All or Nothing
By : rainy26541
...
V2 Chapter 1
Intro
Breakfast was a very important meal to have for humans who were still young. For the students of the Tokyo Metropolitan Advanced Nurturing High School, who lived alone in their own dorms provided on the school grounds, that meant they were responsible for making their own breakfasts in the mornings.
For most of the young students who lived at this school, many of them only had time to just make a piece of toast. However, there were a few students who had all the time in the world to make a deluxe collection of food that combined to make a great traditional Japanese breakfast.
At 7:30am on Monday, Ayanokouji Kiyotaka sat at his dorm room's dining table. He appeared completely lost in thought as his eyes were distant and his body was still, almost lifeless.
"Kiyotaka. It's ready!"
Appearing from the door frame that led to the kitchen, Karuizawa Kei walked towards the dining table holding a tray. She placed that tray on the dining table and then sat down at the seat opposite to Kiyotaka.
"This is the first time I've cooked something this large so I apologise if it's not exactly perfect. I'm still learning, hehe..." Kei awkwardly chuckled as she handed Kiyotaka some chopsticks.
Kiyotaka accepted the chopsticks being handed to him and stared at the food in front of him. It was a traditional Japanese breakfast, consisting of steamed white rice, miso soup, fermented soy beans, grilled fish, pickled vegetables, seasoned dried seaweed and vegetable sides. A full set it appeared to be and it was finished with two cups of green tea.
He opened up the chopsticks and began snatching one of every piece to taste. Kei watched in anticipation as her boyfriend tried out her cooking. Was it good or was it a flop? She could only wait and hear the answer come from her taste tester.
Kiyotaka had his eyes closed as he chewed and then swallowed, only opening them up again after a few seconds. Those golden, almost voidless, eyes drew themselves towards Kei and he opened his mouth to speak.
"Frankly speaking, this is not a bad first attempt. The miso soup and rice are perfect, but the vegetables seem too dry, the seaweed has too much seasoning and the fish has been overcooked."
"Ehhhhhh!?"
Kei exclaimed in shock and grabbed a few pieces to see her work herself. She immediately agreed with him after tasting it. It appeared that Kei didn't exactly taste test her own work before handing it as breakfast to her boyfriend. Kiyotaka could only wonder what would happen if all of this food tasted worse.
Whenever Kiyotaka and Kei had breakfast, lunch or dinner at either of their dorms, due to Kei not exactly learning how to cook, Kiyotaka was the one who ended up doing most of the cooking. However, as time passed, Kei decided to take up cooking lessons and so the two mostly shared cooking responsibilities.
Today happened to be a day where Kei took the cooking responsibility on her own as when Kiyotaka woke up today, Kei was nowhere to be seen in his bed. When he tried to look for her, he found her in his kitchen preparing ingredients for what appeared to be a large breakfast. He decided to let her be as she told him to "leave the breakfast cooking to me today. I want to wow you with what I learnt!"
"Mmmmmmmm!"
As Kei whimpered in sadness like a puppy who had disappointed its parent, Kiyotaka gave a small curl in his mouth, indicating he was trying to smile. His eyes warmed up and he spoke up again.
"Like I said, it's not a bad first attempt. If you ask me, while it is a little overseasoned, overcooked and slightly dry, it's still pretty good to eat. It's not bad to the point where I would want to walk away and just have a banana instead. I'm proud of you Kei."
"Ehhhh? Eh hehehehe. You're embarrassing me Kiyotaka..."
Following that little romantic moment shared between the two, the compatible cute cuddly couple continued to consume the cookery cooked to chow completely. In the middle of doing so, Kei's expression turned worrisome and she glanced at Kiyotaka before asking.
"By the way, Kiyotaka. You looked a little... How should I say this? Away from this world earlier? Anyway, were you still thinking about Sakura-san?"
Kiyotaka frowned a little at this question. Having this breakfast actually allowed him to move his earlier thoughts away for the moment, but now he was reminded of them again.
3 days prior to today, every second year class partook in the unanimous vote special exam, a special exam where each class needed to unanimously vote on 5 questions within a 5 hour time limit. Kiyotaka's class managed to complete the exam with just minutes to spare, however a huge rift formed inside the class after this exam.
There were two reasons for this.
The first reason was due to Class B's supposed "angel" Kushida Kikyou having her dastardly two faced personality exposed during the exam and ridiculing everyone because of it. Having been friends with pretty much everyone in the class, she held a lot of secrets from their classmates. Secrets that not only destroyed the image they had of Kushida but the image and trust they had in their own friends.
The second reason was the result of the special exam. One of the questions that came up during the exam involved expelling a student for class points. Kiyotaka aimed to use this question to expel Kushida since she was too dangerous to keep in school. However, instead of Kushida being expelled, the result ended with Sakura Airi, one of his best friends in the Ayanokouji Group, being expelled.
The result couldn't have triggered Kiyotaka any more than it did.
"Even though you predicted it and didn't want it to happen, it still ended up happening regardless. We didn't even get to know Sakura-san as much as we wanted to."
Indeed. While Airi and the rest of the Ayanokouji Group had started hanging out more often together to create a larger group, they still hadn't had enough time to fully get to know everyone as much as they wanted. Losing someone before you could 100% get to know them was a large nail to an already broken coffin.
"Hey, Kiyotaka. Are you okay after what happened? I can understand Hasebe-san's feelings on this because I agree with her, even if I can't express it as much as her."
Kiyotaka lowered the chopsticks to the table as he took a moment to think about his answer.
"If I'm being honest, even after what I did to give Airi as much as possible if she was expelled, I can't help but feel disgusted at myself. I couldn't do anything to save her. I'm still recovering from all this but I feel I can go on fine."
Kiyotaka thought back to when his best friend, Suzuki Shizuku, passed away in the White Room, leaving him alone. He kept thinking about her as time went on, never forgetting about her no matter what he did and what came at him. He felt he could do the same with what happened with Airi.
And he needed to do that if his goal in bringing her back was to come true.
"I see. That's good. But what about Hasebe-san? I know you've been going to meet her a lot over the weekend, but is she okay to come to school today? I'm worried about her."
"Haruka was closest to Airi, more so than me. The fact that our class agreed with Horikita to vote for Airi's expulsion will destroy Haruka's view of our class and Horikita too. She's been very open to me about how she hates our class now, except me, you, Akito, Satou, Matsushita and Mori. Keisei is a little different but she might still be okay with him."
"Phew. I'm relieved at least. Will she be in school today though?"
It would be understandable if Haruka did not attend classes today. With the amount of hatred she had for the class and the fact that she still likely hadn't fully recovered from the incident would warrant enough reason to just not attend.
"She hasn't shown any indication to me that she will attend. So it's very likely that she won't be coming. I intend to find some time to visit and talk with her again when I can."
"Can I come with you or will that hurt Hasebe-san more? Sakura-san liked you a lot and it seemed that Hasebe-san was a huge supporter of getting you two together. So I feel that if I come by, I might ruin her mood more."
"Don't worry about that. Haruka doesn't hate you for dating me. If anything, Haruka is kind of like Mori. She supports us so I don't think you'll cause any trouble to her. I'll take you with me next time I visit her."
Kiyotaka reassured Kei about Haruka, leading to Kei giving a small relieved smile.
"Hehe. Well we don't have much time left. Finish the breakfast I cooked for you so that we can begin to head to school."
"Yes ma'am."
.
.
.
Part 1
When the time reached around half past 8, Kiyotaka and Kei left the former's dorm room and made their way to the elevator. Luckily for the two of them, the elevator was not that busy so they were easily able to get into it no problem.
"By the way, I've been meaning to ask but how is your relationship with Shinohara after what happened?"
When they were in the elevator, Kiyotaka decided to bring up a topic he had long forgotten about since the end of the exam.
"Shinohara-san? Well... Matsushita-san, Maya-chan, Nene-chan and I tried to go to her room over the weekend to apologise and reconcile with her, but she didn't even open the door for us. It's most likely she completely ignored our presence at the door because she was still mad at us. We haven't tried again since yesterday."
"I see..."
"In these types of situations, it gets more difficult to rebuild relationships when the two parties are both girls. Unlike boys, girls are more stubborn, as you've seen with how I previously portrayed myself, so they take longer to deal with these situations."
Before Kei got close to Kiyotaka, her image as a stubborn gyaru girl was well known across the school. Kiyotaka even felt the grunt from Kei when he tried to make her his closest ally and learn more about her. Girls like Shinohara, who looked up to Kei's gyaru persona, didn't surprise him that much that they ended up like this.
[To be honest, I would actually be more surprised if things didn't turn out like this.] He thought.
When the elevator arrived at the ground floor, the two of them exited the nearly cramped shaft and made their way to the exit that led to the outside campus.
However, as they passed by the waiting area where a load of couches and single chairs stood, they spotted a familiar face which consisted of short yet growing black hair and deep red eyes. Seeing her gaze towards them, Kiyotaka decided it was just best to go talk to her, even if he didn't exactly want to at this time.
Kei followed behind him, also slightly dissatisfied at this.
"Are you waiting for someone?" He asked, seeing how Horikita seemed hesitant to speak, despite looking like she wanted to.
"Yes... I'm waiting for Kushida-san."
