Conflict

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"Welcome back Kauyza-kun!" Kurumi whose smile was like the sun to the boys of class 5-B called out to Kazuya who seemed to have garnered a bit of enmity.

Kazuya was not a stranger to this because this was what the past Kurumi caused him to experience during his time in middle school in his past life. It was fortunate that not every boy from the class realized that they were getting attracted to this weird and troublesome girl but that was the least of his concerns at this moment.

"…" Tomoyo had released her presence unconsciously which made Kazuya feel a slight chill. It was rare for this girl to show any emotion, much less hostility.

He could understand her being frustrated because he too had grown used to this girl sitting on his right side. He would have this quiet robot girl side beside him rather than this seemingly nosy and talkative girl who would only disrupt his learning.

As Kazuya thought of a solution, Tomoyo wasted no time and moved towards her seat. She stopped right beside Kurumi and stared at her while waiting for her to move.

"Hmm?" Kurumi tilted her head looking a bit puzzled. Maron on standby and was ready to move if ever there was a need to. "Siroyuki Tomoyo-san right? I'm pleased to meet you, my name is—"

"Move" a soft but mesmerizing voice suddenly silenced those who were whispering around. Everyone couldn't believe what they had just heard and turned to look towards the pony-tailed girl who they had never heard speak before.

"(This is a bit interesting)" Kazuya who was about to step in stopped. He did not expect Tomoyo to speak at a time like this.

"Huh?" Kurumi was confused at the atmosphere including everyone's reactions. One moment, the people all seemed to pay no mind to where she was sitting but the moment this girl spoke, it seemed like they were all expecting her to transfer as if it were the natural thing.

From what Kazuya knew, these two never really had anything to do with each other in his previous life. They were like two sides of the same coin. Kurumi was like a sunflower whose personality was bright and radiated with a smile while Tomoyo was a moonflower who remined quiet, elegant and bloomed only when the presence of moonlight.

Their paths crossed in this lifetime which could only be said that with their personalities, it was quite a surprising turn of events. The only similarity they both had in their past lives were their connection to Kazuya who was the one observing by the side this time.

"My seat…" this confirmed to all those who were still skeptical about whether they heard anything or not. All of them assumed that Tomoyo was as she was called, a robot girl who didn't have the ability to speak. They did not realize that this robot had been experiencing an upgrade after she met and hung out with Kazuya.

"Oh… I finally get it but… didn't you know that this pin gives us the right to sit anywhere?" Kurumi didn't plan on giving the only seat that was next to Kazuya away. Although she did hear Tomoyo, from the reports she received, Tomoyo had been said to be a quiet girl aside from her beautiful voice, Kurumi thought that this was not a big deal.

"…" Tomoyo heard it but remained unmoved. The coldness around her began to expand as both of them had no intentions of yielding.

"Not necessarily" Takaya wanted to break the tension. "A person from S class only has the priviledge to ask for a seat they want to occupy whenever they choose a class to attend. The real occupants do have the right to refuse" he explained. He has been a member of the class for years so he was already very familiar with the rules.

"This…" Kurumi was a little surprised. Takaya helped her out earlier and didn't expect him to favor Tomoyo over her, she felt a little embarrassed.

"Alright everyo… huh?" Miyamoto entered the room and immediately felt tension in the room. It came from an unexpected source as there never had been an incident with Tomoyo but he immediately realized what was going on as soon as he saw the girl sitting in her seat.

"G-good afternoon sensei. I'm a newly transferred student and wanted to attend class here but…" Kurumi greeted Miyamoto who just arrived awkwardly and glanced towards Tomoyo who was still waiting for her to move out of the way.

"Ah the new S class students. The teachers have already received a notice about it" Myamoto acknowledged their presence. "You are free to attend this class id you want but please do not forget to follow the rules"

Kurumi and Maron were speechless. They both didn't expect that even the teacher would be on Tomoyo's side. They heard about how things worked at the school and it had been accurate, there had been no incident where a student from S class did not get what they wanted because the students had been tactful enough to let them have their way.

