to be different after not seeing him for so long she smiled and shook her head as if the thought was ludicrous.

"Ta-kun? Impossible." She laughed.

As the rest of her friends pulled her away from us, we managed to ask her one final question. When asked about whether she thought Ayanokouji Kiyotaka had managed to find love in his newfound high school, she only had one thing to say.

"Never," Nanase said. "There's no other girl on the planet that could put up with him... "

There you have it girls. From what we hear, Ayanokouji Kiyotaka is quite the handful. If any of you are willing to have a quirky, hot, genius as a boyfriend then you're in with a chance. Me personally? I'm not so certain.

Those within the industry know that earlier this week there was a press conference held at Advanced Nurturing High School. Contractually, the conference won't be allowed to be revealed to the public in its entirety due to strict guidelines on how the school functions. An edited version sans the speech made by Prime Minister Sasaki is scheduled to be used as promotional material in the lead-up to the broadcast of ANHS's Sports Festival.

When watching the raw footage, there was something that this journalist couldn't help but notice.

It would seem that Nanase Tsubasa may be incorrect. One can't help but notice that young Kiyotaka may have eyes for someone. The strawberry blonde beside him seemed to get jealous when one of their contemporaries came up on stage as a competitor. An action that seemed to be mirrored by the nation's son while she cheered for another student as he'd taken his place on stage as well.

While we don't know who she is, it would seem that while young Kiyotaka may potentially be on the market right now, it would seem that may not be for long. As our photographers were leaving the campus, we happened to snap a photo of him as he was making his way back to classes. The smile on this young man who's suffered so much in his youth most definitely brings a smile to this young writer's face as well.

Taken: Advanced Nurturing High School.

Kill me now, please kill me now. I couldn't help but groan as I read the article. I've been reduced to a tabloid article in some teenage gossip rag. I've become sloppy, I didn't even notice that my picture was being taken outside of the hall that day. If I'd known that it was a possibility, I wouldn't have shown any affection towards Honami on the off chance that there would be some kind of leak about our relationship.

Seeing Tsubasa's message did give me a bit of a smile. There was a part of me that was worried that she was lonely without us but it seemed like she was doing okay. Although I do wish that she'd do away with the ridiculous nicknames.

Arisu hates it with an absolute passion. A fact that all of us knew except for Tsubasa herself. Even Arisu had a soft spot for her. Never once correcting her or telling her off for the nickname. Even still, although she hated the nickname and Tsubasa was far too oblivious to tell, we could all see it. A fact that Eiichiro knew and capitalized on at every opportunity just to spite her. Even though Arisu hated the affectionate nickname, she always simply put up with it. Tsubasa was our little puppy after all.

I could feel the beginning of a headache. With no gym available to me, I'd resorted to running a course I plotted earlier through the campus and weighted calisthenics. It wouldn't be long until my new route was noted by Nagumo and I was sure to hit some kind of hurdle but I was confident that I could think of something. I didn't need the training but I wanted to be out in the open so I could give him ample opportunity to come after me. After all, it wouldn't be a satisfying win if I didn't allow Nagumo to do his best. By the time all of this was through, I wanted to make sure that he knew just how thoroughly outclassed he was. I didn't want him to have any plausible deniability in his mind. No excuses where he could argue that I'd beaten him out of luck.

This article was one of many annoyances. Thanks to Nagumo Miyabi I now had to suffer with my new OAA profile which he had updated through the IT department without my knowledge.

Class 1-C Ayanokouji Kiyotaka

First-Year Evaluation

Academic Ability: A (100)

Physical Ability: A (100)

Adaptability: D (37)

Social Contribution: C (50)

I imagine he managed to change my Social Contribution to 50 as a bit of a joke. Who knew Nagumo Miyabi had a sense of humor? Albeit a bad one, but I digress.

Too many thoughts were swimming through my mind as my door was unlocked and opened. I thought it'd be Honami. Instead, I was greeted by Eiichiro who walked in like he owned the place before kicking his shoes off messily and plopping himself on the couch.

"Please, come in. Make yourself at home," I drawled, rolling my eyes.

"What? Since when do I need permission? What's the point of giving me a spare key if I can't use it?" Eiichiro scoffed.

"The spare key was in case of an emergency. It wasn't for you to barge in whenever you like. What if I was naked?"

"Seen it before a hundred times,"

"What if Honami was here?"

"What's wrong with that? She's my friend too,"

"What if she was naked?"

"...Has that ever happened?" Eiichiro asked in surprise.

I didn't answer immediately, opting to go to my fridge to get us a bottle of water each. Judging by the smell coming off him and the putrid state of his clothes, he'd just come back from basketball training. The group sessions were starting tomorrow and I wasn't looking forward to it. More work during my already limited free time. Maybe I should just let Nagumo win so I can have a peaceful life outside. It sure wasn't feeling too great being looked at like I was a zoo animal all the time.

Tossing him a bottle of water, I opened my own before taking a drink. Eiichiro's eyes never left me, anxiously waiting for an answer to his question. He sat at attention, taking his feet off my coffee table and sitting straight while leaning forward in anticipation. It was a guy thing, no doubt if I'd taken my first step to being a man, he'd want every single detail. He was a horny teenager too after all.

It wasn't until I finished closing the bottle that I looked over at him as his patience wore out.

"Who knows,"

I immediately ducked to dodge the full water bottle thrown at my head.

"It's been a while since I've been here," Eiichiro noted as he sat in his previous position, anxiously twitching his feet in a rhythm while taking in his surroundings. "Looks like Ichinose's marked her territory. It's like an apartment for a newlywed couple rather than a bachelor pad."

He wasn't wrong either. While I'd been spending most of my points on food for both of us, with Honami's disposable income now freed up, she'd taken to decorating my rather baron room. I hadn't decorated the place myself, the only purchases I'd made were a few bookshelves that lined the largest wall of the sitting room. Filled to the brim with various genres of Light Novels and Manga, all color coded and in numerical order. It was the only bit of furniture that I'd purchased and while it was originally empty, as time went by I'd made small purchases of each volume until there wasn't any more space anymore.

My kitchen used to only have two mugs; one for myself and one for guests. One set of chopsticks, one plate, one bowl, and one pan. The quintessential dwellings of a single man that only kept one set to limit how many dishes were needed.