Kiyotaka already knew this, but he wanted to goad the answer out of the girl in front of him. Horikita usually never waited for anyone in front of the dorms, not even for him. And after everything that happened last Friday, the only reason Horikita would be waiting here would be for Kushida.
When he got a better look at Horikita, he noticed a small detail in her posture and something below her eyes.
"You seem extremely exhausted."
"Huh...? Oh yeah... I haven't been getting much sleep over the last few days. Kushida-san hasn't left her room once since Friday. No matter how many times I visit her, she's never answered her front door. I practically launched a siege. I'm still staking out every now and then to meet her."
"You stood by her front door the whole time?"
Even if it was only on Saturday and Sunday, it would be a big deal if Horikita was staking out Kushida's front door from morning till night.
"Repeatedly pressing the chime and waiting for an answer. She didn't make a single noise."
If that was the case, there was probably enough food in her room for a two-or three-day hideout. Did she have any hostages in her room too?
"I see."
Seeing how he had nothing more to say on the topic, and that Kei was becoming more obvious with the fact she didn't like that they stopped to talk with Horikita, Kiyotaka was about to start walking again and give a goodbye.
"Ayanokouji-kun... I'm sorry for what happened last week."
However, he was stopped when Horikita once again apologised to him. Kei immediately began fuming to the point she was about to lash out. As she was about to make a move, Kiyotaka held out his arm to stop her, resulting in her calming down and letting him handle this.
"I can see why you're apologising to me, but I shouldn't be the one you should be apologising to. I told you on Friday, didn't I? Since you were the leader for the unanimous vote special exam, you decided after taking in considerations that keeping Kushida was for the best. I won't tell you whether that was the correct or the wrong decision, however, since you've come this far with it, I hope to see that you manage to find a way to get an actual silver lining to this like you said you would."
He didn't bother turning around to face her when he said that. And after he said what he wanted, he finally began walking away, not giving time for Horikita to answer back. Kei silently followed behind him, sending occasional glares at Horikita as she did so.
[But it's not like anything you'll do will make a difference anyway. Kushida is a lost cause and too dangerous to keep.] He thought as they finally exited the dorm rooms and strolled through the campus towards the school's main building.
Arriving in front of the classroom, Kiyotaka slowly opened the door and found a tense atmosphere in the room. Everyone turned towards Kiyotaka, all expressions mixed. Some were filled with respect, some were a little hard and go between and there were a tiny few that glared daggers. Overall, the looks sent his way were not terrible.
Kiyotaka and Kei made their way to a certain table containing a certain group of people they knew all too well.
"Good morning Ayanokouji-kun. Good morning Kei-chan."
It was Mori Nene who greeted the couple coming towards them. The others around her, consisting of Matsushita, Satou, Akito and Yukimura also gave small waves to them.
"Good morning, Nene-chan."
Kei was the one who audibly replied to Mori's greeting, while Kiyotaka just gave a nod while glancing at the rest of the class. His eyes, for a moment, stopped on another couple who happened to be together in the classroom at this moment. He noticed one of them sending glaring glances at Kei, Matsushita and Mori.
"I've heard about Shinohara. She's still playing hard-to-get with you all?"
Kiyotaka talked as quietly as possible, so as to not raise the girl in question's attention. Matsushita wore a sad smile on her usual pretty face before answering Kiyotaka's question.
"Hard-to-get might be a mild way of putting it, Ayanokouji-kun. I'm sure Kei-chan told you, but the world of girls is completely different and sometimes difficult to understand. You ask this but you aren't surprised by this, aren't you?"
Matsushita saw completely through him. Like she said, he wasn't surprised that Shinohara was still keeping her distance. Her stubborn attitude, and Kei's explanation about girls in situations like this, made this possible.
"Hmm..."
Unexpectedly to the group, Kiyotaka walked towards Shinohara. The group only barely reacted in time to this, but it was too late for them to stop him.
"Shinohara."
Hearing her name being called out, Shinohara turned to Kiyotaka, showing an expression of surprise that he was approaching her. Her boyfriend, Ike Kanji, who was the only one sitting with her, also turned to Kiyotaka in surprise.
"Ayanokouji-kun... What is it...?"
The girl who was being addressed hesitated speaking to Kiyotaka, not because she was afraid of him nor because she hated him. It was because even though she suffered quite a bit, she understood that Kiyotaka suffered more due to Airi's expulsion.
"I'm not going to pretend that I don't know what you're feeling. But if you're going to continue to act like a stubborn buffoon without even trying to investigate what your friends truly thought about you, then you're nothing more than walking sheep behind the gates of a farmhouse."
"Wha-" Shinohara exclaimed in shock, completely not expecting Kiyotaka to say something like that to her.
"H-hey, Ayanokouji. If you're trying to make her feel better with this, I don't think this is the correct way."
Ike tried to act as the protective boyfriend, but Kiyotaka could tell that he was hesitant to 100% play that character. It appeared that even he agreed with Kiyotaka's words, even if they wouldn't be exactly what he would say.
"Friends are going to make fun of you all the time. If you're going to use the excuse 'they shouldn't have called me ugly', then sure maybe that's true. But look at how Ike has felt since the start of first year. Even me who had to bear the image of the 'gloomy person' for so long until people actually got to know me better. Even Kei was like that with me in the beginning, saying she wouldn't date me for so long."
"That's-"
"In youth, you're going to get these types of situations. And your close friends are going to sometimes betray you. But if you're not going to attempt to mend things together, then you're just like the person who exposed these secrets in the first place."
"You're saying I'm just like Kushida!?"
"That is exactly what I'm saying. Take what you will from it, but all I'm trying to say is that you should at least attempt to mend what is currently broken, otherwise it will stay broken and you will end up like a lost soul wandering in a void of darkness, even if you have someone close to you."
Kiyotaka turned around and began walking back to his group, leaving Shinohara to think of the message he left her.
[Besides, if you continue to act like this, then all of what we're building up to the very moment I need to use it, will end up being for naught.]
As he returned, Kei and the rest gave him expressions of pure astonishment.
"...What?"
"I didn't think you were bold Ayanokouji-kun. That's all."
Matsushita answered him with a small smirk on her face, while the others nodded their heads in agreement to what she mentioned.
"I just did what I thought was best for her. That's all."
"Well for what you did for Airi-chan, I guess we shouldn't be too surprised. You really are so kind, Ayanokouji-kun!"
"..."
Kiyotaka stayed quiet. He glanced at Kei and saw her smiling at him. When he thought about it, he guessed he was a lot kinder than he thought he was.
.
.
.
Part 2
When the time for homeroom arrived, all of Class B returned to their respective seats.
Horikita arrived just one minute before homeroom began. However, her goal of waiting for Kushida to come out of her room to go to school ended up being unsuccessful, as she arrived without her target.
Alongside that, there were two other absentees from the class, resulting in 3 unusual empty seats inside the classroom combined with the 2 now usual empty ones.
When Chabashira noticed this as she stood in front of the class, her eyes locked on Kiyotaka and Horikita for a moment before she sighed and spoke to the class.
"Kushida, Hasebe, and Wang are absent. I've received a call from Wang that she's sick, so that's acceptable. As for Kushida and Hasebe, I haven't heard from them, so I'll call them later to confirm."
Considering what happened on Friday, Chabashira's use of the word "sick" wasn't exactly acceptable. It was more likely that Mei-Yu was feigning illness so that she wouldn't come in, and despite knowing that, Chabashira decided to use the paraphrase to make it sound believable.
"Don't look so anxious, a day or two of absence won't affect your class points. It's even possible for all three of them to be sick at the same time by pure coincidence. That said, if this break lasts longer, it won't be limited to that. And if it turns out to be a temporary illness, problems will gradually come to the surface. There's a limit to how much you can do when you're sick without knowing the specific name of the illness. I'm hoping for a quick recovery if possible," Chabashira continued while looking at Kushida's seat specifically.
All eyes were drawn to Horikita. In the unanimous special exam, she declared that she would put her own ideas first and keep Kushida. Naturally, the blame was directed at Horikita. Even though she was receiving the brunt of the gaze, Horikita did not move an inch.
However, to the surprise of everyone, at that one moment, the door opened and revealed a certain long ocean blue haired girl with orange eyes. It was none other than Hasebe Haruka.
She turned towards Chabashira and bowed a little apologetically.
"I apologise for being late. I was held back a bit which delayed my journey here."
Her voice was noticeably colder than usual, so much so that it made quite a number of the students shiver in slight fear. Even Chabashira shivered a very tiny bit, but she recomposed herself to reply.
"...That's okay. Just try to make sure it doesn't happen again and make it a recurring thing. Go take a seat so I can begin homeroom."
"Yes."
Haruka gave one look at the class and glared daggers at most of them. The sharpest of the glares was specifically aimed at Horikita, which wasn't surprising. Horikita tried her best to ignore it, but even she shivered a tiny bit. Haruka walked over to her seat and sat down, giving a glance to Kiyotaka, which was warmer than the cold expression she wore earlier.
"Well, I'm still worried about the other two absentees. But enough about that, I have some more important news that I must direct to you all."
Chabashira tapped on her own tablet and soon, something appeared on the digital screen just behind her.
"Sports Festival Introduction" is what appeared on the screen.
"As you can see on the screen, I want to go through the sports festival with you. As I have told you before, this year's sports festival will be different from last years."
