Vol. 4: Chapter 23 - The Two of Us

Around half an hour before the final discussion...

I decided to come to the meeting room early after hanging out with Nishimura— or rather, Ryuuko. A bunch of things happened and now, we're on a first-name basis.

I spoke softly, on the phone while walking down the 2nd deck's hallway.

"It's fortunate that our group was structured the way it is. To Horikita-san, I must've been the only viable option."

"Did she give you guys a specific time?"

"No... She must've taken my connection with you into account. You can't really negotiate with the rest of us. It'd only raise more questions regarding your motives."

"You're right. Once Horikita sends the names, everyone will be eager to submit their answers. This calls for Plan B then."

"Yes, I'll try to stall our classmates for as long as I can by raising doubts about Horikita-san's answer. Besides, I think everyone would still prefer to know her explanations. You can contact the others while I'm at it."

And once Horikita's explanation convinces them, it'll only strengthen their trust in her in the future since she'll surely get the pattern right.

"Alright. I'll leave it to you, Matsushita."

"Of course. I'll be in contact with Kei-chan as well."

I've assigned Matsushita for recon but Karuizawa had a much bigger role. That said, I was good friends with both of them so I also know how close they were with each other. The sudden "Kei-chan" caught me off-guard.

"Kei-chan? When did you guys get so buddy-buddy with each other?"

"Ah, it was a recent thing— like, yesterday, to be exact. During the Rest Day, Kei-chan and I had the opportunity to hang out a lot, along with Chiyo-chan and Kayoko-chan."

Sonoda and Ishikura, huh? That's interesting. After all, they were both on the shy end of the spectrum.

Well, Sonoda was already in Matsushita's extended clique along with Ichihashi, Azuma, and Yokoyama, so it made sense for her to be there. However, Ishikura was in Kikyou's group. She was often intimidated by the presence of girls like Karuizawa, so this sudden development was quite strange.

"What's with that silence? It's nothing weird, you know? Kayoko-chan may not be as strong-willed as Maya or Satsuki, but she idolizes Kei-chan quite a bit."

Matsushita called me out. She knew exactly what I was thinking.

"Idolizes?"

"Kushida-san haven't told you anything yet? Apparently, when her group encountered Kei-chan's group yesterday, something amazing happened."

"And that is...?"

"Kei-chan apologized."

"Oh..."

"I was shocked as well. Anyway, Rino and the others didn't seem too surprised. It seems like Kei-chan had done the same with some girls in Class D."

"So it happened after Karuizawa apologized to the girls in Kikyou's group?"

"I've asked Kei-chan about what exactly happened. She said something about admitting her rude and passive-aggressive behavior for the past months."

"And by idolize, you mean Ishikura admired her straightforward and mature apology...?"

"Yeah, basically. After their groups made up— Well I don't know if you can call it making up since there wasn't any real conflict, to begin with. And it's not like their initial impression of Kei-chan would change that easily..."

Well, I guess that much is obvious.

In fact, Kikyou mentioned something about it, albeit vaguely. Knowing how much she dislikes girls like Karuizawa (or her outer personality, at least), I can understand why she didn't want to talk about what happened. That said, Kikyou would probably tell me about it if she decided to vent yesterday.

"Anyway, after that all went down, they hung out for a while before our own group joined up with them."

"That's a lot of Class B girls in one place."

So that's why Kikyou's mental energy was drained much faster than usual yesterday.

"Well, not really. Some of the girls tend to go somewhere as soon as new groups meet up and a ragtag group would remain. In the end, it was me, Kei-chan, Chiyo-chan, and Kayoko-chan who wound up hanging out until evening."

"And Ishikura ended up getting close to Karuizawa because of that."

"Same with me and Chiyo-chan. I didn't really have the best impression of Kei-chan before, but she turned out to be an okay girl. Hanging out with her is fun and it made sense why she commands respect to the girls in class."

It seems like Karuizawa is slowly shifting her image into something more convenient and easier to work with in the future.

