1.

Even though the uproar that was caused by Hirata and Kei is far from dying down, once again another case of love affair occurs in Cla.s.s C.

“Excuse me”

After school, students are heading for their club activities, or return to their dorms. This is where an unexpected person appears, all alone.

“Do you know if Yamauchi Haruki-kun is here?”

The students that were still remaining in the cla.s.sroom, all at once turned their eyes to face Yamauchi.

Yamauchi was probably planning to go back to the dorms and play some game with Ike, since he was just opening up a strategy book guide at that moment.

“Eh?…That’s me… Do you need something?”

Yamauchi likes to raise the tension wherever he looks at a cute girl, however, now he looks like he has lost his nerve.

Sakayanagi was the one that appeared, as the leader of the 1st year Cla.s.s A and asked for Yamauchi.

“Would you mind giving me some of your time?”

“Yes, of course, I am free….”

“… This isn’t quite the right place, I’ll be waiting you in the corridor, by the stairs.”

Perhaps the gazes of the other students made her feel uncomfortable, so she disappeared quickly heading out to the corridor, averting everyone’s stares.

Cla.s.s C was enveloped in silence, at once.

“No! No! No!… This can’t be happening!”

Ike who was standing close to Yamauchi was the one that broke this silence. If Sudou was here, then he would make a greater fuss, but he was already heading to basketball practice.

The other students, including Yamauchi himself, could not still comprehend the meaning behind this bold invitation.

Maybe he moved by instinct, but Yamauchi grabbed his bag

“Sorry…. I’ve got some business to attend to!”

“Y..Yeah…”

“Please, wait, Yamauchi”

“W..What is it, Horikita?”

Yamauchi was already rus.h.i.+ng out of cla.s.s as Horikita is already at the entrance blocking his exit.

“Maybe she is setting a trap against Cla.s.s C”

“What? Why would you think that?”

“I am saying this, because the very fact that you are being invited just like that, is really abnormal”

Even though Horikita says these words with a dignified look on her face, her words are just too straightforward, insulting, even.

It’s on a level where can make an ordinary man feel as an utter fool.

However, Yamauchi’s att.i.tude remained rather positive.

“b.u.mping into a transfer student with a toast in her mouth on a street corner and falling in love, instantly…..Have you ever heard of such a story?”.

“What? Toast?… Street corner?”

Seeing that Yamauchi did not want to understand what she was trying to say, Horikita wrinkled her brows frustrated.

To be honest, just by listening to Yamauchi’s remarks, you don’t have the faintest idea of what is going on. However, after seeing Yamauchi colliding with Sakayanagi back at the training camp I can tell that he’s talking about that incident.

“I have to go, Sakayanagi-chan is waiting for me”

Without even an attempt to listen to Horikita’s warning, Yamauchi walks off.

“What will you do if this is really a trap?”

“Whatever I am going to do, or even if I do nothing at all, it doesn’t matter, right now. I do not believe that this is trap”

Yamauchi does not even make an attempt to believe her.

“Certainly, I am the leather weapon of this cla.s.s. And I am ok with this. If this is really a trap, I will take care of it.”

I’d like to ask if there’s a concrete plan to figure out how to do it.

In all probability, he hasn’t got any clue.

“….Okay, I get it. If you say you’re going, then, I don’t have the right to stop you. Just don’t let yourself slip anything about the internal affairs of our cla.s.s.”

“Don’t worry about it. I know that fully well”

After saying that, Yamauchi gave a cheeky smile and left the cla.s.sroom.

A portion of students including Ike, hurriedly followed after Yamauchi.

“We should be going, too”

The one who said that was Haruka. Apparently, this was referring to Keisei and Airi, too, because the two of them are following after her. Since I did not have any reason to refuse either, I got up from my seat and left with them.

As soon as we get into the hallway, we find several of the guys, including Ike.

“Ah, stop stop. This way, this way!”.

Just as we were trying to pa.s.s by, the Professor (Hideo Sotomura) noticed us and is calling out to us.

“The two of them are talking over there, right now”

“Eh? What are you trying to say?”

Haruka whispered to herself after noticing that the Professor no longer uses the polite form of speech.

“It seems that he changed this habit of his during the training camp”

I offered my explanation regarding the Professor’s change in tone.

“How should I explain this? He lost his individuality. Not that I am interested, though”

Haruka quickly lost interest in the Professor and so we turned our attention to Yamauchi and Sakayanagi.

