Chapter 56

The next day.

Syl was having lunch with Horikita and Ayanokoji.

"Suzune! Are you enjoying our vacation?" Ryuuen casually strolled up.

Syl ignored him. [Yo Albert! What's up?]

Albert walked away from Ryuuen and over to Syl.

[Thanks.] He said as he pointed at his feet.

Syl nodded. [No problem! Do they fit?]

Albert nodded.

Syl chuckled. [Have you checked out the gym here?]

[Yeah, it's great, though the machines don't go very high…]

Syl sighed, [I know right? Like who maxes a squat at 200?]

Albert nodded sadly.

Ryuuen started trying to antagonize Horikita and get her to fight him… If only he knew how boring that would be for him right now. He would win so easily!

Syl ignored them and continued talking to Albert. [What about that girl?]

Albert looked away kind of shyly. [I don't know yet… I think she might be scared of me.]

Syl waved him off. [Who would be scared of such a nice guy? Want me to talk to her for you?]

Albert shook his head. [No. You might steal her.]

Syl was shocked. [What? Me? You think I'd do that to you?]

Albert shook his head. [You wouldn't try to, but she might just like you anyway. Do you really not know how popular you are?]

Syl tilted his head. [Not really, I mean, I like to think I look good, but I don't really know.]

[A lot of girls like you, I even heard some girls in my class talking about you yesterday.]

Syl pointed at himself. [Me?]

Albert nodded. [You always got a lot of attention, but after the island test, you started to look different. You got better looking, a bunch of people are talking about that.]

Syl chuckled. [Really? I had no clue people noticed.]

Albert nodded. [They said your #1 in the school now, even better than Nagumo.]

Syl laughed. [HAHAHA! That's great! That guy never deserved first place!]

Albert shrugged. [I don't know what your problem with him is.]

Syl smiled. [I don't really have a problem with him, he just has a punchable face. And he's easy to hate. Honestly, I kinda like his ideas about individuality.]

[Really? I like the current student council president's way of doing things.] Albert replied simply.

Syl shrugged. [I don't mind it, but I do think it's kinda dumb that you can get stuck in a shit class and be unable to move up.]

Albert nodded. [I guess.]

At this point Ryuuen called over. "Albert, we're leaving."

Albert looked sad. [Sorry, gotta go.]

Syl chuckled. [No problem… wait, take these!]

Syl gave him a pair of night vision sunglasses that looked just like the sunglasses he was already wearing.

[What are these?]

[New tech! Sunglasses you can wear at night! They help you see in the dark! I wear them all the time!]

Albert put them on. [Thanks.]

He and Ryuuen walked off together.

"Love that guy!" Syl said happily to Horikita and Ayanokoji.

The two ignored him and continued talking.

The next day.

Syl was out at night when he happened upon three unusual people.

Hirata, Kei and Ayanokoji.

He watched as Kei stormed off, clearly upset.

Syl shrugged and walked away.

The next day.

Syl was sitting on the floor next to the door for the boiler room.

The door swung open providing Syl with perfect cover from the people leaving.

He stayed seated and started drawing on the floor with his finger, listening to the conversation happening inside.

After a short while he heard Kei being threatened.

"If you don't listen to me, I'll tell everyone about your past."

Kei sniffled. "Don't… please."

"You just have to listen to what I say."

"What do you want? My body?"

Ayanokoji didn't respond.

Kei was silent for a moment. "No. I won't listen."

"What?" Ayanokoij asked.

"I- I won't do it!" She screamed. With a newfound confidence after her talks with Syl.

Ayanokoji didn't even sound phased. "What can you do? Your phone doesn't work down here, and no one can hear you."

"Actually, someone can." Syl said as he walked inside.

Ayanokoji looked back. "I didn't think you would try and do something here."

Syl smirked. "How can I just leave a girl in need alone?"

Kei had tears streaming down her face. "S-syl? Why are you here?"

Syl shrugged. "I like taking long walks alone and happened to walk by."