That all changed relatively quickly. Almost every day Honami had brought some kind of decoration or trinket and moved things around to her liking. My wall-mounted TV (which had since been replaced after I smashed the old one) now had two large shelves where Honami had printed and framed various pictures of us that she liked when she found them on the school boards among others she'd taken herself. My one plate now had multiple sets with serving dishes of various colors. A kitchen knife set, pots and pans, couple mugs, and matching cutlery. Scented candles, homey ornaments, and even a potted fake plant.

I didn't even notice how much it had changed because it was gradual over weeks with Honami bringing a bag every day or coming over while I was out.

"She seemed pretty upset earlier. Don't you think you should do something about that?"

"No, not really," I said dismissively, taking a seat next to him on the couch. "She can be upset, mad, annoyed, angry. Whatever her problem is, it isn't mine,"

"That's a little cold," Eiichiro frowned. "I don't think she has a problem with the bet itself, I'm pretty sure it's because you'll have to drop out if we lose. Don't you think you're being a little harsh?"

"It's reality. This was necessary, feelings have nothing to do with this. Besides, I'm not too worried. Your plan is solid and you've been executing it flawlessly so far from what I can see. Have you told anyone about what you're doing?"

Eiichiro looked like he wasn't too happy with the topic change but relented and took my segway. I was mildly impressed at the fact that he wasn't downtrodden at the fact that I'd already figured out what he was doing. I was expecting a gasp in surprise, perhaps an indignant cry of 'How did you know!?', or even a grumble about me knowing everything. Instead, he seemed more worried about the fact that I was causing problems in my relationship with Honami for the sake of winning what looked to be a bet with nothing to gain and everything to lose.

"Only Koenji so far and that's because I needed his help," Eiichiro said. "At first, I only planned on asking him if he'd compete so that I'd know what to do from there and he asked what I had in mind. He's helped on the island and his plan was solid so I ran it by him. He said he'd try to get the points I'd need for my plans as long as he was exempt from competing.

"It hasn't gone well though," Eiichiro frowned. "Now I know why. None of the second years are willing to sell him points and the third years who agreed don't have enough points to sell to reach even one change to our table. I don't think we'll be able to do this without people getting suspicious."

I hummed to myself in thought as I analyzed the information I had available to me. The revelation that not only had Eiichiro successfully kept his plans hidden from everyone was surprisingly impressive. As someone who always sought validation from people around him whenever he'd made plans, it was commendable that this time he'd kept his cards so close to his chest. The chances of secrets leaking always increased exponentially based on how many people you've confided in. It was fortuitous just as it was odd that Koenji was the person he'd decided to turn to and while on the surface it would seem that it was a failure, it gave birth to a convenient course of action that wouldn't otherwise be possible.

"It doesn't matter, have Koenji keep asking. Particularly, get him to focus on reaching out to every second-year contact he has to try to buy points. The more people he speaks to, the better. It doesn't matter if he's able to buy the points or not,"

"Why?" Eiichiro asked in confusion with a frown. "Even the people he's been buying points from since the beginning of the year are saying no. I doubt that anyone else is going to start selling them now, especially when BUDDY is down and no one has any way of getting more. Private points are so much more valuable now because of how it impacts this special test for everyone,"

"It doesn't matter if he bought the points. It only matters if everyone thinks he bought the points. It'll also put pressure on Nagumo-senpai. If Koenji starts asking around to buy points and then you suddenly have enough to change all our participants, he'll start looking at the people under him with distrust. People will be too busy pointing fingers at each other and we can take advantage of the malcontent,"

"Alright, I guess," Eiichiro agreed. "When do you want me to make the change? I was planning on asking you for the points so I can do it tomorrow. Classes A, B, and D have all submitted their participation tables today. The class is restless at the moment, people are pissed. I wanted to tell them everything so that we can start working with the actual participants,"

I could see that while this was a part of his plan, he wasn't enjoying the state of the class at the moment. He'd been reading diligently and he understood what needed to be done but Eiichiro was kind-hearted by nature. He didn't particularly enjoy the fact that the people around us were miserable. It was good that he needed to get the points from me. If Koenji had been successful and Eiichiro had managed to carry out his plans without me, he could have made a mistake by pulling the trigger too early. At least right now, I was able to stop him from tripping up.

"Leave it for now, we can't be hasty. Don't rush into making a move because you're uncomfortable. If you do it too early then you'll give the others a chance to react. Use this opportunity to see if there are any potential dark horses among the girls. We'll be fine with the guys but we need another solid female competitor. You've done well so far, I'm proud of you,"

"Thanks," Eiichiro acknowledged with a nod.

"It's a little... bittersweet. I thought this would be a special test where I wouldn't have to rely on you to win. I thought I had a solid plan and that I'd be able to win this one without your help. Show you that I was capable enough to take the reins. Now I'm relying on you again to plug up the holes in this shit show I thought up..."

"Relax, like I said you're doing well. Your plan is solid and I'm just making little tweaks. It's only because I have to make sure we don't lose this one. I promise that the next special test, I'll go back to doing less than nothing,"

"How about you just help without being a pain in the ass?" Eiichiro snorted.

"I'll try. Just don't expect too much from me,"

Eiichiro shook his head before glancing at the console under the TV. We talked casually while passing the time before setting up for a game and playing like we used to. It was fun. It felt like old times but something was off. I expected Eiichiro to be happy about hearing some kind of news about Tsubasa but he didn't mention it as if he were trying to avoid the topic altogether.

Even his reaction to how I'd brushed aside any of his concerns about my relationship status with Honami. It's not like we were on the verge of breaking up, it was just turbulent waters at the moment but that was always to be expected. Being in different classes with different philosophies on how things should be done was always going to cause issues. Just because I didn't pay them any mind didn't mean that I was ignorant of the fact that Honami was less than happy with me at the moment.

Nevertheless, worrying about it wouldn't fix anything. I'll take it as it comes just like any other situation. I'm aware of the fact that lately, I'd been rather cold to just about everyone I came across but this was normal for me. In the throws of competition, winning is all that matters. I didn't have time to hold everyone's hand and whisper lies in their ears that everything would be okay. The chances of Nagumo beating me and forcing me to leave the school was as close to zero as humanly possible. That didn't mean that the chances were zero. It also didn't mean that people would like how I win if I was forced to my second or third contingency.

Either way, there wasn't any point thinking about it now. Right now it was a long overdue boys' night. One where my best friend wasn't the leader of the class and I wasn't the Vice President of the Student Council in the fight for my high school life. One where we were both single idiots who farted, trash-talked while playing games, and argued over which current manga character has the better ass. One of peace and laziness, exactly how I like it.

"Don't you think you should do something about Ichinose?" Eiichiro asked as he continued to play the round.