"Y-yes…" She turned away and instead sat down gloomily in the empty seat in front of Kazuya's. This left Takaya with no choice but to move to the seat beside Tomoyo. She tried taking a glance at Kazuya who moved to take his seat after their teacher had arrived but what she saw shattered her fantasies of the events that should have happened today.

*pat pat*

Kazuya patted the head of the girl sitting beside him as if praising her for successfully making Kurumi vacate the seat beside his. She felt envious of this and felt even gloomier because she was supposed to be in Tomoyo's position.

Maron who was also watching from behind them couldn't help but frown. This scene reminded her of the past where three of them hanged out together. Even though he lost his past memories, his old habits were still present but they were directed towards a new person. She felt that he was being too insensitive and if they weren't in class, she would have already tried to teach him a lesson.

Kazuya on the other hand didn't mind the two's gazes. He was feeling quite good because of the unexpected actions of this robot girl. She let out her voice in a manner that could be heard by various people. It was an achievement that came out of the blue yet it was an achievement nonetheless.

Miyamoto looked at the situation and couldn't help but shake his head with a sympathetic smile over Kazuya. This student of his has learned a lot for the past two years and given gave him a bunch of scenarios. However, those didn't include this kind of situation and he focused more on telling him about dealing with a single woman. He didn't think that he would have to experience this at this age.

"(Sorry Kouzuki-kun. I thought you didn't even need to think about this kind of thing this early)" he felt a little apologetic because these children are going to be in conflict while the person causing it will most likely deal with it in the wrong way.

Though Miyamoto who proclaimed himself as Kazuya's teacher when it came to women held on to a bit of hope. His student has changed through the years and he was not as nervous when dealing with the Kazuya anymore. He was more approachable than he was and although he still talked like someone who was older than he was at times, he had been growing to be more sensitive towards what he should say in a situation.

Classes went through as intended in the afternoon. Kazuya spent most of his time reading different kinds of books as always and Tomoyo sat silently beside him and listened to the class. It was only after the final chime had rung that there was another change.

*grab*

Tomoyo grabbed Kazuya's hand immediately after the signal to class sounded. Kurumi who was still feeling gloomy breathed in deeply only to turn around to a scene where Kazuya left the room while holding hands with girl who had been getting in the way of their reunion from the beginning.

Kazuya didn't mind getting pulled along because he had already gotten used to this. Tomoyo would do this whenever there were people trying to invite them over to their clubs. This would let him not deal with Kurumi at the moment so he did not object to the robot girl's actions.

"Are you going with me to the Karate club?" he asked her after they slowed down and he was set free.

*shake shake*

The Karate club and Kendo club were very close to each other so Tomoyo did not find a reason to do so. Her grandfather also taught her martial arts and she was not Kazuya who tried everything that interested him so she passed this time.

Back in the classroom, a conversation had been taking place. Takaya was unsuccessful in following the two and was stopped by Maron who targeted him in the first place. What they now want was information that came directly from someone who was involved.

"I say, I'm finding it more and more understandable that Kouzuki has no problem avoiding dealing with the two of you" Takaya spoke as he was starting to get annoyed.

"Maron-chan…" Kurumi tried to convince her cousin to stop after seeing the annoyance on Takaya's face.

"What are those two to each other?" Maron ignored both what they said and focused on getting what she needed.

"Is this how you two show gratitude? I really should have just minded my own business back then" Takaya shook his head and showed that he was not intimidated by Maron.

"You…" Maron remembered what he did and felt a little guilty. She knew that she was indeed in the wrong.

"I would have answered your question if you had done so in a proper manner" Takaya turned to Kurumi who felt ashamed of her cousin's actions. "So I will refrain from answering anything until both of you learn how to do things the 'right' way" Takaya moved past Maron who was trying to hold back this time.