"Sensei. You said last week that the sports festival will contain similar elements to a special exam we've previously done before, right?"
Hirata raised his hand and asked that question. Chabashira gave a small smile before answering.
"Yes, Hirata. I did say that. I shall now take the time to explain what that means." She paused for a moment before beginning her explanation. "Just like how the recent uninhabited island exam was proposed by the student council president and adopted by the school, the same is being adopted here for the sports festival. At least most of it is being adopted."
The screen then changed to show what appeared to be a comparison between 3 individual people and a group of people together.
"This year's sports festival has a greater focus on individual ability rather than team ability. Of course, there will still be many team events and great focus on team ability, just not as much. I can see some of you are worried about this, but do not worry, the school has thought of this and made sure that people won't be expelled due to their ability being too low."
Sighs of relief roamed throughout the room as the slightly anxious non-athletic students like Yukimura stiffened their bodies as they thought they would be left behind in the dust.
"And to further add to this greater focus to the sports festival, in order to ensure that fairness is equated throughout the sports festival, and to make it even more interesting, the school decided to incorporate another new addition. This is where the element from another special exam comes in. Please listen carefully because this is very important."
Class B leaned forward a tiny bit, an indication to show they were 100% paying attention to what was about to come next. The screen at the front changed again and showed a list of the previous special exams the class had taken.
Probably more dramatically than it really should have been, a circle then appeared on the screen, highlighting one of the eight listed special exams. That one appeared to be...
"For this year's sports festival, we will be taking elements from your Event Selection special exam. In this sports festival, you will have an elected command tower, or leader in this case, that will lead your class throughout the events. The leader will also need to participate in events, but they will essentially be coaching you all most of the time."
Eyebrows raised as this news was quite unexpected. In normal sports festivals at schools, there was, of course, a person that was chosen by the class to help lead them to victory, whether it was through strategy, cheerleading or just motivation. However, the way Tokyo Metropolitan Advanced Nurturing High School was handling this appeared to be more serious. The students of Class B waited for an explanation.
"To best get you to understand this year's sports festival additions, I will be sending you a rule list to your tablets. Please take the next couple of minutes to thoroughly read them and I will explain further and answer questions after the 5 minutes. The information will also be displayed on the screen behind me, but you should use your tablets all the while."
At that moment, not just on the large screen at the front of the classroom, but Class B's individual tablets began to show a list of rules for the sports festival.
Sports Festival:
GENERAL OUTLINE:
• A combination of varied sports as part of a festival tournament will be held for all years
• The competition will start from 9:00 a.m. and end at 4:00 p.m. (a break for all years will be held between noon and 1:00 p.m.)
• Students are free to participate in any event of their choice to earn points, compete against other students, and work for the class to get the highest score.
• Outside spectators will be present at events
GENERAL RULES:
• Each class will start with zero competition points, though 50 competition points will be awarded at the end of the sports festival as part of a contribution bonus
• Each class must have an elected Commander
• Each student must participate in 5 different events at the minimum (an exception is applied to the "Commander").
• Competition points will be given to the winners according to their events.
• The maximum number of events that can be entered is 10 per person (exceptions apply to the MVP Boy and MVP Girl).
• Each Class will have an MVP Boy and an MVP Girl. These two students will be allowed to participate in every event and will be runners up in winning the MVP award.
• If a student does not participate or abstains from an entered event except for unavoidable reasons, he/she will lose 2 points.
• Students who have finished the events they are participating in should cheer at designated areas.
From reading the general rules, they seemed to be straightforward, though the addition of the "elected commander" was jarring. From the expressions of the students, it appeared they didn't understand two things stated in the summary.
"Sensei? What's this about outside spectators being present at events?" Hirata asked on behalf of the class.
"It's just as it says. This year, the school has invited a few of its alumni to act as spectators for the sports festival. Politicians, CXOs, Senior Managers, University lecturers and principals, and others that have connections with this school will be attending and watching you all compete. It'll be a fun experience for them to watch students compete but it also acts as a method of recruitment." She explained.
In other words, scouting out possible candidates to join their company or university through a recommendation if any of the students caught their eye. Through that, a student's future would likely become guaranteed whether they graduated from Class A or not. It was similar to Kouenji's situation where he was guaranteed to become the next leader of the Kouenji Conglomerate no matter what class he ended up with.
Such a thing was a dream for the current Class B, who started at the very bottom at Class D and ground their way up. It was possible if they didn't get to Class A by graduation but managed to snag the attention of the spectators in the sports festival, they would at least have an opportunity to grab an easy future for themselves.
However, for Kiyotaka, he didn't pay attention to that part. There was one thing that stood out more in Chabashira's announcement that made him narrow his eyes.
"Politicians".
"I can see what your other question is about though, so don't bother asking. The commander has a special role in this exam. Coming up on your screens now is further information on the commander's role."
Kiyotaka was immediately brought back to reality when Chabashira called out to Hirata and the class again. The screen at the front of the classroom and the screen on Class B's tablets changed to show information on the Commander.
CLASS COMMANDER:
• Each class must have an elected commander
• The commander will sit in a designated area watching over every event and giving directions to students if need be
• The commander WILL NOT participate in any of the general events
• 3 special events, designed for the commanders, will take place towards the end of the sports festival. All commanders will take part in it and a reward of 300 competition points in addition to a few points they gain during the events, alongside a special reward will be given to the winner of all three events
• Each student will wear a smartwatch with communication ability in order to communicate with the commander while the commander will wear a headset by their computer
"As you can see, the person you elect as commander will be sitting out in every event to be the tactician for the events they can strategise for. But in order for every student to participate in some form of event, the commanders will have their own battle to take part in. It goes without saying that you should be wise in picking out who will be the commander for your class."
At this time, it was unknown what events would be present at the sports festival. It was possible that most of the same events from last year's sports festival would be around for the general students, but it was completely unknown what the events would be for the commander events. Which meant picking a smart student who wasn't good at events like Yukimura to be the commander would be good, but the commander events might be difficult for him.
Likewise, choosing a smart and sporty student like Hirata would be a more valuable option, however, keeping him around for the general events posed a more valuable option in order to earn more competition points. Choosing the commander for the class was going to be a difficult task.
"And one more thing you probably noticed in the general rules is the addition of two MVPs. On your screen now is an explanation for them."
MVP BOY AND GIRL:
• Each class will nominate one boy and one girl to be the class's MVP
• These two students will be able participate in as many events as they want
• Participating in events and winning will earn their class even more competition points than their normal players (varies per event but can be as large as double)
• The students nominated will be in the line in winning the MVP award at the end of the Sports Festival
• The two students will get direct two-way contact with the commander at all times, wearing both a dedicated smartwatch and a sports earpiece
"That's the general outline of what you need to know as of yet. Any questions so far?"
A few hands were raised when Chabashira asked that question. Naturally, the first one was Ike. Chabashira beckoned him to ask his question.
"What are the rewards they keep mentioning? There's this 'special reward' that they say the winning commander will get, but what about the general rewards at the end of the festival?"
"Oh right. I forgot to display that part too. Bear with me a second."
Seemingly embarrassed by her own cock-up, Chabashira messed with her own tablet until the screen at the front and every student's tablet changed once again to show some new information.
CLASS REWARDS FOR EACH YEAR:
• 1st Place = +100 Class points AND +250,000 Private Points
• 2nd Place = +50 Class Points AND +100,000 Private Points
• 3rd Place = 0 Class Points AND +50,000 Private Points
• 4th Place = -150 Class Points
COMMANDER REWARDS:
• 1st Place = +2,500,000 Private Points AND *LIMITED* School Request Ticket
• 2nd Place = +1,500,000 Private Points
• 3rd Place = +750,000 Private Points
• 4th Place = +300,000 Private Points
MVP BOY AND GIRL REWARDS (REWARDS SEPARATE FOR BOY AND GIRL):
• 1st Place = +2,000,000 Private Points OR *LIMITED* Class Transfer Ticket
• 2nd Place = +1,000,000 Private Points
• 3rd Place = +500,000 Private Points
• 4th Place = +250,000 Private Points
Students gulped upon seeing the list of rewards. However, it wasn't because of the rewarding points their class would receive upon getting first place that made them like this. Rather, it was the addition of two other rewards as part of the Commander and MVP rewards. Sudou's gulp was especially audible as he was looking to aim for the MVP reward.
"What's this School Request Ticket and Class Transfer Ticket about!? The second one sounds simple but it's still all too confusing!"
Ike, understandably, cried out at not understanding the two extra rewards. The rest of the class held the same thoughts, their eyes projecting such thoughts. Chabashira, seeing these eyes, began to explain.
"The Class Transfer Ticket is self-explanatory. It will allow the MVP an opportunity to transfer to a class they want to transfer to. Say if Sudou wins the 1st MVP Boys reward, he can choose to either use that ticket to transfer to Class A, C or D, or he can choose to have the private points alone."
A tense atmosphere began to form in the classroom, and it seemed that Sudou felt it the most as he was likely the unpredictable cause for it. He quickly spoke up to dispel much of this atmosphere.
"I-it's unlikely I'll transfer classes! I like our class and I would never betray us! I need the private points too!"