"This again? What are you worried about?"

"No... nothing. I'm just saying,"

I paused the game before looking over at him, crossing my arms as I analyzed the situation. Eiichiro tended to panic but he also trusted in my abilities which was why he wasn't worried. He knew that if I made a bet like this then I would have been sure that I'd be able to win. That wasn't what he was concerned about. Not once had he asked if this was necessary or tried to dissuade me from this bet.

Part of that was selfish, he knew that a bet like this meant that he was assured of my best effort. Knowing that I had to ensure we win meant that I wouldn't be able to give a half-hearted participation like I normally always did. However, he always seemed to bring the topic back to Honami which could only mean...

"Mako-chan put you up to this, didn't she?"

The uncomfortable shuffling on the couch told me everything I needed to know.

"No..." Eiichiro denied it unconvincingly.

Eiichiro tried to unpause the game only to realize he wasn't able to since I'd done it from my controller. As I continued to stare at him, he grew uncomfortable before sighing and putting down the controller.

"She may have made a suggestion but I'm worried as well. I don't want the two of you breaking up over something like this either. I know we're in different classes but the class wars and things to do with the school shouldn't cause problems between the two of you,"

I continued to stare at him. The phrasing didn't sound like something Eiichiro would say. It sounded like something that would come straight out of the mouth of a blue-haired meddlesome Class B student.

"Alright, fine! She overheard Asahina-senpai telling Ichinose about the bet and... well, in my defense, she has a bit of a mean streak. One time she hit me so hard I swear I was seeing ducks floating around my head,"

"I'm about to hit you and you'll see nothing from now on," I threatened with my fist raised.

"No you won't," Eiichiro scoffed.

"Seriously though, I'm not the only one who's been concerned. Lately, you've been a little... cold. People in our class have been asking me if you're okay. More than a few of them are too afraid to approach you themselves. You've kind of had a 'fuck off and leave me alone' vibe about you lately," Eiichiro continued.

"You try having everyone side-eye you everywhere you go like you're going to eat them and see if you don't start getting cold,"

"I know, Kiyotaka. I get it and I hate it too. It'll get better eventually though, it's just the gossip of the month but something else will come out and everyone will forget about this. That doesn't mean that Ichinose isn't having a hard time either, Mako-chan told me that her friends getting expelled is one of the things that terrify her the most. Now she finds out that her boyfriend is going to get expelled if we don't win first place?"

"I'm not getting expelled," I sighed in exasperation.

"I know that but did it have to be this? Did you have to make the stakes so high?"

"It was what Nagumo-senpai wanted," I shrugged. "I just agreed to his terms. All of this will be worth it in the end otherwise I wouldn't have agreed to any of this in the first place,"

I was planning on telling Eiichiro about Nagumo threatening to expose me, my calling his bluff, and agreeing to this bet out of spite. I wasn't planning on telling him about the 32,000,000 points I'd be getting but I wanted to tell him everything else.

As much as I trusted Eiichiro, everything had a time and a place to be revealed. Nagumo wasn't opening his mouth about his side of the deal and that suited me right now. I'd wait until the revelation dealt the most damage. The fewer people who know the details, the less of a chance there was of leaks.

The fact that Nagumo needed everything to be a spectacle and relished in popularity was a trait I didn't share. I'd exploit that weakness and tell Eiichiro only what he needed to know. I had to stop short though as I heard my door open and knew it could only be one person.

Honami didn't seem to have the same vigor with her shoulders slumped. After closing the door behind her, she scanned the room to find me only to spot the fact that I had a guest.

"Oh, Matsuo-kun," Honami blinked in surprise as she saw him on my couch. "I didn't know you'd be here,"

I unpaused the game and continued to play while Eiichiro frantically grabbed his controller to continue but I could tell he was nervous. He wasn't playing with the same fervor as before and I was taking advantage to win. Call it dirty, call it underhanded and cheap but it is what it is. Eiichiro continued to play but his heart wasn't in it as the awkward air between Honami and I made the atmosphere heavy with tension.

"You should stay for dinner, Matsuo-kun," Honami called from the kitchen. "While I wasn't expecting you to be here, there's still plenty for you if you'd like."

"Er. Um... No, that's okay I ha-" Eiichiro yelped as I gripped his knee like a vice and squeezed hard to stop him from speaking.

"If you want my help, you better not leave," I hissed.

"Well, that's a shame," Honami said from behind me, eerily close to the point where I wondered if she had some kind of teleportation technique.

I'd thought she was in the kitchen but it was as if she'd predicted that Eiichiro would make a tactical retreat the moment she'd given him an opening. The smile seemed rather forced as she held out a boxed meal in a plastic bag while Eiichiro hesitantly reached out a hand to take it as if he were taking food from a tiger.

"At least take it to go, I packed it in a container for you. I'll get it back from you tomorrow. Don't worry about washing it if it's inconvenient, I'll take care of it for you. Also, please don't take Ayanokouji-kun's threat seriously. You'll have his help no matter what, I'll make sure of it," Honami smiled sweetly, squeezing a hand to my shoulder.

"Isn't that right, Ayanokouji-kun?"

I frowned as Eiichiro hastily prepared to leave before turning over my shoulder.

"Aren't you supposed to be on Student Council duties? Today's supposed to be your day at the office,"

"I swapped with Asahina-senpai,"

Just as Eiichiro had finished gathering his belongings and making for the door, I turned to the traitorous bastard who left me behind.

"Pussy..." I said under my breath.

He flinched in shame before closing the door behind him and I was left alone with my girlfriend.

I was tired of it all. Tired of the stares, tired of the whispers, tired of having to participate. Tired of Honami's anger, tears, and schemes. I just wanted my lazy life back where I got to blend into the background again. It wouldn't be long until this was over, we had just over a week before the actual event but that didn't change the fact that everything now was troublesome.

I also wasn't looking forward to having to explain myself to Honami. We were about to fight about this, I could feel it. I wouldn't simply back down to keep the peace but that didn't mean that I was looking forward to this confrontation.

Although I was already preparing myself mentally it seemed to be in vain as Honami sighed tiredly before moving in front of me on the couch. I wasn't expecting her to straddle my lap and hug me while burying her face into my chest like a baby Koala.

I figured I should comfort her, placing my hands on her back and rubbing her soothingly as Honami continued to hold me with her face in my chest. Thinking that I was out of the woods, my right hand started trailing down from her shoulder blade, down her spine, and was inches away from patting her butt...