"One piece of advice… both of you better not think that his place is like your old school. You may be part of an influential family but there are no shortages of them here. Your parents cannot protect or save you from the rules of the school"

Takaya had not lied. Sacred Forest Academy had a record of not caring whether one was influential or not. If there were rules that were broken, there would be no exceptions if it were proven. This system may not be perfect but it gave those who were not as influential a sort of protection against those who were born with privileges.

"Sorry Ku-chan… I acted impulsively" Maron apologized after Takaya had left the room.

"I understand. Transferring here needs some adjusting to. I was a little surprised myself so I think we need to think about a lot of things after today"

"Yeah…" Maron agreed. Nothing that both of them wanted had gone as planned. "I still need to drop by the basketball club. What about you?"

""I…" Kurumi remembered what happened earlier and was a little afraid that some of the students that wanted to get close to her would come. "I'll come with you and watch" this was what she had done in the past so she only felt that it was natural to do so. Both of them planned to ask Kazuya to try basketball and see if it would trigger some memories but they failed before they could ask.

The two of them headed for the gymnasium where the basketball club was. Maron's presence alerted those who were members of the team while Kurumi's attention was drawn towards the wooden plaque across the gym's entrance.

[Karate Club]

She looked around and noticed that there were hardly any people who weren't involved in clubs remaining so she quietly went to peek at the club. An amazing scene immediately showed itself as there were various students laying on the ground.

*BAM*

"T-thank you for showing mercy" the boy who invited Kazuya to their club stood from the floor and tried to shake his hand despite the pain he was feeling.

"Mercy?" Kazuya felt a bit puzzled.

"For only using Karate moves. I know that you are versed with other forms of martial arts as well"

"So it's that… You don't need to thank me, it wouldn't be fair if I was the only one who benefitted after you welcomed me to your club" Kazuya smiled at the boy for noticing this. He felt that what he had been doing would go unnoticed but this boy was rather observant to have caught on.

Kazuya felt a gaze on him and glanced towards the direction to see Kurumi who tried to hide. She tried to calm herself but in doing so, she failed to notice her blond hair that could be seen from Kazuya's direction.

"Do you need something from me Stockton-san?" Kazuya was already done with practicing with the members. He wanted to talk to the instructor and ask him for some more insight but this girl had started her habit of following him around again.

"(Looks like she was better at this in middle school)" he was the only person who could have made such a comparison so he let out a dry laugh before looking at the shy girl and comparing her to the cryptic version of herself who pretended to be interested in his amnesia instead.

"T-thank you for helping me earlier with Aoki-kun" She bowed down politely and tried to hide her face. She wasn't expecting to be noticed so she had no idea what to do or talk about.

"I really got busted as expected huh… Well I did owe it to you from my mistake last time so that should make us even" he didn't beat around the bush. He really didn't understand much about this Kurumi or the Kurumi from his past life. The only thing that he was able to confirm about them so far was that she was his friend before he lost his memories.

When Kurumi heard that, she was a little happier. She never thought that Kazuya would still think about the experience they shared and would want to forget it but he saved her after feeling guilty about her getting hurt. This gave her a little warmth that Kazuya was not intending to give.

"(Girls are so weird…)" he thought. Rather than understanding that he was only paying a debt and was not really saving her, she taken his words in a manner he couldn't predict.

"M-Maron-chan and I also didn't expect to make such a scene earlier so I would like to apologize about that as well. Maron-chan told me how you rejected her offer to go to the basketball club but she's not very good at explaining things" Kurumi tried to explain.

"Why the basketball club?" he didn't think that there was a purpose.

"We thought that m-maybe you can recover some of your memories after playing a bit. Y-you really liked to play so maybe…" Kurumi stopped as Kazuya's smile faded and turned into a clear frown.

"I see… It's really a pity" Kazuya shook his head. "Looks like your father's efforts of asking for a condition had gone to waste" Kazuya stopped shaking his head and looked directly into Kurumi's eyes.

"Sorry Stockton Kurumi-san, we may not be meant to get along after all"

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