Sudou's undoubtful loyalty was a welcome, especially since Class B was climbing up the ranks further to reach Class A. However, due to the bottomless void building up and destroying trust in others after the unanimous vote exam, some of the students in Class B found it harder to trust his words as 100% truthful.
Before anyone else could speak up though, Chabashira continued her explanation.
"As for the School Request Ticket, this one is a little different. This ticket will allow the winning commander to make a request that the school can grant. The request must be a reasonable one otherwise the school will not grant it. This could be, maybe giving more private points for a certain time, or maybe giving you or another student a protection point. It must be reasonable enough, which the school will decide on after you request it."
Chabashira caught eyes with Kiyotaka for a moment, and saw him narrow his eyes a little bit. For the moment, she ignored it and spoke again.
"The 'limited' part in the title means that the tickets can only be used for a certain time limit. From what I know, you can only use these tickets until the end of the second semester. After that, the tickets will be granted useless, so if you decide to earn one of them, you must decide on when you want to use it or even if you want to use it. Any other questions?"
Class B stayed silent as they felt no more questions at the moment needed to be asked for the moment.
"If you have any other questions before the sports festival, feel free to raise them with me. Official training will begin next week, and the sports festival itself will begin two weeks after that. More information on that will be released as time goes on. But if I were you, I would begin discussing possible candidates for your commander and your MVPs."
Chabashira did not explain further as the time for homeroom came to an end.
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Part 3
As Chabashira left the room, Class B's atmosphere barely changed from the extremely tense one it had started with. However, despite this tense atmosphere, the students were thinking specifically about the sports festival.
"H-hey. Suzune. Hirata. Let's begin the discussion!"
When the first lesson ended, there was a small amount of time given before the next class, allowing Class B to have the discussion time that Chabashira had mentioned. Seeing that opportunity, and seeing how the atmosphere had barely changed, Sudou tried to act civil and propose to discuss some of the important stuff now.
Hirata stood up and went towards the front, ready to begin the meeting. However, Horikita sat still for a couple more seconds before moving. Whether she was hesitating or if she was deep in her thoughts was unknown, but her movements definitely caused the friction in the class to grow again.
"Right. We should discuss what we're going to do for the sports festival. But, before we do that, there's one thing I should tell you all."
She moved before the students could make the first move. She stood up from her seat and turned around so that everyone could see her face.
"During the special exam held last week, I forced everyone to choose to keep Kushida-san and not withdraw her from the school, in a way that violated my promise to everyone. First of all, I want you to let me apologise for that." With that, Horikita bowed her head. But there was also a strong will in her eyes as she looked up. "But as it turns out, I think I made the right choice. She's someone who can help the class."
Watching over this from his seat at the back of the room, Kiyotaka had mixed feelings. However, he kept them to himself for the time being and decided to sit and watch the discussion unfold. He took one glance to his left and saw the back of Haruka's hair. Her shoulders were still very tense and her sitting position screamed complete hatred and anger towards the girl speaking at the front of the class.
"If I were to tell you that you could get revenge on the class if you were to help me in return, would you do it?"
These were the words he said to Haruka right after watching Airi leave the school on Friday. Haruka never gave him an answer, but her eyes screamed that she was considering it. When he visited her a few times during the weekend, those screaming eyes were still present, but the topic was never brought up again during those moments.
"I don't think so!"
Kiyotaka focused back on the meeting upon hearing someone deny Horikita's insistence she made the correct decision. It was none other than Shinohara. Being one of the people most affected by Kushida's exposure, it was understandable she would be the one to retort the most.
"Now that we know that Kushida-san is an untrustworthy person, no one will want her around. Right now, I don't get the feeling that anyone is talking to the other classes about Kushida-san but I'm sure that's just a matter of time."
At this moment in time, only Class B knew of Kushida's true nature. Due to the fact she left school right away after the exam and went back to the dorms, stayed in her dorm room for the entire weekend and hasn't even come out of her room, the other students could not see this true form of the "angel of Class B".
But it wasn't just that. It seemed that none of the students in Class B had blabbered about Kushida to any of the other classes. This could have been due to the fact that everyone was divided at this moment and they didn't want to think about it, which included the loudmouths and idiots like Ike, Hondou and a few others.
Of course, even if some of Class B did blabber about Kushida's true nature, going around telling the enemy class could lead to a terrible result, one that would likely hurt the class even more. It was a simple story of the benefits of keeping quiet.
"Hey, Horikita-san. Can you really say that you were right to stop us from leaving Kushida-san behind? Answer me."
Shinohara's words made Horikita, who had only been looking at her, snap out of her thoughts and give an answer.
"It's not something that can be answered at this moment. It's the same for me, Shinohara-san, and the rest of my classmates. We need to make our presence felt for the rest of our school life."
"What the hell? I want an answer now. No matter how you look at it, Kushida-san is a distraction to the class."
"Indeed, the unanimous special exam may have hurt you. It may have hurt Wang-san, who is currently absent, and Hasebe-san. But that doesn't erase the fact that Kushida-san has been contributing to this class for a year and a half. Or do you think you've contributed more than she has?"
Shinohara couldn't retort to that. It was true that before the unanimous vote special exam, Kushida had contributed a lot to the class, being the Class B's angel. She had brought the class together, taken care of their concerns, and helped raise their academic and physical averages. Horikita's argument was essentially that causing major problems doesn't make past achievements go away.
"I can't blame you if you don't take kindly to my deception and Kushida-san's continued insistence on expelling certain students. But if I had expelled Kushida-san just like that, can you say that it would have been the right decision immediately? Can you be okay with the class average dropping and losing the special exam?"
"That's..."
Shinohara was unable to continue the debate, as her arguments had been rendered invalid by Horikita. However, a new person entered the battlefield with her cold voice that made everyone shiver again.
"Hey Horikita-san. Using that logic, how can you say keeping Airi was the wrong decision? It is true that Airi was at the very bottom of the class average, however, what's to say that Kushida won't drop that class average by continuing this absence and what happens when she betrays again?"
Haruka's cold voice made even Horikita's hair on her body stand high. She gave a dark smile as she continued.
"Currently, our class is doing really well with the average and our class points. We made it to Class B thanks to our continued support. Kushida-san may have been a part of that, but how much of that was actually her? Can we really rely on her more? Will our Class completely trust her again even if she decides to change?"
For once, Horikita couldn't exactly answer back. Of course, she thought about that when she was making the decision to keep her. However, she didn't expect someone to bring it up to her like this again. She could only say this:
"...We won't know until later. Until I can get her back."
"And what happens if she doesn't come back? Will you take responsibility for your actions? No matter how I see it, the results of keeping Kushida are all the same. If Kushida comes back, yes we may do well but our Class won't exactly trust Kushida well enough to want her around a lot, even if she does change. And if Kushida doesn't come back, our class will continue to break because we're losing more of our average and opportune class points."
Horikita's determined eyes versus Haruka's dark and cold eyes. They clashed as they debated on the decision. However, most of the class could only agree with Haruka, even if she hated most of them. Horikita may have been able to defend herself greatly, but without sole allies to back her up, it may as well have been her loss.
"...Can I interrupt here?"
Hirata raised his hand from the front of the class, gaining the attention of everyone.
"I don't know how much we can make use of Kushida's skills at this moment or if we can, but I did tell everyone here to keep quiet as much as possible about Kushida-san. Whether or not we can fully make use of her as of yet will depend on how Horikita-san can bring her back. I'm sure she will take responsibility for all of this." He said. "But I would like to take a small moment to discuss our plan for the sports festival, since this year seems to be very different."
The whole point of this discussion during the break before the next lesson was meant to be to discuss the options available to Class B for the sports festival. However, instead of doing that, Class B spent nearly 5 minutes arguing over the Kushida situation. With only another 5 minutes remaining before the start of their next lesson, Class B needed to begin discussions immediately. This was what Hirata was trying to convey.
"Right. I'm sorry. In that case, let's begin."
Horikita stood up and joined him at the front of the classroom. However, the stares on her were not warm. Disregarding Haruka's stare for the moment, the rest of the class didn't contain much confidence to listen to Horikita as much today.
"So in terms of the events and who is doing what, that can be left to the side. I think what we should discuss now are the new additions to this year. The Commander and the MVPs."
"Yes, Horikita-san. For now, let's focus on the MVPs since I believe those will be easy to pick out."
When Horikita and Hirata directed the discussion to the MVPs first, Sudou immediately stood up and raised his hand.
"I'll be the MVP boy for our class! There should be no doubt that only I fit the criteria for that."
As arrogant as it may have unintentionally sounded, it was true that there was almost no one else who fit the MVP boy criteria. The only two that came to mind were Hirata and Kouenji. But the former was slightly behind Sudou in athletic ability and the latter probably wasn't too bothered about contributing considering how he was last year.
"Hoho. Hold it there Red-Hair-kun. Are you just assuming I shouldn't be the MVP? No one beats me in terms of sporting and athletic ability. Therefore, I should be the MVP instead of you."
Surprisingly though (or unsurprisingly depending on how you looked at it), Kouenji actually retorted against Sudou over who should get the MVP role. Naturally, this caught the interest of not only Sudou but the rest of the class too.
"Kouenji-kun. Are you saying you'll participate greatly in this year's sports festival?"
And so naturally, Horikita would question his stance.