“Err, so what did you want to talk about..?”

Yamauchi spoke to her with a nervous expression.

Meanwhile Sakayanagi is acting a bit shy, as she is playing with her hair with her left hand.

If you want to read her behavior from a psychological point of view, you could say that she unconsciously wants to look attractive for a member of the opposite s.e.x she’s interested in.

“Could it be that Sakayanagi is truly interested in Haruki?”

Looking at the two of them, Ike murmured somewhat frustrated. Perhaps he read that unconsciously from Sakayanagi’s facial expressions and gestures.

However, in Sakayanagi’s case it is obvious that she created such an atmosphere deliberately.

But while a.n.a.lyzing the situation, calmly….

“No, no! This is nonsense! She is super cunning. I am sure she is not into Yamauchi at all”

Haruka spat that out with a sense of bitterness in her voice. This is what we could call a woman’s intuition.

“Yes, I think so, too”

Airi agreed with Haruka, maybe because she felt the same way too, after seeing all this.

“Men are really naive, how could he possibly fall for something like that? It is more than obvious that she is acting”

“…Is it really just an act?”

Keisei could not figure it out, just by looking at her. Well, I wouldn’t be able to understand clearly either, if I had not read between the lines….

“She is acting, absolutely”

Haruka said with certainty.

“Maybe she is trying to attain information on Cla.s.s C, just like Horikita said”

“But isn’t that way too obvious? There should be a better way to go about doing that. She would have a higher chance of succeeding if she made contact with Yamauchi in secret and she wouldn’t put us on guard either”.

“That’s right, but…”

It is just as Keisei says. If her intention here is to ensnare Yamauchi in a trap, there are plenty of other ways for her to make contact with him.

It’s not a good idea to take the trouble to make the whole Cla.s.s C aware of it, it’s only going to bring damage to herself. If this creates any problem, it will be concluded really quickly that Sakanagi is involved.

In that sense, like Keisei and Ike said, maybe she is really interested in Yamauchi after all…That would make more sense.

However with a bold and aggressive character like Sakayanagi, both are equally possible to happen.

“The truth is, I have been wanting to talk to you, Yamauchi-kun, for a while now”

“R… Really? Really… Like for real?”.

“I do not have such a free time as to go and lie about such a thing, you know?”

While we were doing our own a.n.a.lysis, here. A conversation had already been established between these two.

“I cannot relax here, why don’t we go somewhere, else?

“T..That’s right. Yeah, let’s do that, let’s do that”.

“Well, then. Please, accompany me for a while”

The two of them started walking side by side.

Yamauchi was trying to adapt to Sakayanagi’s slow pace.

It seems that he can be considerate, even if it is just a minimum amount.

The other students saw the two of them leaving together and as expected they considered that it would be difficult to pursue them any further.

2.

With the exception of Akito, who was absent due to his club activities, all the members of the Ayanokouji Group gathered at the cafe. Haruka was the one who broke the ice.

“What do you think the truth is behind that ridiculous farce between Yamauchi and Sakayanagi?”

“Can we really call it a farce though?”

Keisei boldly asked Haruka, once again.

“Well I mean… you know! Hey, Airi?”

“To me… well I think it’s got to be you know… that”

While Airi said this, her cheeks started to blush.

“Huh? Wasn’t that just a performance?”

“Well, her gestures looked like it was…..However, it is just like Keisei-kun says. Although she even paid a visit to Cla.s.s C openly, she may be plotting something bad”

“There it is. Look everyone! It’s a trick to make us think that way”

By showing up so boldly, she is trying to make us think that this is not a trap, since it is too simple. There is some truth to that, as well.

“How about you Kiyopon, Yukimu? Do you think they could really be in love?”

Now Haruka was the one boldly asking.

“I literally couldn’t care less about this, so don’t ask me”.

As if to nip this love story in the bud, Keisei refused to give an answer.

As such, Haruka and Airi turned their eyes to me.

“Yamauchi and Sakayanagi don’t have a lot in common, so it seems a bit sudden. Do you really think they’d be the types to just fall in love at first sight?”

“What a rational a.s.sessment, Kiyopon. I wanna say that love isn’t a methodical process, but if the other party is Hiratkun for example, then things might be different. Anyhow, Yamauchi-kun is not like that, either.

