Act 5: Scene 2

Kiyotaka stared at the two girls alternately, while thinking of what he should do at the moment. Currently, he was caught in the middle of two girls who didn't like each other for different reasons, and he couldn't think of anything he could do that would work out for both sides.

Kikyo hated Suzune because of the possibility that she knew about her past, while Suzune disliked Kikyo for another reason entirely. He was unsure what it was, but it's probably because she didn't like the other's lively and energetic personality. Either way, these two can't see eye-to-eye and to make matters worse, the system saw them both as his heroines.

This clearly spelled 'bad news' in all capital letters.

Suzune stared at Kikyo for a moment before turning towards Kiyotaka, pointing to the empty chair beside him. "Do you two mind if I sit here?" she asked.

The young man only shrugged, while Kikyo shook her head and smiled. "N-Not at all, Horikita-san!"

As Suzune sat on the chair beside him, Kiyotaka figured that he should keep his mouth shut starting now. With these two together, one could say that it's a straight-up recipe for disaster. The system wasn't even doing anything right now, meaning he was completely on his own. Maybe it's for the best if he leaves too, but he should ask them before he does such a thing.

"How long have you been listening?" he asked, raising an eyebrow at the girl beside him.

"Ever since Kushida-san asked you for help," she replied.

"Then she knows that Kushida wants to be friends with her. If she's not outright rejecting it now, then Horikita's open to talking about it, at least... will she agree to it, though?" Kiyotaka thought, trying to get a read on the girl based on her demeanor at the moment. "I see. Should I leave then?"

Suzune shook her head, folding her arms across her chest. "No, your presence won't be a bother."

Kiyotaka then took notice of the fact that he and Kikyo had drinks of their own, while their other companion had nothing. Not wanting to make her feel that she was being left out, he decided to offer the same to her. "Want me to buy you something to drink?"

She shook her head again, keeping her gaze locked towards Kikyo, as if she was trapping the girl in place. "There is no need. I don't feel hungry, but thank you for the offer."

Kiyotaka nodded, choosing to back out of this conversation now. Will these two be friends or not? He honestly had no idea. The only thing he could do right now is watch and hope that this won't end badly. Whatever happens from here on out, it'll be up to these two...

"Now then, Kushida-san. Why should I even hear you out? Is there a good reason why?"

Kikyo didn't say anything for a while. She only stared at Suzune as if she was contemplating something but behind that mask she had, Kikyo was fuming. This wasn't how she wanted things to go! She wanted Kiyotaka to help her befriend Horikita since those two were obviously friends, but now that plan is up in smokes with the girl's unexpected arrival while she was still talking to him. Now she's left with no other choice but to talk to Horikita herself, without even a moment of preparation to figure out her next move.

She wanted to curse Horikita in her mind for ruining her plans without even knowing it, but shook that thought off. This was just an unforeseen circumstance that she was unprepared for, something that she should have prepared for ever since she came up with this plan. Kikyo only blamed herself for not thinking about this possibility and preparing for it ahead of time.

"That's because..." she finally spoke after a minute of staying silent, flashing her usual smile and showing no hint of her annoyance. "That's because I want to be friends with you, Horikita-san."

Suzune remained impassive. "Why?"

"Because I want to be friends with everyone in the class! I want to get to know them and I want to make new memories with them, which includes you, Horikita-san!"

"Unfortunately, that's not a good enough reason, Kushida-san. I do not know if Ayanokouji-kun has told you already, but if he hasn't, then you must know that I did not want to befriend anyone in the past. While I am now friends with him, that does not mean that I will be someone like you who befriends everyone she comes across with."

That made Kikyo halt. If that was truly the case, then her chances of accomplishing her plan had just diminished greatly. She started to wonder even more about what Kiyotaka did to gain her trust because as far as she knew, Suzune would never befriend another person because of her personality.

Yes, that sounded a bit hypocritical on her part because she planned to gain Suzune's trust by befriending her, but Kiyotaka had done it almost effortlessly. The guy doesn't even show emotions most of the time, yet he managed to get through that cold shell of hers.

And now, while Kikyo wanted the same, Horikita didn't seem like she was willing to hear her out.