"Fufufu. Of course Horikita-girl. I see no reason not to participate this year. Winning the uninhabited island exam, the treasure hunt and even gaining some more class points recently. I see no reason to not make more. And as far as the transfer ticket is concerned, I shall be staying right here since there is no other class that is better than the one here, especially with my deal with you, Horikita-girl."
Confirming all that she wanted, Horikita nodded to Kouenji's pledge, albeit annoyed that she was reminded of the deal she had with Kouenji.
"Kouenji! How can we trust you to be the MVP? You went and sat out and called sick in last year's sports festival. How can we trust that you won't do it again!?"
"Fufu. If we're going to go off of that, shouldn't the same be said for you Red-Hair-kun? You arrogantly said you'd participate in all of the events then angrily stomped off the field for half of the events because you couldn't match a manipulator. What's to say that won't happen again this year?"
"That's-"
Sudou couldn't defend himself there. What Kouenji was spouting wasn't nonsense, but reasonable. Both he and Sudou were problems in last year's sports festival. When the class remembered this, their eyes narrowed both at Sudou and Kouenji, as if saying "both of you aren't fit for the MVP after all."
Kiyotaka, who was watching this argument, believed that Kouenji had purposefully done this to ruin Sudou's position, get the class to realise the concurrent situation and allow him to become the sole candidate for the class's MVP role. When he thought about it, the reason as to why Kouenji was doing this was clear.
Not long after they returned from the cruise ship, and just a day before the Talent Show, Kiyotaka and Kouenji had sat down and talked for the first time in a while. During that talk, Kiyotaka learned that Kouenji knew about the White Room and his father. He also managed to form a partnership with Kouenji, where the two would help out each other for their own gains. Kouenji's gain was to protect himself and his father from Professor Ayanokouji's wrath.
With the current sports festival allowing outside spectators upon invitation to watch the sports festival, there was no doubt that Kiyotaka's father would visit the school, and likely Kouenji's father too. By allowing Kouenji to be the MVP, he would not only prove to his own father that he was superior, but he would also show Professor Ayanokouji that he was not to be messed with.
However, this plan that Kouenji likely had came with its disadvantages too. As he thought about them, Kiyotaka caught Kouenji sneaking a glance at him and smirking. It was likely Kouenji understood what Kiyotaka was thinking.
"I've changed since then! I won't do that again."
Sudou finally managed to come up with a comeback and a defensive stance for himself. However, Kouenji was fully ready for that, and like a lion waiting for its prey to fall into its trap, he attacked.
"The same could be said for me, Red-Hair-kun. Believe it or not, I have also changed. And I have also pledged to not do anything bad for the class, especially as I see no benefit in doing so anymore. I'll do what I want, but I'll also do what I want for the class too."
"..."
Smirking in apparent victory, Kouenji leaned back in his chair and began combing his hair. After he did that, he unexpectedly continued.
"Well, even though I clearly am the better choice for the MVP position, I will allow the red barking dog to take it. Consider yourself lucky, Red-Hair-kun. I'm feeling generous today in spite of the growing darkness in the room."
And even more unexpectedly to the class, even after he had done what he did to win the verbal war against Sudou, Kouenji straight up stood down from taking the MVP position and allowed his "rival" to have it like it was originally intended.
"Wha- You're just giving up the position to me? Does that mean you're actually going to do the same as last year?"
"Of course not. Did you not hear what I said before, Red-Hair-kun? I don't see a reason to not participate. You all will get to wield my power, but I will not be using it for the MVP position. Consider yourselves grateful to the perfect existence."
Kouenji laughed again, causing Sudou to grumble and sit back down. Despite winning the position from Kouenji, Sudou did not feel satisfied and rather felt defeated. Right now, he felt like a little child who both won and lost against his parents.
"...Well it's decided that Sudou-kun will take the boys position for MVP, but we also need to decide who it will be for the girls. Horikita-san, will you do it?"
"I will have to decline the position. I'm more athletic than average, but I can't hold on to myself for so many events like Sudou-kun or you Hirata-kun. Plus, going by last year, I think I'll be safer if I don't stand out in the crowd too much."
During last year's sports festival, Horikita was prone to being targeted by Ryuuen Kakeru. Because of that, Horikita got injured and was unable to continue participating in any more events. She didn't think it would happen again, especially since Ryuuen had probably moved past using those methods (or maybe not), but she wanted to be on the safe side for herself.
And although she didn't say it, there was a small indication that she believed that if she did choose to be the MVP for the class, it wouldn't sit well with Class B at all.
Kiyotaka looked to his side to see an, unexpectedly, disappointed Sudou. Being the one to have a crush on Horikita, Sudou likely wanted to run hand-in-hand with Horikita to victory for the MVP awards and for Class B.
But when Kiyotaka thought about it, this was probably for the best in Sudou's interest too. Right now, Horikita was in a dangerous zone with Class B. Having protected Kushida, stated how she made the correct decision and, even at one point during the special exam last week, called her classmates idiots, her relationship with the class was now on thins edge and it wasn't just to do with Haruka. If Sudou also wanted his position and image in the class to be good, it would be in his best interest to not keep so close or be extremely loyal to Horikita for the time being, at least until Horikita could prove herself. At least, that was how Kiyotaka saw it.
He could only think this way because he had similar experiences with the 4th generation, the generation of White Room students he was a part of, when their curriculum had changed. And when his thoughts ended up reminding him of Shizuku for a moment, he unintentionally let out a small frown.
"I see. But if it's not going to be Horikita-san, who will be the girl MVP for our class?"
"I'll do it!"
When Hirata asked that question, there was a short silence before a new girl spoke up and raised her hand. She had very short brown hair combined with her yellow and violet eyes. It was none other than Onodera Kayano.
"...I'm the only other sporty girl in this class. So that means only I can be the MVP for the girls side if we want to do well."
In Class B, Sudou, Hirata and Akito were the 3 of the 4 well known sports club members. Sudou was part of the basketball club, Hirata in the football club and Akito was in the archery club. The only other well known person to be a part of a sports club was Onodera who was a part of the swimming club.
Of course, Onodera was definitely not as sporty as Sudou or Hirata, but she could hold herself much better than any of the girls in the class, even Horikita.
"You are right, Onodera-san. Ok, so we have Sudou-kun and Onodera-san as our MVPs for the sports festival. But the one last area we need to think about is who will be our Commander."
Hirata shifted the discussion to probably the more important part now. Some of the students looked at Horikita with displeased looks. It appeared they wanted her to be the leader based on her experiences previously being the leader, but they were unsure if that was the best choice now.
"I-"
"Can I just say that I don't think Horikita-san should be the leader for the sports festival. I can't trust her anymore. What's to say she won't do the same thing she did last week? She decided to keep Kushida because she was 'more useful'. Until I see results of that happening, I can't trust her to be our leader anymore."
As Horikita was about to speak up, she was immediately interrupted by Haruka, who disregarded Horikita as an option for being the Commander. Horikita narrowed her eyes at her reasoning, but she didn't refute it.
Slowly, Haruka started gaining support from the rest of the class as her reasoning was in check with their doubts. However, a new problem presented itself from this.
"If Horikita-san isn't going to be the commander for this exam, who will it be? Hirata-kun?" Inogashira Kokoro asked.
"Unfortunately, I don't exactly have the skills to be the commander for the sports festival. Plus I think we need as many sporty people in general events as possible."
Hirata declined the possibility of him being the commander. It was true that just Sudou and Onodera were not going to be enough for the sports festival. Keeping as many sporty people in as many events as possible would ensure they had a great chance.
"Well, then who will be our commander?"
Someone then raised her hand in the air, gaining the attention of the class.
"This may sound biassed because it's me saying it, but Kiyotaka fits the criteria of someone who can be our commander. When the Event Selection special exam happened, he was the one who led us against Class A. We did unfortunately lose against them, but under his leadership, we were quite close to winning."
Kiyotaka had been silently watching the events unfold, however, when his name was called out by Kei, he couldn't help but raise his head in astonishment. When the two caught their eyes together, an indiscriminate conversation began between them.
"You want to put your plan into action, right? You need the support of the class. Now's the perfect time to gain their trust." was what her eyes were telling him.
All Kiyotaka could do was smile a thank you at her with his own eyes.
"Oh yeah. Ayanokouji-kun managed to come up with good strategies against Class A at the time. I even saw a glimpse of his true math ability there before he got 100 in the start of year exam. I also think he'll be a good fit for the commander position."
Unsurprisingly, Matsushita pitched in to support putting Kiyotaka in the commander position.
"Yeah! And Ayanokouji-kun led us all together when we were practising for the Talent Show! He's the perfect choice!"
"Ayanokouji-kun is smart and quite athletic too. So if the commander events require quite the sporty person when it comes to running and strategy, Ayanokouji-kun is also perfect there."
"Ayanokouji-kun also helped me... It was also thanks to him that I was saved during the uninhabited island exam."
Soon, with extra pillars from Mori, Satou and, surprisingly, Shinohara, more of the girls began to support Kiyotaka as the commander. However, there were still doubts from a few other students. They knew Kiyotaka wasn't all that he portrayed himself as, but they still couldn't trust in him completely, despite not wanting Horikita as the leader.
Luckily, the blonde haired gyaru girlfriend had a saviour on her side.