"Don't," Honami gave me a muffled warning.

Okay... The butt was off-limits.

"You... You're so mean. You're so cruel. How is this fair? I..."

I intended to listen and allow her to get everything off her chest so that I could get this out of the way and focus on what was important. Cruel as it may be, I didn't have time to concern myself with Honami's feelings or her sense of right and wrong.

Honami's weakness wasn't a priority at the moment. Better to tear off the bandaid now and deal with the consequences later. As she trailed off, I decided to give her a little push so we could get this over and done with.

"Nothing in life is fair, Honami,"

Honami pulled away and glared at me. I could see the frustration but I also knew that even if Honami was furious that she wouldn't yell, she wouldn't scream. She wouldn't express the fact that she was angry, upset, or betrayed. She would do as she always did, try to solve problems by appealing to people's reason and their sense of reason. An approach like this was useless for someone like me, winning is everything. Even if it meant that I'd tear her heart to pieces and our relationship was irreparable.

"So what am I supposed to do, Kiyotaka?" Honami said.

"If I win, I lose. If we happen to come first by some miracle, then my boyfriend who I've grown to love in such a short time has to leave the school. If I sit on my hands and you don't clean sweep this special test, the ending remains the same. If I help you win and you stay, I'd have betrayed my class and thrown away all of my morals.

"How am I supposed to look my classmates in the eye if I do that? I know you said that you'd do whatever it takes to win but this is... unfathomable. Why would you put me in this situation?" Honami asked bitterly.

"Don't you think you're being self-centered? Not everything revolves around you,"

"No... no it doesn't," Honami said sadly. "Don't you think that some of your decisions should though? When you agreed to this, did you think about me at all?"

I did. Most of why I was doing this was because of not only her but for everyone else as well.

Nagumo Miyabi wasn't someone who would accept no for an answer.

It would be different if he was a third-year like that smirking bastard, I'd be able to duck this pointless challenge and be done with him in a few short months. I didn't have that luxury. If I ducked this challenge he would come after others to force my hand.

It would probably start with Honami but it wouldn't be limited to her. It would extend to my classmates, to Eiichiro. In the absolute worst-case scenario, most likely Arisu as well. It would be unbearable if she noticed early on and decided to work with him, nothing was off limits for her and as often as I've beaten her, she'd be a far more dangerous threat if she were working with him.

Better to mitigate any damages by fighting him now than to kick the can to deal with it later. A tumor only grows unless you eradicate it early and Nagumo was malignant. It's why I agreed to a seemingly impossible challenge, I would leave him no excuses. This win could not be chalked up to luck or it would have been meaningless.

Honami couldn't be comforted at the moment. I needed her to be angry. I needed her to be upset. Nagumo would be watching her carefully and he'd use her as a barometer of how effective his plans were. She needed to feel the pain for my sake in more ways than one. If he saw that she was happy and content he'd make things even more difficult and I wanted him complacent.

Even if I wanted to ease her burden, I wouldn't. Ichinose Honami had to suffer.

Honami took my silence as a 'no', shaking her head and burying her face in my chest again. She looked hurt and disappointed at what she'd misunderstood but again I said nothing to correct her because it suited me. Instead, I let my hands fall to the couch next to me. Holding us up as the night continued to pass us by, the only sound in the now quiet room being the ticking of the seconds of the clock on the wall.

"You should have a little more faith in me, I'm not going to lose. You should do your best for your class and I'll do mine. No matter what happens, don't have any regrets. If you manage to beat me, it'll look good on your resume. Beating the 'Nation's Son' with the country watching will open doors for you,"

While she could have brought us back on topic, Honami was perceptive and graciously accepted my segway with open arms. If this were my last week-and-a-half at this school then I'm sure she'd want the memories of my final days here to be happy ones. Memories of when we'd joke and laugh rather than those of us fighting and bickering over her perception of my recklessness.

"I read the article, I like that name more than your other ones," Honami admitted.

She visibly relaxed as she stopped sitting up, her body giving way as she lay on top of me. Molding herself to me as my back sunk into the couch as she tried to make as much physical contact with my body as she could. My hands returned to her back, rubbing soothing patterns as I enjoyed the affectionate gesture.

"You don't like 'Masterpiece of the Demonic 4th Generation' or 'The Monster of the White Room'?"

"No... I don't like any part of those nicknames. You're no monster and you're definitely not a masterpiece.

"You're lazy, arrogant, and self-centered. You always have to get your way. You're stubborn and sometimes you make me want to pull my hair out. You're always making smart comments and you always have to win. You're good at everything which is both annoying and infuriating and you know it too which makes it all the more frustrating...

"But you're mine," Honami said lovingly, pulling away from my chest and stroking my cheek. "You're my pain in the ass. I'd prefer it if you were here so you can keep annoying and frustrating me. So do your best and win. So that when this is all over I can get mad at you instead of pretending like all of this doesn't bother me,"

"An angry Ichinose Honami? I never knew such a mythical creature could exist," I joked light-heartedly.

"It's something I learned from you, you're the only person in this school who manages to annoy me,"

"I guess I am a genius after all if I'm able to make you do something no one else can,"

"Did I mention arrogant?"

"You forgot handsome,"

"You're such a brat. You always have to have the last word," Honami said, shaking her head in exasperation. "Why do I love you?"

"Who knows," I shrugged.

You love me because I know exactly what buttons to push to keep things interesting while keeping you dependent on me. You love me because I'm a monster who tricked you into thinking that I'm a good, kind-hearted person. You love me because you recognize the flaws that I've shown you and you believe that you can fix me.

You love me because I made you love me.

While that may be the truth and those may be my thoughts, I'd never say it out loud. Manipulative people do not understand the concept of boundaries. They are relentless in their pursuit of what they want, and they have no regard for who gets hurt along the way. Even the revelation of the truth might just be a further layer to the manipulation.

I shroud myself in ambiguity. You fill in the blanks for yourself because I allow you. What difference does it make that it's all a lie?

SS Unlikely Alliances

No one in this school knows better than I do about how lucky I am that I came out relatively unscathed. I poked a dormant monster and lived to tell the tale. I doubt there are many who will ever be able to say the same.

I knew there was something about him. I knew deep down that Class D had a demon lurking in the shadows. No matter what I did to that weakling Matsuo, he always stood back up as if nothing had happened. The only explanation was that it was Ayanokouji. It was common knowledge that they were childhood friends and Ayanokouji never seemed phased by anything, no matter how dire the circumstances. Only he could be the reason why Matsuo always seemed to brush himself off and continue pushing forward.