In the end, we couldn’t continue with the conversation with only the information we have at hand.

Eventually, the topic changed from Yamauchi and Sakayanagi’s romance to the situation in Cla.s.s C.

“Oh, speaking of Hirata…He broke up with Karuizawa, right?”

“That’s not a huge shock. I was wondering when they were gonna split”.

“Huh? S-seriously?”

“Though it makes sense at first glance that a commanding girl would go out with a commanding boy, I think it’s a little unbalanced. After all, I’d say Hirata likes a more quiet and beautiful type of girl”.

“I think Karuizawa is pretty cute…you don’t agree Kiyotaka?”

Airi asked me a question, which is really difficult to answer. Or rather, I should say she asked me because she wanted to hear my answer to that.

“Not quite sure. I’ve never really paid attention to Karuizawa after all”

Just off of that alone, Airi seem that isn’t sure what to think. But this is the only answer I can give her, now.

“Yeah, I suppose that’s true. Well, more than Karuizawa, the real problem is that Hirata’s a free man now”.

That Haruka, smooth as silk, moved the discussion back to Hirata.

“Hiratkun has got a lot of secret admirers in our cla.s.s alone, so anything could happen”.

“Whoa! Really?”

“Whaaat, you didn’t know? I know for a fact that Mii-chan for once, is smitten”.

“Oh…now that you mention it, she definitely does look towards Hirata’s way from time to time”.

“Right, right?”.

Keisei, having had enough of the lovey-dovey talk, took out his notebook.

“I’ll be studying now, if you don’t mind”.

“Oh right, year-end exams are coming up…that sure killed the mood”.

“I’m sure you guys have a lot of work to finish too, right Haruka?”

Haruka chuckled as she made a bow towards the table.

As for the year-end exams Miss Chabas.h.i.+ra didn’t give us any explanation in particular. In other words, it’s going to be a written exam as usual.

If a student gets a failing grade, they’ll be expelled immediately. That’s probably how it’ll be

“When will we begin our study meetings?”

“Let’s see… let’s begin as soon as our practise test is over, on the 15th. We will be studying at a normal pace. The exam’s in about 10 days. With how the questions have been recently, we should be ok as long as we stay focused”.

“That’s our Yukimu for ya. Everything, perfectly planned. We totally agree.”

Haruka seemed pleased with herself, maybe because she did not want to start studying right away.

“When the exams are over in March, it seems likely that the school’s final special exams will be waiting for us”.

“The special exams… Well then, looks like our first year is coming to an end”.

“There have been ups and downs, but overall, I think it went way too fast”.

Haruka and Airi reminisced on the past year.

“It’s too early to start getting nostalgic. There won’t be a next year if you two fail the year-end exam, and don’t get me started on the special exam…”

There goes Keisei, hitting them with cold hard reality. That’s probably what Haruka and Airi thought.

“Oh”.

While Keisei went right back to studying, Haruka noticed something.

As I followed her gaze, I saw Ichinose standing there.

She’s together with several boys and girls, all of them Cla.s.s B students.

It’s probably a casual gathering much like we are but from what I can see, their expressions are stiff.

It looks like a formation of a brotherhood trying to protect Ichinose from the defamation she’s receiving. However, Ichinose herself probably doesn’t desire a situation like this.

She’s acting the way she usually does, chatting with her friends and cheerfully calling out to people as she moves along. But if there’s something worrying about this, it would be the fact that there’s no sign of Kanzaki.

As he is Ichinose’s closest a.s.sociate I see them together quite often.

“Well, it has become a big problem right now, hasn’t it?”

Haruka looked at Ichinose coldly.

“…Strange rumors. That’s what it is. I don’t know who’s spreading them around but that’s awful……”

“It’s not that unusual, is it? This time it went too far but similar things happen from time to time. I guess that’s the burden that popular girls have to bear?”.

“You think so?”

Airi looked perplexed, as though she had no idea.

“If you, Airi were the aggressive type like Ichinose, don’t you think there would be people envious of you at a time like this?”

It could certainly be that way. However, it does not seem that Airi can even imagine herself as the aggressive type.

I tried to picture it myself, but I could not imagine it at all.

“Well, isn’t it best to not worry about it, at all?”.

Ichinose probably understand that fully well. Haruka said.

I continued to listen to Haruka and Airi’s conversation without saying anything.