"And if this isn't enough to get you to elect him, consider how he feels after the exam last week. Just like Hasebe-san, Kiyotaka has suffered a lot from the decision we all made. He was the one who exposed Kushida-san and pushed the votes onto her for the better, and yet he lost his own best friend because we all moved the votes away. Have you all shown your apologies for that yet? Have you ever considered how he feels now? If you want to mark your respect and be apologetic for what happened, not just to him but to Hasebe-san too, then let him be our commander."
Guilt tripping. It was such a dangerous attack to use against the class, but if used well it can be very effective. Being a girl who was bullied quite a lot before coming to Tokyo Metropolitan Advanced Nurturing High School, Kei was familiar with this method more than she could ever let on.
Soon, a lot of the class began to feel guilty and they soon nodded and agreed with Kei. Even Horikita began to feel guilty. More support in this option began to build up in the class.
Kiyotaka was beyond astonished. He knew Kei was a very capable person, but it had been a very long time since he had used her skills to help him in precarious situations. And the most astonishing part of this was the fact that she did this all herself in order to help him. He did not give her instructions at all. He knew he picked the right girl to stand by his side.
However, he took a moment to look to his side and see the expression of the other person who was affected by last week's special exam. When their eyes met, Haruka gave him the smallest of warm smiles, effectively stating she was okay with this.
Kiyotaka looked down for a moment, sighed and then looked back, giving the class determined eyes (at least he thought he was making this type of expression) as he spoke.
"If you all want me to be the commander for the sports festival, then I have no qualms about it. I will do my best to lead us all."
"So it's decided then. Kiyotaka-kun will be our commander for the sports festival. With all the important things out of the way, all we have to worry about now is the training regime and what events we'll all be taking part in. As Chabashira-sensei said, we'll find that out soon, but in the meantime, let's maybe take our time to brainstorm ideas on what we can do when we get the time to start training."
Hirata's final word set Class B's plan in stone. Sudou and Onodera would be the MVPs while Kiyotaka would be the class commander. As Hirata and Horikita went back to their seats, Kiyotaka began to wander back into his thoughts.
[In all honesty, this situation is actually very beneficial to me. In fact, it's the best option that will allow me to get what I need both from this class and from the school. I'll need to think carefully about what I do next.]
As he ended that thought, Hoshinomiya Chie, the homeroom teacher of Ichinose Honami's class, entered the classroom and lessons continued throughout the day as normal.
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Part 4
Lunch break arrived and students in Class B began packing their stuff to either head to the school cafeteria or restaurant, or to just eat in the classroom. The classroom still felt heavy and a few of the students still distanced themselves. For example, Shinohara, who would usually eat with Kei, Satou, Matsushita and Mori, still distanced herself and decided to eat with Ike.
Some of the usual friend groups still remained, but it was obvious that a large gap was still currently in formation in the classroom. However, the recently newly formed KiyoKei group, even without Shinohara at the moment and Haruka in an extremely bad mood, was still roaming strong at least in theory.
"Ayanokouji-kun. Do you have any time to spare at the moment?"
Just as the group were getting ready to head out to Pallet Cafe for lunch, Horikita approached Kiyotaka asking if he had a moment. Naturally, since Kiyotaka was with his group, Horikita not only grabbed his attention but the rest of the others around him. It was notable that Horikita was doing her best to ignore the cold glare from Haruka.
"Well-"
"We're going to eat, sorry. I can't lend you Kiyotaka."
Kei immediately got between him and Horikita, effectively stopping her advances. She spread her hands and put her palms up at her.
"Also, I don't think it's a good idea to ask out a boy who has a girlfriend..."
"Yes, whatever. But it's not me who wants to borrow him, it's someone else. And it's not a girl either. So would you still allow me to do so?"
Undeterred by Kei's intervention, Horikita tried to push for the meeting. She pointed her phone at Kiyotaka which likely held information about the meeting. Kei, Satou and Matsushita pushed themselves in front of Kiyotaka to see what was on Horikita's phone.
"Yagami... Takuya? Who?"
"It doesn't matter who's sending the message. What's important is the text."
Kiyotaka managed to push through and see the message on Horikita's phone. It seemed to have been sent to her about an hour ago.
Can you call Ayanokouji-senpai to the student council room during lunch break? The student council president has requested it. If it's too difficult for you, please let me know and I'll come to you.
[Yagami Takuya, 11:37am]
"As a member of the student council, I have a role to perform. If a member says they have something for me to do, I can't refuse the request. It seems that the student council president Nagumo-senpai wants to see you. Did you do something to him again?"
"I haven't done anything. At least not recently..." Kiyotaka mumbled the last part quietly, ensuring no one would hear him.
"If you refuse, Yagami-kun will come here. If you still refuse, maybe the student council president Nagumo-senpai will come here. So, how should I respond?"
Horikita was just a liaison. Regardless of how Kiyotaka responded, she would just proceed with the job without hesitation. When he thought about it, there really was no choice but to just accept and go see Nagumo Miyabi in the student council. He turned back to face his group.
"Sorry guys. If I ignore the student council president's orders, the rest will be troublesome."
He apologised to them. There was not much else he could do. He knew they would understand and have no choice but to accept the current situation.
"I guess we really have no choice then. Come see us in Pallet Cafe when you're done, Kiyotaka. We'll save a seat for you."
Reluctantly, Kei led everyone out of the classroom to have lunch. Kiyotaka then turned to Horikita who he saw mumbling something quietly in either astonishment or disgust.
"I'll be on my way there then. It's the student council room, right?"
"Yes. I'll report that to Yagami-kun."
"If you're exchanging contact information at the student council, wouldn't it be faster if the student council president Nagumo contacted you directly without going through Yagami?"
"The only person who exchanged contact information on the chat app in the student council is Yagami-kun because Yagami-kun requested it directly."
It sounded weird for a student council to not exchange contact information with its members. If there was ever a situation where each member needed to contact the other member, it would make sense to contact them directly if they had shared that information. However, it seemed that couldn't be done here. However, that wasn't Kiyotaka's problem so he didn't think too much of it.
He left the classroom with Horikita in tow. But when they got to the hallway, the two parted ways but not without Horikita adding: "I don't know what kind of reason you have, but I recommend that you try not to make him angry as much as possible."
As he walked through the school's hallways, Kiyotaka went back to his thoughts. For some reason, this reminded him of back when his father would randomly call him in the middle of his White Room curriculum activities. Before his change, he would usually be hanging out with Suzuki Shizuku, Ryuugo Tatsuya and Tousaka Haruno either playing a game of children's tag or reading some books they managed to snag from the White Room's library.
Every time he would be called by his father, the two would cause a dark atmosphere that his father's attendant would always dejectedly point out. He knew the exact same atmosphere wouldn't happen with him and Nagumo, but Kiyotaka couldn't help but wonder if something similar might happen.
A couple minutes later, Kiyotaka arrived in front of the student council room and knocked softly on the door. Soon after, the voice of Nagumo saying "come in" was heard from inside and Kiyotaka turned the door knob, opened the door and entered giving an "excuse me" before doing so. As he looked around, as expected, there was no other figure inside the student council room except for Nagumo Miyabi himself.
"Yo, Ayanokouji. Have you noticed any changes in your life lately?" Nagumo asked with a smirk as Kiyotaka stood near the front desk.
"Nothing in particular has changed... or I'd like to say so, but well, I do have some issues here and there."
Constant stares on Kiyotaka were nothing new to him. Being the "masterpiece" of the White Room, he was prone to constant stares from his peers and from people behind the glass. So the constant stares he was getting from the third years only felt like a fly just buzzing around his face and wouldn't go away.
Kiyotaka also intentionally didn't mention the information Nanase Tsubasa handed him about the revival of the "expel Ayanokouji Kiyotaka" special exam that should have ended already.
But when Kiyotaka mentioned the problems, he wasn't exactly talking about being the most famous junior who challenged and poked Nagumo to the upperclassmen. Rather, he was more talking about the instances that happened recently in his class. Of course, unless Nagumo actually went and investigated it, he wouldn't know about this.
"As the student council president, I can help you with those problems, you know?"
"It may just be a passing issue. I'll ask for your help when I'm really in trouble."
"Hmm hmm." Nagumo's smirk didn't waver as he continued staring at Kiyotaka. After the small pause, he spoke again. "I bet you've already heard about the rules of the sports festival, right? It's time for our direct confrontation, Ayanokouji. I want you to be your class's commander and fight me in the commander events."
[So this is why he called me here?] Kiyotaka thought as he raised his eyebrows at Nagumo's provocation.
"I don't want to waste my time on you too much, so I want to make sure we battle as soon as possible. If you manage to win against me in the commander events, I'll stop everything that I've been doing against you since the start of the year."
It seemed that Nagumo was quite confident that he would win. Being the student council president and a previous football club member, it would be safe to say he was fairly adept at winning against many top players in the school, even the previously elected student council president Horikita Manabu.
"Win against you in the commander events, huh?"
"You seem to think that is a simple task. Is it that easy for you?"
"Saying it's too easy would be a lie. However, I do have confidence in myself to think that I won't exactly lose."
At this point, it wouldn't make sense anymore to just hide his abilities and confidence. It was too late to continue playing like an idiot. Nagumo right now was an enemy he did not want to deal with, especially with his father on the horizon, the second White Room student and, of course, Kushida.