It wasn't enough that I'd already beaten him. It was like an itch that never went away no matter how hard I scratched or how much I bled. It gnawed at my psyche like a migraine that pulsed in my brain and wouldn't go away even if I'd taken a hammer to the head. I rule by fear. Always have, and always will. No matter what I did and no matter how afraid Matsuo seemed to be, he refused to yield and it infuriated me.

I was never the strongest out on the streets. There were plenty of thugs who would pose more than a challenge in any confrontation. That wasn't what allowed me to reign supreme. It was my undying tenacity. The fact that no matter how many times they'd beat me senselessly, I could tell myself that it was only pain. The fact that the fight never left my eyes made them hesitant to confront me again. It was that hesitance that allowed me to capitalize and push forward until I broke through their ranks until all that was left was submission.

Even in my own class, I wasn't the strongest. Yamada was more than capable of besting me physically. It was his pacifist nature and his reluctance to put me down permanently that allowed me to subjugate him. For that split second where he hesitated in finishing me off, I capitalized on it. Beating him unconscious and leaving him with the only option of servitude.

Still, I was bored with it all. Ichinose was predictable and easy to break. Then Class B changed leadership quickly and it was even easier to take advantage of them. Katsuragi's a coward and Class A was an easy target unless Sakayanagi took over. Even then, they'd be canon fodder. I was reluctantly content in relishing the victory against Class D, content with the fact that I'd already beaten Matsuo. It wasn't until Hashimoto sought me out on the island and asked me to meet with Sakayanagi the day before she was forced to retire that I felt my blood boil.

That condescending midget. Even as the early stages of Pneumonia wracked her body, she laughed at me. She laughed . Her body was wracked with heaving coughs and she looked to be on death's door and yet she still had the strength to laugh at me . I could care less if she was sick. I was ready to pound that bitch straight into the ground for the mockery but I paused. She told me what I already knew. That Matsuo would never be broken unless I broke Ayanokouji. That there was only one way that I could get him to act and I listened.

I let that vapid snake poison me. I set the stage and I got exactly what I thought I wanted. I wasn't expecting an onslaught that barely lasted a few hours and then it was over before I'd even begun.

It was obscene. It wasn't even an hour into our meeting when phones were ringing back to back like it was some kind of national emergency. I was swept up in the shock and horror of it all. I'd barely begun analyzing the list and trying to find some kind of commonality between our VIPs before he'd already managed to figure everything out.

When Hiyori texted me, saying she was with Ayanokouji and that he was looking for me but couldn't find me, I was in disbelief. How the hell did he know? I didn't give any explanations, racing out of the room while grabbing a random phone off a desk as I bolted to their location. It was futile, he even saw through that.

Then Ishizaki tried to knock him out. He slithered like a snake, throwing Ishizaki effortlessly in some kind of Judo move, and wrapping his arm up like a Boa Constrictor. He didn't show any emotions the entire time and when he told me to stand down or he would remove Ishizaki's arm from his body, I truly believed he would do it.

It was like he knew that despite my heavy hand, I needed to protect those that were under me. Rules are rules even on the streets and on the streets, you protect your own.

Ayanokouji was on another plane of existence. I fully intended to go all the way and call his bluffs at every turn. Nonetheless, I couldn't help myself. When I looked into his eyes, I saw a bottomless pit. Someone who would let the world burn if it meant that he could win. With the window so small, all I could do was order Ishizaki to tell the others to do exactly what Ayanokouji told me to do.

It wasn't until after we'd lost that it really hit me. What I had done. I admitted defeat to Ayanokouji. I swore it would never happen again, lying straight to his face that Ishizaki had done it behind my back.

I must admit, even if I'd been forced to swallow the bitter pill of defeat, I was excited. Excited to go another round with that monster to see what he was truly capable of.

It's why I swore that I'd redeem myself. That I would lick my wounds and make Ayanokouji rue the day that he left me alive to come back for another round. I was biding my time, there was plenty of it. I had two and a half years to seek my revenge and everyone knows it's best served cold.

That is until Nagumo revealed everything.

Now, I can't help but be obsessed. I've been reading everything. Like a predator stalking its prey and studying everything it can to prepare for the confrontation despite the fact that I know I'm nothing more than quarry by comparison. Realistically, I know that Ayanokouji is a monster. I know that I stand little to no chance, but who cares? It's the thrill of the fight. It's the challenge of fighting an impossible foe. I can't help myself, I want to break him. I know that it's nigh impossible and a losing battle at best, but I want revenge. I want redemption.

It excites me. A monster like this actually exists. As long as I know the limits and boundaries I can maneuver them. Ayanokouji already drew the lines for me, I know what is within bounds for him and what is unforgivable. Ichinose, Matsuo, and his class. They're all fair game. Only Sakayanagi is off-limits. That's his weakness. He doesn't finish his opponents unless they cross the line. His exceptionalism is his complacency. That lazy bastard believes that he can end anyone whenever he wants and thinks he doesn't need to be proactive.

While I'm sure most have been reading the surface articles, I've dug deeper than the Mariana Trench. I've read everything I can get my hands on in regard to Ayanokouji. Even going so far as to get articles translated from English. I'm positive I've figured out things that almost no one else has. Things that the media have tried to obscure about him.

I've engraved everything about him to the deepest parts of my subconscious. Eidetic memory, beyond a college-level education while he was prepubescent. Reports of him fighting numerous adult assailants as a child and winning in hand-to-hand combat. I've even committed every detail of the assassination attempt on his life while he was held by the army.

The fact that many political families all publically campaigned to adopt him. American talk shows debating about how inhumane the fourth generation of the White Room was. Conspiracy theories that other countries had since created similar facilities to the White Room and that there were more scattered around Japan. I even looked up photos of him throughout the years, noticing how the look on his face on the ship was identical to the very first publicly released photo of him when he was released from that place and how he'd changed as he grew older.

I even read up on sensory deprivation. Its effects, the studies on what it does to the mind long term, and the reports on survivors of White Room torture in various countries. I've even watched almost all of Ayanokouji's amateur fights. Every single one bar only one fight. One fight that no matter how hard I looked, I couldn't find. His fourth fight. Against an American amateur named Chris Miller.

Even though it shows on his record, no matter how hard I searched I couldn't find it. It was almost as if the fight never took place. Only after I continued to dig was I able to figure out why. It wasn't until I found a rare video that had barely any views of his American opponent talking on a video that seemed to be taken by one of his teammates in a gym with what looked like a camera phone. I had to get Yamada to translate it for me.