However, she wasn't going to give up. There has to be a way that she can convince Horikita to give her what she wants!

"I want to be friends with you because you need it, Horikita-san! Ever since I first saw you in this school, I knew that you need friends of your own because you're always so lonely..." she exclaimed, before putting on a sad look. "Ayanokouji-kun is your friend, right? Why can't I be your friend too? What exactly did he do to make you trust him?"

Now that made Suzune freeze for a moment, as her impassive look fell. It was then replaced by a look of realization, as the girl remembered that she and Kiyotaka only became friends when he comforted her after seeing her brother again. From there, she trusted him enough to tell him about her older brother, something that she would never tell to a stranger whom she had only been with for about an hour.

But Kiyotaka wasn't a stranger at that point, and she would never forget what he did for her.

Despite that, it was quite clear that she couldn't expect the same from Kikyo. It wouldn't be fair to her as well.

"If you don't want to tell me, that's okay. I'm fine with waiting for the time that you can trust me enough with something like that. If it means being your friend, then I can wait, Horikita-san!" she continued, even bowing her head to show her 'sincerity'.

Suzune stared at the girl opposite to her, this time with less intensity than before. In truth, she didn't care about Kikyo at first and actually disliked her, especially when she was trying to ask Kiyotaka out for some ice cream.

However, now that she was done with that, there was no reason for her to think badly of the beige-haired girl. She could still reject Kikyo's offer of friendship but again, it puts Kiyotaka into perspective with how she thought of him as a friend now.

"Very well. I accept," Suzune sighed in defeat.

Kikyo opened her eyes as she looked at Suzune curiously. She definitely heard her say something, but she didn't exactly hear what it was.

"What?"

The black-haired girl massaged her forehead as a sudden wave of stress hit her. "You want to be friends, correct? I suppose we can work this out."

Kikyo gasped in complete surprise. Even Kiyotaka was taken aback. He didn't expect Suzune to actually accept. Knowing her personality, he expected her to decline the offer of friendship because she didn't want to have friends (he was an exception), in a polite manner at least.

Was the system really influencing her to change, or was it just a coincidence?

"Really?!"

Suzune sighed again. "Don't make me repeat myself."

"Yatta!" Kikyo smiled brightly, though there was a hint of smugness behind that mask she was putting up. "Thank you so much, Horikita-san! I promise you that I'll be the bestest friend you've ever had!"

"Sure you will," the young man who was with them thought sarcastically. "I feel bad for Horikita. She's just being manipulated into being her friend but then again, I don't believe Kushida can actually expel her. If anything, this might actually make them genuine friends in the future. If the system can make Horikita, of all people, accept me as a friend then anything is possible."

These two being friends, when Kushida wants to expel her while Horikita doesn't really care about her... what a sight that would be.

"I have an idea! Let's get each other's contact info, Horikita-san. We haven't done this yet, right? Let's do this as a token of remembrance!" Kikyo giggled, as she opened her phone, before handing it over to her newfound 'friend'.

Suzune stared at the phone before her while raising an eyebrow. "Is that really necessary? We live almost next to each other, with Ayanokouji-kun's dorm unit the only thing keeping us from being neighbors."

"Of course it is! We won't always be in the same place at the same time, and the same goes for Ayanokouji-kun. This way, we can talk to each other whenever we want! You already have his contact info, right? Why not me too?"

Suzune shifted her gaze alternately between Kikyo's phone and the girl herself several times, before sighing in defeat. For some reason, she was being hit with a headache at the moment and it was making this harder than what it's supposed to be.

"Very well."

Kikyo cheered again as Suzune brought out her own phone and exchanged devices with her new friend, the two typing down their contact information.

"I wonder if I'm doing the right thing..." The raven-haired girl thought to herself, feeling that there's something off about all this.

Meanwhile, the brown-haired 'masterpiece' watched the interaction with curious eyes. Nothing bad has happened so far and for the most part, these two girls were being civil with each other. Their conversation actually went well despite his worries that it'll be a disaster.

Well, it's either that or Kushida was just good at hiding her mask from other people.

In any case, Kiyotaka had no idea if this was a good move on Kikyo's part but one thing's for sure, these two are still going to be at odds with each other, just for a different reason...

Him.