"I see. Haha. I look forward to our battle then. I'll use a bit of influence to ensure your class nominates you as the commander. After all, they'll just nominate Suzune since she's your leader."
"There will be no need for that Nagumo-senpai. I have already been chosen as Class B's commander by our very own class."
Nagumo was surprised for a moment, but his smirk soon returned back to his face and he laughed again.
"If that is all Senpai, may I be excused here?"
"Don't be so hasty. Or do you have plans after this? Since I called you, you didn't make any promises to be anywhere, did you?"
"Well..." Kiyotaka paused for a moment. He didn't want to just say he had a meeting with his girlfriend, especially after what Nagumo said on the cruise ship when he crashed Kiyotaka's meeting with Ichinose.
"You should introduce me to your girlfriend sometime. I'd like to see her face at least once."
While quite innocent words to say to someone, with the way Nagumo was acting that day, it was an obvious cheap provocation to say that he would target Kei if he needed to. Kiyotaka remembered how dark his eyes went after he was left alone from that meeting, but that wasn't important right now to remember.
The important fact was Kiyotaka wanted to protect Kei as much as possible. Giving Nagumo any information that he doesn't already have, such as how much he hangs out with Kei or how much he loves her would be a devastating blow against him in the future. He decided to just keep quiet on meeting up with Kei and the rest of the KiyoKei Group.
"I don't exactly have any plans."
"Aha, that's a relief to hear."
Nagumo was talking while occasionally checking something on his phone. He had no intention of releasing Kiyotaka yet, but Kiyotaka couldn't help but wonder what Nagumo was doing on his phone.
"Excuse me."
From the other side of the door, a sweet voice was heard. The last time Kiyotaka heard this voice was just last week. The opened door revealed a pink haired girl known as Ichinose Honami. She was carrying a plastic bag in her hand.
"Sorry for the wait, Nagumo-senpai."
"Ah, don't even worry about it. I'm sorry I couldn't come with you to buy lunch today."
"Don't worry about that... Oh Ayanokouji-kun. I didn't know you were having lunch with us today."
Ichinose glanced at Kiyotaka, who was comparatively standing next to Nagumo, and, unexpectedly to Nagumo, she gave a warm smile to Kiyotaka.
"Lunch?"
"Oh. Nagumo-senpai and I have been having lunch almost every day in the student council room." Ichinose explained to Kiyotaka, who was a little confused about the lunch part, with her smile still present.
"Ah- ...Well I've been keeping my right-hand man busy." Nagumo stuttered a little bit, but recovered quickly and sent a wink to Ichinose.
From what Kiyotaka could understand at this moment, Nagumo's plan was to show Kiyotaka that the rift between him and Ichinose, which Nagumo had caused, had allowed Nagumo and Ichinose to get closer. Nagumo wanted to show off that relationship and show Kiyotaka that now that he had broken off his and Ichinose's relationship, he would use his own to take control of Ichinose.
However, what Nagumo didn't expect was for Kiyotaka and Ichinose to fix their breaking relationship. The two were not exactly back to the old relationship they had, but it was close enough to the point where it seemed that Ichinose seemed to enjoy his company. Seeing that he couldn't make use of that, Nagumo looked a little annoyed but he kept that to himself.
"Nagumo-senpai said we had a visitor today. Ayanokouji-kun, since you're here, are you going to join us for lunch?"
Ichinose appeared to be carrying three lunch boxes in the bag in her hand, at least from what Kiyotaka could see when he grabbed a small peek. He needed to meet up with Kei and the rest soon, but if it was for a short conversation during lunchtime, it wouldn't be problematic for him to stay here. Nagumo's plan had already been foiled the moment his very own "weapon" entered the student council room.
Plus, with how Ichinose was currently, it was probably best that he accepted the invitation to stay and have lunch with her and Nagumo.
"If you're alright with having me for a bit. Please excuse me."
Kiyotaka reluctantly took a seat at the meeting table. Ichinose sat opposite him while Nagumo took the presidential seat. Ichinose began handing out the lunchboxes. Opening the lunchbox, Kiyotaka found a healthy Tonkatsu Bento Box seemingly prepared by the supermarket. It consisted of pork tonkatsu, potato salad mixed with ham for freshness, tomato and cucumber slices, lettuce and rice combined with black sesame seeds.
"Itadakimasu," they all said before digging in.
"The rules are very different from last year. You've heard about them now too, right Ayanokouji-kun?"
Ichinose started up a conversation as Kiyotaka and, surprisingly to her, Nagumo were a bit silent.
"Yes. The new rules seem to make this year's sports festival both more engaging and more intense. It seems Senpai has done a good job in pushing for the school to adopt a new sports festival."
"I'm glad and rather grateful that they accepted my idea. If we had held the sports festival with the exact same rules as last year, my win would have been too easy."
The three of them conversed while eating. Despite taking moments to talk with Ichinose and Nagumo, Kiyotaka was far ahead with his bento box. As he was getting close to finishing, he felt his phone vibrate, indicating he just received a message. It was most likely Kei asking if he was still on his way.
As Kiyotaka finished the last part of his bento box, he looked at Ichinose and Nagumo only to see they were just getting to three quarters of their bento box.
"I apologise, but something just came up and I need to get going. Should I leave the lunchbox here?" Kiyotaka said as he stood up from his seat.
"Oh? You seem like a busy man, Ayanokouji. Well either way, you can just leave the box there. Honami and I will deal with it."
Kiyotaka nodded at Nagumo's orders and left the lunchbox on the desk. As he made his way towards the exit, he gave a glance to Ichinose and she smiled back at him.
"I wish you could've stayed a little longer Ayanokouji-kun, but if you're busy then I can't really do anything about it. We should have lunch again some time," she said.
Kiyotaka only barely saw Nagumo grip the table a bit, probably a little annoyed that his plan to control Ichinose failed yet again.
"I don't mind doing this again. Excuse me."
With that said, Kiyotaka left the room, giving a wave as he did, and closed the door behind him. However, before he closed the door, he saw another third year student who gave him an "interesting" look before passing him and entering the room.
Kiyotaka couldn't help but wonder what that look was all about. It wasn't like all the stares all the other third year students gave him whenever he just existed in their presence. For some reason, Kiyotaka couldn't help but feel that the student's look felt like they were calling out to him.
[Perhaps I'm thinking about this too much.] He thought.
As he began walking towards the entrance of the school to head to Pallet Cafe, Kiyotaka went back to his thoughts. His relationship with Ichinose was now better, but it seemed that Ichinose was hanging around Nagumo a lot more now.
Will becoming a part of Nagumo lead to the growth of Ichinose Honami? This question kept coming up in his head. Back in first year, Kiyotaka prevented Nagumo from taking control of Ichinose during the class vote exam. That was the best option available to her, better than becoming the romantic partner of Nagumo just so she could save her class.
But now, he wasn't sure if sticking around Nagumo was such a bad idea after all. Even if Nagumo was absolutely obsessed with Ichinose, if it led to her growth, then it may not be a problem.
"I'm thinking about it too much..."
Ichinose was the only one who could come up with the answer. Right now, her relationship with both Nagumo and Kiyotaka were good. Whether she would seek help from either of the two, or grow by herself, only she would be able to figure out what her future held.
[But I do need to think about what she could do with the student council... Perhaps...]
Kiyotaka continued on his way to Pallet Cafe. He didn't need to think about that now. Right now, his focus needed to be on what he would do for the sports festival. With an upcoming battle with Nagumo, he needed to prepare himself for what the Commander Events would hold.
.
.
.
Part 5
"A room for three please. Oh! Can we get some nachos and chicken strips with some dips to go with our booth? And a menu in case we want to order some other foods! That would make the experience for us much better! Thank you."
At around 8pm in the evening, Kiyotaka, Kei and Hirata found themselves inside the karaoke bar building. They were not in the school uniforms, rather wearing casual clothes.
Last week before the unanimous vote special exam, the three of them got together in Kiyotaka's room to discuss something related to the special exam. Before they got to that discussion, the three agreed that they would all go out and have fun between the three of them more often. Today just happened to be one of those nights.
"Karuizawa-san seems really energetic right now."
Inside the karaoke building, Kei was currently at the front desk reserving a room and getting food ordered while the two boys stood to the side and waited for her. As they watched her talk with the assistant at the desk, they couldn't help but see Kei as a little girl in a candy store or a puppy excited to be going for her walk.
"I guess she really wants the three of us to have a good time together."
"Perhaps so."
Hirata chuckled a little bit, causing Kiyotaka to wonder why. However, he didn't have time to do so as Kei returned back from the front desk.
"Alright. We got karaoke room 5 reserved for the next hour and a half. Let's have some fun!"
Kei pulled her boyfriend and ex-fake-boyfriend with her towards the karaoke room. Arriving at room 5, Kei let go of both boys' hands and opened the door.
All karaoke bars are different. Some were very simple, with just a plain room, sofa, monitor for displaying the lyrics, a tablet for inputting the song and microphone or two. Others went more all out with their rooms, making them darker and adding disco-like light effects to the room to add more of a party/disco ambience.
The room that the trio were entering was of the latter category. In addition to the mentioned features, this room also featured a disco dance floor, karaoke studio quality speaker system from DAIICHIKOSHO CO., and an optional camera to allow recording the karaoke singers if they felt ok with recording a video to save for themselves or to just take high quality photos during the karaoke.