Kei ran over to Syl, Ayanokoji didn't even try to stop her.

"I don't think that's how you ask someone for a favor, Kiyotaka." Syl said casually.

"Are you confident you can stop me?" Ayanokoji asked.

"You should really work on that. You make it sound like you're challenging me."

"I am." Ayanokoji said plainly.

"Just so you know, that's not a good idea." Syl said calmly as an eerie smile crept up on his face.

"S-syl? What's wrong? You're smiling weirdly." Kei asked from beside him.

"Hahaha! Nothing, I'm just finally having fun." Syl laughed.

Syl cracked his neck.

"Are you sure you want to do this? Won't it be detrimental to the class?" Ayanokoji asked.

"As if either of us care about that." Syl laughed.

"W-what? Syl, you're being weird right now." Kei said nervously.

Syl chuckled. "Sorry, I'm not some prince in shining armour. I'm not a good person."

"Are you saying you're like me?" Ayanokoji asked.

Syl shook his head. "No, I don't think so, I at least have some empathy, only for my friends though. Otherwise I wouldn't have stopped you."

"If you don't back down, I'll tell everyone about you too. Your past is the same as Karuizawa's, right?" Ayanokoji said calmly.

"HAHAAHAHAH! Did you really think that would work?" Syl asked while laughing.

"No, not really, but it would be easier than what I have to do now."

Syl chuckled and took a step forward. "Then, let's do this the hard way. What kind of hero would I be if I didn't beat up the villain?"

"One question." Ayanokoji asked.

Syl stopped in his tracks. "Sure, what's on your mind?"

"Are you here from the white room?"

Syl paused. "Wha- sorry, what did you just say?"

"You know too much, things you shouldn't. You say you're just good at observing others, but I don't think it's possible for you to know everything you do. You already knew about the class and private points system, you knew about Nagumo, you helped out Yukimura and Ichinose, you also made a deal with Ryuuen and Katsuragi. You're making strange moves that you could only make with knowledge you shouldn't have. The only way you could gain that level of knowledge is from that man."

Syl pointed at himself. "You… think I'm… from the white room?"

Ayanokoji nodded. "However, for some reason you only show your knowledge in English, there's no other way you would notice those mistakes on the mid term without white room knowledge. I can't think of anything else that makes sense. Though, I'm not certain about it. The one thing I don't understand is, if you're from the white room why are you here? If you wanted to expel me and take me back, your movements and constant contact with me make no sense. Unless you were kicked out of the white room and on your own, or you disobeyed orders?"

Syl smiled. "Truly it's an honor, but you're wrong. I have no affiliation with them."

"I can't believe you that easily." Ayanokoji responded simply.

"What's going on? What are you guys talking about?" Kei asked.

"A bad place that does bad things." Syl replied simply. "It's what created him." He pointed at Ayanokoji.

"So you do know about the white room. Then it's impossible to have no affiliation with them."

Syl shook his head. "I really don't, but you never would have believed that the moment I was surprised by the name."

Ayanokoji nodded.

Syl sighed. He looked at Kei. "If you wanna know what a really traumatic childhood was like, he's standing right in front of you, a million times worse than what I went through." Syl said.

"W-what?"

"You think that people just grow up to be sociopaths who can blackmail girls without even blinking? Those people are created by the environments they grow up in."

"Are you saying something happened to Ayanokoji?"

Syl shrugged. "Not my story to tell. He doesn't seem to want anyone to know. I'd appreciate it if you kept this whole thing a secret."

Kei struggled for a moment. "I don't even know what's going on."

Syl chuckled. "TLDR: Ayanokoji wanted you to help him, but he doesn't trust people, so he made a stupid mistake by trying to blackmail you." Syl looked back at Ayanokoji. "That about right? Or did I miss something?"

"No, that's everything."

Syl smiled. "Listen, I'm all for the growth of the class, but this time you went too far."

Ayanokoji didn't respond.