"I see. As long as you guys get along, I guess."

"You're close with Kei-chan yourself. I'm sure she'll find the time to tell you and Hirata-kun about it," sighed Matsushita.

"I'm sure it'd be a long story."

"Things can be very volatile for high school girls, you know? A lot of things might change in such a short period of time. I'm sure someone like you, who prefers to live a slow life, could hardly relate."

"You're right, but I'm satisfied with my desired slow life."

"Fufun~, that's so you. Alright, I'll keep track of everything on my end. Good luck with whatever you're going to do, Ayanokouji-kun."

"Thanks."

And with that, I ended my call with Matsushita. I didn't tell her anything specific, but I'm glad she cooperated.

I initially assumed that no one would be inside the Dragon Group's room, but my expectations were dashed by someone's presence...

"It seems like someone has claimed the place first..." I muttered out loud.

Ichinose Honami's sleeping figure drew me in like a moth to a flame. She was comfortably taking a nap on the floor.

I would be lying if I said that I felt completely calm as I approached her. My eyes wandered around her body— her pretty face that I never got used to, the glistening white skin of her thighs, the protruding shape of her chest, along her extremely feminine figure...

Any normal guy would be filled with unnecessary thoughts right now, and I wasn't arrogant enough to say that I'm an exception.

It's Ichinose Honami. No one can be an exception.

Her current position is extremely problematic. If I try to find the right angle, I can certainly take a peek at what's beyond what I can see right now. The same would happen with anyone who enters the room later on.

For now, I have to repress my adolescent hormones to keep myself in check. Ichinose is a close friend of mine. I don't wanna be branded as a pervert, especially in this situation when she's on the other side. I may be a growing boy with desires, but I still have the brain to think clearly.

"Mm... Mn..."

Ichinose's body shook lightly as I drew nearer. She muttered something unintelligible but it didn't seem like I woke her up.

This is quite bad. Should Ichinose move in the wrong direction, she would expose things that mustn't be exposed.

I saw her phone lying beside her sleeping figure. As her enemy, this should be the perfect time to scout out some information. However, there wasn't a need for me to do anything— not anymore.

"I'm not doing anything bad. There's nothing to feel guilty about," I thought to myself.

I stopped a few inches next to Ichinose. I sat to her south with my back facing her body. That should be enough for now.

10 minutes passed and some cute-sounding music played throughout the room. I turned around and saw that it came from Ichinose's phone.

"Mmm..." Ichinose's eyes were still closed as she grabbed her phone to stop the music. Apparently, that was her alarm.

Ichinose looked at me while blinking a bunch of times. She glanced at the door, then at the place where she slept, and then to the place where I sat. After cocking her head in thought, Ichinose smiled warmly before greeting me.

"Yawn... It's good to see you, Ayanokouji-kun. Did my alarm startle you?" Her sweet, slightly softer voice rang inside my ears.

"Oh, no. It seems like you slept well."

Ichinose stood up and sat against the wall. She patted the space on the right, inviting me to sit beside her.

"Ahaha, sorry about that. I just passed out and slept like a log. You're pretty early, though. Don't we have twenty minutes before the group discussion?"

"I came here ten minutes ago, but I think I should be the one asking you that question," I replied, taking my seat on the floor.

"Ahh, I got here about an hour ago, I think. I just wanted some peace and quiet. Since my friends keep coming in and out of my room, it's kinda noisy."

Ichinose leaned her head against her knees as she turned to me. A charming smile appeared on her face.

"You're the same, right?" she asked.

"Yeah, as per usual." I relaxed my back against the wall while looking up slightly.

"It's always been like this... for the two of us," Ichinose muttered with a sigh.

For the two of us, huh?

That's true. I was always approached by a lot of my classmates, but because of my upbringing, I'm not too used to people casually showering me with friendly attention. That said, even a social elite like Ichinose gets tired of interacting with her friends. No one is immune to that feeling.

Even at school, the two of us often wound up together whenever we wanted to spend some time alone. One coincidence after another led to us becoming closer friends.