Kiyotaka had never been to a karaoke bar before coming to Tokyo Metropolitan Advanced Nurturing High School. And ever since he came to this school, he had gone to the karaoke bar just a few times. However, those rooms never looked like this. When he took a look at Hirata's expression, Kiyotaka could see that Hirata was just as surprised as him. If he put two and two together, then that meant...
"Kei. Did you reserve the more expensive room for us tonight?"
Kei looked at her boyfriend with excitement.
"Of course! It's our first night between the three of us since that double date during christmas last year. We should make this night memorable, so I reserved one of the bestest rooms ever."
Ignoring that she used "bestest" as a word for the moment, Kiyotaka couldn't help but wonder if it really was Kei in front of him or if it was Mori Nene in disguise since this seemed like something she would do. But that didn't matter. Even if Kei reserved a very expensive room for their karaoke night, Kiyotaka didn't have anything against it. In fact, he kind of welcomed it. Hirata also seemed to think the same.
"Well I guess we should make the most out of this, right?" Hirata said with a smile.
The three sat down on the sofas and Kei immediately grabbed the tablet that was in front of her. She began operating it, scrolling through the endless amount of recommended songs they could sing.
"What should we sing? I want to go first but I dunno which one to pick. Oh! I'll do this one to get us in the mood!"
Kei tapped on Waiting for the Rain by Maaya Sakamoto. The karaoke system then registered her choice and beckoned her to get on the disco floor with the microphone to begin the session. As soon as she stepped on the disco floor and turned to face the boys with a smile, the music began playing. After the little introduction, Kei turned back to face the monitor and began singing in a soft, angel-dreamlike voice that made both Kiyotaka and Hirata freeze for a second.
"I'm waiting for the rain,
I'm bracing for the thunder,
A twig that wouldn't sway,
In the wind..."
Both boys knew Kei was a good singer, but they didn't expect her to have an extremely soft singing voice that made their heart beat harder than ever. This was different from the tone she used during the Talent Show. Hirata, who usually never felt this, was even prone to Kei's sweet singing voice.
"Awaken from a dream,
Arising from a slumber,
I'm far away from home
On my own."
As she finished the chorus, she turned around to face the boys to sing the bridge and the chorus.
"Hear my yearning,
See the crimson flame,
Like a ruby
It's the hope in my eyeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!"
The camera then turned on to record Kei from the chorus part, and noticing that, Kei put more effort into her swaying and singing as she got to the most important part of the song.
"If you go away!
And I don't see you anymore!
I still wouldn't sway!
But I'd be missing you!
Now don't be afraid!
You're the flower couldn't sting!
You can hide in my shade!
Or maybe I...
Could I be safe in yours "
It was noticeable to Kiyotaka that Kei was glancing at him while singing the chorus. He was completely entranced by her singing voice that he just only noticed the message behind the glances. This situation felt like a swan in a dreamlike shining pond.
"A moment left to bloom,
I wither by the morning,
Can we be staying here...
For a while?
Hear my yearning,
See my raging light,
It's my token that we won't...
Say goodbye."
Kei returned back to her softer angel-like tone as she moved onto verse 2. But it wasn't for long as she returned back to putting more power into her singing voice as the final chorus returned.
"If you go away!
And I don't see you anymore!
I still wouldn't sway!
But I'd be missing you!
Now don't be afraid!
You're the flower couldn't sting!
You can be in my shade!
Or maybe I...
Would go away!
And I don't see you anymore!
I still wouldn't sway!
But I'd be missing you!
Now don't be afraid!
We are lasting yet awhile!
I will give you a day!
Or maybe I...
Could I have one of yourssssss?"
As the final line of the song came into view, Kei lowered her body to the ground to add emphasis on the last part of the song. She crouched and softly sang the last part of the line.
"I'm waiting for the rain..."
The song finished and Kei took a moment before standing back up. Kiyotaka and Hirata both clapped their hands at her performance, causing her to smile both happily and embarrassingly.
"I knew you were always a great singer Kei, but that performance was amazing."
"Yeah. Karuizawa-san killed it there."
"Ah hahahaha. Thank you guys. But tonight isn't just about me. That was just to get us in the mood and warmed up. Let's do trio and duo songs together!"
For the next hour, the three of them partook in many karaoke songs, whether it as singles, duos or even trios. In the middle, they would have the nachoz, chicken strips and other food they managed to buy before getting back to singing.
"Whew. Let's take a small break before we do another one."
Being the one who sang a lot of the songs, Kei needed to catch her breath a bit. Kiyotaka and Hirata agreed with her so the three of them sat down on the sofa. The three of them relaxed a bit, sipping some of the drinks they bought. However...
"Since we're out here having fun and all, this may not be the best time to ask. But I feel if I don't say it now, it will be too late. Kiyotaka-kun, can I ask for some advice?"
Hirata collected the attention of the couple, aiming specifically for Kiyotaka. The target in question raised his eyebrows before replying.
"Is it about Mii-chan?"
In all honesty, Kiyotaka saw this conversation coming the moment the day started. It was only a matter of when Hirata would come out to him and ask for guidance that he wasn't sure about.
"Yes. Um... Well the matter kind of involves Kushida-san and Hasebe-san too. But it seems Hasebe-san is fine... for the moment I guess. Horikita-san seems to be handling Kushida-san on her own... So that just leaves Mii-chan... I'm unsure about what to do."
For someone who wanted the best for his classmates, being unable to do something probably as simple as bringing someone back to school reminded them of how powerless they could be. But the reality was Hirata was quite strong. Kiyotaka knew that well.
So having Hirata come to him for advice when he felt he couldn't be that strong was a problem. Kiyotaka mentioned this to him last week when they had a meeting for the unanimous vote special exam. It would be easy to just direct him to Horikita, but Kiyotaka knew just how stupid of an idea that was.
In this situation, he would need to help Hirata's growth a little bit more by offering his assistance. And so that's what he did.
"Going to convince Mii-chan as normal will not work as her case is just as special as the other two. Haruka's case took a lot of work and even then I wasn't sure if she would come back to school straight away. If you really want to bring Mii-chan back very fast, there is one method you can use, but I wouldn't recommend it if you're not 100% genuine."
"...And that would be?"
Hirata was expectedly a little afraid at hearing what this top option was. Kei, who was silently listening, had a narrowed expression too. It seemed she knew what Kiyotaka was about to propose.
"Like I said, I wouldn't recommend it if you're not 100% genuine. The method uses making dreams come true. In other words, Yousuke should go to Mii-chan's room and respond to her feelings the way she wants it. 'Actually Mii-chan. I like you too. I want you to go out with me.' Something like that."
"..."
Just as he predicted, Hirata was silent. Hirata had indicated to Kiyotaka how he didn't have someone he liked, not even Mii-chan or Kei, who he previously fake-dated for her protection. So to respond to her feelings without actually feeling the correct way was a dangerous tightrope to walk on.
"It is very similar to how we started... isn't it?" Kei said as she compared the proposal to their time in first year at the beginning.
"Indeed," Hirata muttered, but his expression did not brighten. "The reason why Karuizawa-san and I ostensibly agreed to go out is because neither of us had any romantic feelings in between. It's not the same as pretending to respond to Mii-chan's feelings and going out with her. I'll only hurt her deeply later."
"I don't mean to endorse the idea, but, you're right, it's not the same. We don't know at what stage Mii-chan fell in love with you, but we can't deny the existence of other students, including anyone else, who had romantic feelings for you right from the start of school. In other words, at the cost of protecting Kei from bullying by going out with her, there might have been girls who were hurt because they were indirectly rejected because of that lie."
"That's..."
"What if Mii-chan came crying and clinging to you right now and told you that she can't go to school anymore unless you go out with her? Would you be able to say no to her?"
Hirata choked at those words. It seems he couldn't make such a choice, something which Kiyotaka knew would be the case. But, if he was being honest with himself, not even he could make such a decision, considering how little experience he has with these situations.
"If you can't say no, there are two choices you can make. You can either tell her that you don't like her and go out with her, or you can lie and say that you liked her too and go out with her."
If true love can grow in the midst of all this, it can be brought to the best possible end.
"I still don't think that's what I should do." That was the answer he came up with.
Kiyotaka knew what his answer would be from the beginning, but he wanted to test Hirata again to see how he would react. Getting the answer he wanted, Kiyotaka stood up from the sofa for a moment, messed around with the tablet and then went to the disco floor where the karaoke would begin.
"Well it's not like that's the only option. Just like how there are many choices of songs to sing, there will always be more than one method to bring back Mii-chan. I happen to have an idea on how to bring her back, so you can just leave her with me. But I'll need to wait a little bit before I can use the plan."
As Kiyotaka went to pick up the microphone, Hirata smiled and muttered a "thank you". Kei also smiled, but then it turned into a smirk as she came to a realisation.
"Kiyotaka. You seemed to enjoy this karaoke session more than anyone. Are you really raring to go back and sing again already?"
"...That's not what this is..."
"Hehhhhhh..."
Kiyotaka cursed himself for trying to use this karaoke session as an example. Kei saw through him too easily. If he was being honest, he really was enjoying this karaoke session.
End of Chapter 1...