"You're fighting that kid from Japan next week, aren't you?" The cameraman asked.

"Yeah, Kaiyotucka? I don't know, who gives a shit. I'll take him out in 30 seconds. I don't know why they're making me fight against a kid, he's already fought 3 times this month. He gets a few wins against sandbags and thinks he's got a chance with me. Fuck him," Chris said.

Just looking at the guy, I could tell he was older than Ayanokouji. He was taller and far more muscular than Ayanokouji is even now. The guy wasn't a pushover, he definitely wasn't fodder to pad Ayanokouji's record.

"I don't know man. Those 3 knockouts looked pretty solid to me. He's like three years younger than you too, the kid's got talent. You might have your work cut out for you," The cameraman laughed.

"Fuck off, it's light work. They're crazy, his management said they're open to any fight. They're even signing waivers for him to fight people in higher-weight divisions. You see that little girl limping out to watch all his fights from the front row? Fucking cripple. After the fight, she can hobble along to the hospital with him while they carry him out on a stretcher,"

The only thing left of the video was jeers and laughter being heard by the other members of the gym who laughed along with him, slapping hi-fives with him and tousling his hair as they fed off each other's energy.

It was a short video, that was all there was. I could only find one single, lone article from a local American website that Chris Miller was reportedly in a coma not long after that fight. None of Ayanokouji's fights before or after seemed to be malicious or violent. All of them were clinical. Doing just enough to edge victory without a single punch or kick after the fight was called. None of the fights looked like Ayanokouji was looking to cause permanent damage, or that he was bloodthirsty.

Chris Miller made a grave mistake. That's how I know how lucky I am to have survived. Ayanokouji does not take kindly to those who insult or threaten Sakayanagi Arisu. It makes me wonder why I was spared. I'm not one to make mistakes twice. Never again will I ever threaten Sakayanagi in his presence.

I desperately wanted to watch that fight. As someone who has never felt fear while fighting for my life, I wanted to see. I wanted to try to figure out for myself if I could feel fear in my final moments as my eyes closed and my mind shut down, not knowing whether or not I'd ever see the light of day again.

I was about to go deeper into the rabbit hole that was Ayanokouji Kiyotaka before I was halted by the alarm from my phone. I frowned at it in annoyance before preparing to leave, changing out of my uniform and getting my things.

Kushida approached me during lunch today and asked to speak to me in private. Nagumo wanted to see me, no doubt to make some kind of deal to work together with this little bet he has going on with Ayanokouji.

If there was ever an opportunity to beat that monster, this would be it. Irrespective of my own goals, Nagumo approached me first. While it was in my interest to work with him, he needed me more than I needed him.

"5 pm at the Annex Building. You can make it, can't you Ryuen-kun?" Kushida asked.

"I can but Nagumo better make it worth my while. If he wants me to go, he needs to pay me. If he wastes my time during that meeting, I'll break his legs," I said.

Kushida nodded, asking me to wait for a moment while she sent a text on her phone. Two chimes later, she nodded before tapping on her screen again only for my own phone to vibrate in my breast pocket. I pulled it out curiously only to note that I'd received a transfer of 50,000 points from Kushida.

"Will that be enough for you, Ryuen-kun?"

I'd heard that Nagumo had deep pockets but to pay me 50k just for a meeting had to mean that he was desperate. Either that or this was a show of power and wealth. I shrugged at her before shoving my phone back into my pocket, nodding as I gave my commitment to be there.

"That'll be enough for me to show up. If he wastes my time, the threat still stands,"

"I understand, Ryuen-kun. I'll be sure to let Nagumo-senpai know," Kushida smiled brightly, turning to leave out the fire escape immediately.

Before she could reach for the door, I grabbed her arm and halted her. She looked back at me in confusion, blinking owlishly at the sudden physical contact.

"Why are you doing this? If you help Nagumo get rid of Ayanokouji, you're basically throwing away your only chance of reaching Class A. What are you planning? Whose side are you on?" I asked curiously.

Kushida chuckled to herself, reaching with her fingers and gently trying to pry me off her arm. She smiled brightly, giggling at me before giving me a wink.

"I'm on my side,"

My grip relaxed ever so slightly as I wondered what she meant and in that moment she had already slipped out of my grasp and danced out the door of the fire escape. I frowned as I left and I watched her retreating back, trying to wonder if we were all wrong about the girl almost everyone called an angel.

The walk to the Annex building was uneventful. It wasn't until I opened the door that I noticed four Second-Years standing in the lobby. They nodded at me before a girl motioned me to follow her up to one of the empty classrooms where Nagumo was waiting, sitting at a desk while playing with his phone.

"Ah, Ryuen!" Nagumo exclaimed. "Right on time,"

The girl closed the door behind me, leaving me alone with the Student Council Vice President. This man was a snake, I could see the disdain plain as day. His smile didn't reach his eyes. He watched me as I moved to the back wall of the room, leaning against it and trying to figure out what this guy was up to.

"Before we begin, I'd like to ask you to put your phone in that box over there," Nagumo requested, nodding his head at an empty cardboard box on the table. "I'm sure you understand, we're going to be discussing something that I'd rather not have other people hearing about."

"You want my phone? Come over here and take it," I said coldly, spreading my arms and daring him to try. "You called me. You need me. If you're going to ask me for something like that, you better be prepared to get your hands dirty,"

Nagumo didn't seem phased by my attitude, chuckling to himself and pulling out his phone. He motioned me to follow him as he walked over to the box. He unlocked the phone, showing me that it wasn't recording anything before dropping it and waiting expectantly. I continued to stare at him, not making a move to follow his own choice to put his phone in the box as a show of faith.

Nagumo shook his head in exasperation, leaving his phone and taking a seat on a nearby desk.

"I'm trying to build rapport with you, Ryuen. I'd like for us to trust each other, to work together against a common enemy. Things would go a lot smoother if you'd be willing to show some good faith,"

I continued to stare at him before taking my phone from my pocket and putting it into the box with the recorder still active. The moment I'd moved into the room to sit across from him, a Second-Year opened the door and took the box out of the room. Nagumo smirked proudly as I frowned in annoyance, moving my chair back and putting my feet up on the table in front of his face in a show of blatant disrespect.

"Some rapport-building exercise that was," I scoffed.

"As I said earlier, we're going to discuss something that I'd rather not get out and we're running short on time before the others get here. I'll just be direct. Would you and your classmates be willing to jump Ayanokouji for 1,000,000 Private Points?" Nagumo asked.