Silence conquered the room.

Ichinose and I spent a lot of time together— around the railings by the boulevard, in some obscure shop at Keyaki Mall, at the special building, the unused rooms on the main building's third floor— just the two of us. The atmosphere was always like this. We didn't talk much because we were tired of talking. We just wanted to rest and recover our energy.

"By the way, Ayanokouji-kun..." Ichinose finally broke the silence after a short while.

"What's up?"

"Do you remember what happened back on the island? You know, when we had that conversation about confessions and stuff?"

"When you told me about Shiranami?"

"Yes, and when you told me about Inogashira-san. Yes, yes, that time," Ichinose nodded rapidly.

"What about it?"

Ichinose faced me with a passionate look on her face.

"When you asked me if anyone has ever confessed to me, I answered in a panic and accidentally told you a lie." I found her guilty expression to be very cute. She really felt bad about that, huh?

"A lie?"

"Y-Yeah..." Ichinose lightly scratched her cheek with a finger. "After remembering some stuff, I think three boys confessed to me before... Those were back in middle school. Well, four if I count that one time in elementary school..."

"And five if you include Shiranami's confession." I continued her words.

"I think so...?"

"I see... So that's it? Well, even if you didn't tell me the truth now, it's not like it matters much. I won't really feel bad if you wanted to keep that information to yourself, you know?" I shrugged.

"But... you're a close friend of mine. I really felt like I needed to tell you the truth."

You're too honest— honest to a fault.

"Well... You've done what you needed to do now, so stop making that awkward face."

Ichinose reflexively touched her cheeks with a confused look. She stared at me before letting out a chuckle.

"You really don't smile, huh?"

In this friendly conversation, a smile would've been perfectly natural. It was certainly strange for me to not do so. But even though she says that, Ichinose knew me well enough to know that I don't dislike our little chat.

"I'm smiling on the inside."

"It's not bad to show it on the outside too, you know?"

We started bantering for a while before finally talking about some other stuff.

"Rising to Class A, huh? I guess it's only a matter of time for your class."

"Who knows?"

I remember that time when she, the leader of Class C, asked me about these matters for the first time.

"You're Class B's leader, so I'll assume that you want to reach Class A."

"Of course, I do. The benefits are too good."

"Yes. I've asked the same thing to most of my classmates. We're all going to work our hardest to do the same. '99% college and job placement', huh? After that whole spiel with class points and class rankings, I can't bring myself to fully trust the school's system anymore. Surely, there's a catch."

It's obvious that limitations were etched into that sweet promise. Let's say that a student who graduated from Class A wanted to be a professional baseball player. How would the school go about doing that if he doesn't know anything about the sport?

In this day and age, becoming a professional is no joke, and for athletes, one shouldn't just be a professional to have a consistent career. They must reach and stay at the top of the rankings, too. The statistics are very unclear despite their surface-level clarity.

"But this school has a lot of influence, though. You can certainly make a career with the help of that influence."

"Oh, yes, I know that. I also wanted to graduate in Class A. I have my own dream— a dream that I want to make real," she answered.

Ichinose chuckled. Both of us were probably reminiscing about the same thing.

"It hasn't even been that long, but I'm already feeling nostalgic," she said. "I miss hanging out at that place. The view of the sea felt really nice. Let's go there again sometime."

"Sure," I replied.

After a brief moment of silence, Ichinose smiled bitterly and spoke out.

"Only one of us can win at the very end, huh?"

"It's the fate of being in different classes. Even if we don't consider ourselves as enemies, we're still rivals at the end of the day."

"Yes, I can understand that..." Ichinose submitted her back to the wall and sighed.

I was about to mimic her relaxed posture, but my phone suddenly vibrated.

(19:53) [She figured it out.]

(19:53) [She sent the names to us already.]

After seeing the message, I tapped the name of another person on my phone and faced Ichinose.

"Ichinose—"

This exam will finally meet its end... and so will other things.