I snorted in surprise before bursting out in full-blown laughter. This guy was an idiot.

"You're wasting my time, get my phone. I'm leaving. Be grateful I won't break your legs like I told Kushida,"

"2,000,000," Nagumo offered without pause.

"You can go to 20,000,000 and the answer's still no," I said. "This isn't a nobody from Class D, you're asking me to pick a fight with the Chairman's son. Anyone I bring will get expelled and that's if he doesn't beat them to death before anyone gets there. A job like this isn't worth it. I'll lose whoever I bring with me and I'll make 2,000,000, but I'll lose whatever private points they make for the next two years. Stop wasting my time,"

Nagumo shrugged to himself, unphased by the fact that I rejected him. He leaned back in his seat, inspecting his nails for a moment before glancing back up at me.

"You're afraid of him," Nagumo observed.

In one move, I kicked the table over between us. Rising to my feet, I took a step in his direction as he watched me unphased. Not even moving in his seat as he seemed to be the picture of confidence.

"Say that again,"

"Relax, Ryuen. I'm not trying to antagonize you. I'm trying to understand you. I thought you'd jump at an opportunity to get rid of him. With Ayanokouji here, your chances of reaching Class A are almost non-existent. He can fight but he can't fight. He puts a finger on you and he'll get expelled. What's there to worry about?"

This guy annoyed me to no end, how stupid did he think I was? Ayanokouji wasn't stupid, he definitely knew that and he also knew that it was a route Nagumo could take. He more than likely had a contingency in place and Nagumo probably knew that too. He was trying to use my class like he used his own Second-Year Class D students. He was looking down on me as if I was as incompetent as those idiots. He was trying to pay me a pittance to not risk his income if his allies were expelled.

"I can see you've made up your mind, however unfortunate that may be," Nagumo shrugged.

He glanced at his watch before getting back up to his feet and moving to the front of the room.

"The others should be here soon. If you'll wait a moment, we can start the meeting,"

Not a moment after, the door opened again. I turned over my shoulder to see Katsuragi, Machida, Yuki, and Kanzaki in a line at the door. They took out their phones, placing it in the cardboard box before entering the room. Katsuragi didn't seem surprised to see me, he probably connected the dots when he saw Yuki and Kanzaki. Kanzaki glared but took a seat next to Yuki as the rest of them entered the room and took a seat in different corners of the room.

Nagumo smiled warmly, clapping his hands and opening his arms in greeting.

"Excellent, everyone's here," Nagumo nodded. "I'm sure you've all figured out why you're here. Ayanokouji and I have a wager going on at the moment and I'd like you all to assist me with my little war.

"I'm sure you're all aware that with Ayanokouji at the school, your chances of graduating from Class A decrease significantly. Which is why I'd like to propose an alliance between you all and a solution so that all of you can be rid of Ayanokouji once and for all,"

The others looked intrigued but the sidelong glances from the other occupants in the room told me that no one trusted me. I didn't care and they had reasons not to trust me. I'd already broken Class B before and stabbed them in the back and Class A were elitists. Whatever Nagumo had planned, it wasn't going to be easy to convince this group.

"While I'm not opposed to the idea, why would we need to?" Machida frowned. "Class C's participation table's rubbish, all of their best athletes aren't on the list. We've already tailored our competitors, they don't have a chance."

"Do not underestimate Ayanokouji," Katsuragi warned him. "He's not someone incapable of finding a way around something trivial like that,"

"You must be desperate, Katsuragi," I smirked. "You've gone from one idiot right-hand man to another. I'd have thought you learned your lesson already after Ayanokouji made a fool of you once,"

Machida bristled, turning in his chair and glaring at me with his face red with embarrassment.

"At least he didn't make me bow like a dog and admit defeat," Machida spat.

"Everyone, please," Nagumo clapped his hands at attention, preventing us from continuing to fight. "I'm proposing for all of you to work together, fighting amongst yourselves does little for the task we all have ahead of us right now. I have already made a foolproof plan that all of you only need to agree to and follow. As long as you're all willing to put your differences aside and work together, Ayanokouji's loss is all but assured."

"What's the plan?" Yuki asked curiously. "We've spent a lot of time with him since we returned from the cruise and he's supremely confident. I don't think that there's anything any of us do unless all of us have worked together and some people here have a habit of stabbing their allies in the back,"

I matched her glare with a grin of my own, leaning back in my chair again and putting my feet up on the desk. The anger and frustration of her plan falling to pieces right after she'd taken over as leader had to hurt. Especially considering she was just a puppet that took the fall for Kanzaki. I wondered why that group of turncoats wasn't already calling for her to step down and for Ichinose to take over the class once again.

"Don't be upset, Yuki," I smiled. "It was a business transaction. We had a deal and you couldn't hold up your end."

"You stabbed us in the back on a technicality," Kanzaki spat.

"Let's hear what Nagumo-senpai has in mind first before we ruin any further chances of us working together. If his plan is as good as he says, it's worth considering regardless of any grudges we have between us." Katsuragi cut him off.

"I'm surprised you're willing to stab your friend in the back," I taunted him. "Aren't you on the Student Council because our little monster put in a good word for you with President Horikita?"

Katsuragi didn't seem phased by my taunt. My question seemed to garner Nagumo's interest as he waited patiently for Katsuragi to refute my claims.

"Yes, Ayanokouji has helped me immensely. To a certain degree, I consider him a friend. However, we are in different classes and the only thing that matters to me is remaining in Class A until I graduate. I have a responsibility to my class to ensure that outcome. Ayanokouji is a threat to that and if there is a way to beat him, then I'm willing to go along with whatever plan that may be. That's personal, this is business,"

"You're only half right, Katsuragi," Nagumo cut in. "This isn't about friendship and this most certainly isn't a competition or business, this is a war. If I lose, you all lose. This is your one and only opportunity to seize the day. To join hands with the only ally you'll ever have to go against a foe that is far above your abilities.

"This is the responsibility of a leader, all of you must realize that. Winning, by all means, is necessary. If you hold onto your pride and morals against someone of Ayanokouji's ability, all of you will regret it for the rest of your lives.

"If I lose, nothing changes for me. I go up against a miraculous talent, I falter, and everyone continues on with their lives thinking it was to be expected. I'll still graduate from Class A and I'll have a war story to tell people until I grow old and die. The rest of you, however, will live the rest of your lives cursing your misfortune that you were the ones who had to be born in the same year as Ayanokouji Kiyotaka. The only chance all of you have is to put aside your pride and join hands with me, here and now," Nagumo said.

He was a very talented speaker, I could see why he was revered by the second years. In one short speech, he had the room. Everyone bar me was open to his suggestion but I was skeptical. I know Ayanokouji, he would have never agreed to this battle without getting something in return. He was losing far more than he was allowing everyone to believe. I also know better than anyone that all memorandums had loopholes. Ayanokouji would be able to spot them far easier than anyone else in the world, including me.

"What's your plan then?" Kanzaki asked curiously.

Nagumo smiled, moving away from the podium, and sat on a desk at the center of the room. He sat comfortably, leaning forward with his elbows on his knees as if we were all friends chatting about our daily life.

"Trust is incredibly important in this situation as none of this can be put down in a memorandum," Nagumo started. "Collusion of this level won't be allowed, especially not with the public eye on this event. This is why in order to pull this off, all of us have to be in agreement by our words alone.

"I will put up 10,000,000 points to be distributed between you all. It's up to you how you want to distribute the points and who you want to finish in whatever position. All that I ask is that you funnel your wins into one class and one class alone. If you agree to give second and third-place wins to one class, that will give that class 3 points per event. This would mean Ayanokouji's class would need to win every single event in order to tie.

"If the competition ends in a tie, Ayanokouji is expelled. He must place first. You all simply have to come to an agreement and follow through with the plan. If you do, your dreams of graduating from Class A are alive and well."

No one said a word as they contemplated their choices. Machida looked as if he were instantly convinced and Katsuragi looked almost as receptive to the plan. Yuki was a puppet, she had her thoughts but her reactions were unnecessary. The one who made the decisions in Class B simply looked pensive, I couldn't read what he was thinking.

Irrespective of the others, I'd made my decision. I'd play along with this plan. I had nothing to lose and everything to gain.

"I'll leave you all to discuss your options. I look forward to working with you all," Nagumo said as he got to his feet.

He adjusted his uniform, confidently making for the exit of the room. A Second-Year met him at the door, allowing him to take his phone from the box before placing it on the table and following him out. It wasn't until we were alone again that Yuki started to speak.

"Before we say anything, I'll just say that I don't trust you as far as I can throw you," Yuki said firmly.

I smiled at her as she continued to glare, Machida and Katsuragi both whispering between each other as she addressed the elephant in the room.

"Come now, Yuki. That's not very nice, we had a deal. This is a competition, not a charity. It's not my fault that I was able to do what Ichinose couldn't,"

"If we're going to go through with this, Ayanokouji can never find out about this," Katsuragi said.

"Even if he does, I still don't see what he can do?" Machida said.

"Maybe that's why Ayanokouji made you look like an idiot so easily," I taunted him.

Machida stopped talking to Katsuragi and shot up from his seat, furious for the insult. Ayanokouji played him like a fiddle and made the rest of Class A look like fools. From what I'd heard, they were still arrogant, elitist pricks. They refused to acknowledge the fact that he played them, sticking with their choice of Katsuragi and refusing to apologize to Sakayanagi. I was surprised that Machida wasn't more wary of him.

"Enough," Katsuragi commanded, grabbing his arm and forcing him back to his seat. "Stop fighting. We have to decide now if we're going to go through with this. We are willing to have the wins funneled into our class. In exchange, we'll forgo any of the points. Ryuen and Himeno can decide how they want to split them. Do either of you have a problem with that?"

I knew Katsuragi would take that position. He valued Class Points far more than Private Points. It was something I was willing to go along with but I wanted more. Realistically, I was the most important piece in this plan. Yamada was capable of derailing this plan on his own and Ibuki was capable of doing the same. In order for this plan to succeed, my Class's cooperation was critical.

"Alright fine, we're willing to comply," Yuki said. "We'll split the Private Points 50/50."

I snorted with laughter at the ridiculousness of her suggestion. Even without their compliance, Class B was the weakest in this competition. Their best competitor was in the Representative challenge and the rest of the class were weak athletes. Even if they completely bowed out of this arrangement, they'd be coming last irrespective of their best efforts.

"Your class doesn't have a snowball's chance in hell of coming anywhere but last," I laughed. "I'll make sure my guys come last, you can have the third spot and keep your consolation prize of having your Class Points undisturbed. I'll take the 10,000,000 as my fee."

Yuki looked annoyed as Kanzaki kept her calm. I knew I was overplaying my hand but I was ready to negotiate. I proposed that ridiculous number knowing they wouldn't take it. They'd offer a 60/40 and I'd hold firm at 80/20. Eventually, they'd comply. Kanzaki and Yuki wanted Ayanokouji out of this school just as much as Nagumo did. The sooner he was gone, the better for them. That way Ichinose wouldn't have any reason to split her loyalties anymore.

Having the third spot was better for them as well. That way Ichinose wouldn't suspect them of foul play. It was up to me to lose all the solo events and we just needed to make sure we lost the group events to give them the third spot.

"60/40," Yuki seethed.

"80/20 and that's as low as I'm going. You don't have a leg to stand on negotiating here. I'm only giving you 20% to shut you up to make sure you follow along with the plan. Not that it'll do much. It's not like you can do anything to change the outcome and you need Ayanokouji gone far more than we do," I said smoothly.

Before Yuki could say anything, Kanzaki grabbed her arm and nodded at her to accept my deal. She gave a resigned sigh before nodding in acceptance.

"Then we all agree," Katsuragi said, taking control of the conversation as it died. "I'll let Nagumo-senpai know that we're all on board. You'll funnel the wins into our class, Ryuen will take 8,000,000 points and Himeno's class will take 2,000,000. I believe it goes without saying but Ichinose can not find out about this deal. I wouldn't put it past her to tell Ayanokouji about this and while I can't see any way he could get around this, it lowers our chances significantly."

"Just make sure Sakayanagi doesn't find out," I countered, looking down at him as I rose from my seat. "Make sure Totsuka doesn't squeal his heart out if Sakayanagi bats her eyes at him."

I'd made enemies of both classes but I didn't care. I was in a position of power. I watched as they both bit their tongues to swallow whatever biting remarks that came across their feeble minds. As long as everything went to plan, Ayanokouji had no chance and I'd have my victory. I wasn't stupid to think that I'd be able to do this alone and my pride didn't hold me back. As long as I had my revenge, I wouldn't care if I needed to share the credit with any of them.

So, why did I feel like this wasn't going to work and that monster was going to find a way to counter us?