4.6

After Ayanokouji left, Kiryuuin remained where she was.

It was her daily routine to spend her time in leisure.

In her vision, there suddenly appeared the swaying blonde hair that she had become accustomed to seeing.

Next to him stood Kiriyama, the vice president of the student council, who had just left.

"Hey hey, the loyal dog came back with his master eh?"

"What…?"

"If you're getting mad at this, then that means that you know what I'm talking about. Right now, no one should know who's the loyal dog and who's the owner, as I don't remember declaring who was who. I'm simply stating from the perspective of an outsider who doesn't know anything. Why? Because the one who left and as returned is you, Kiriyama, and so that fits the image of a loyal dog."

Kiryuuin said this once again to the approaching Kiriyama, and Nagumo who was standing by.

"This woman's a real pain in the ass…"

"You've got a dirty mouth, Kiriyama, it doesn't suit the image of a serious vice president."

"Nagumo, you're wasting your time on this woman. You know that, right?"

"Agreed. So can the two of you disappear from my sight right now? It's a waste of my precious time."

"Who the hell do you think you are? You're the one-"

"Kiryuuin, please don't mock my beloved student council member."

Nagumo tapped Kiriyama on the shoulder and interrupted him. He forced Kiriyama to move away a little, and stood in front of Kiryuuin.

"A beloved comrade? You didn't say that with any sort of emotion at all."

"That's just your imagination."

"Well. What does the student council president want from me? I thought I'd never see you again."

"If possible, I too don't want to stay here for longer than I have to."

With that, Nagumo forcibly sat down beside Kiryuuin.

"You're beautiful but charmless, and I don't have much interest in charmless women."

"I have charm. It's just that I haven't met a man who could draw it out yet."

"If there's a man who can bring out the charming side of you, I'd like to meet him."

"Me too. But putting aside your personal tastes, why aren't I popular?"

"Women with too high an ability are hard to deal with. Unfortunately, I don't like those types either."

"I see, if that's the case then I'll never be able to meet your standards. If being too excellent is the reason why I haven't found a boyfriend, then I understand."

After the meaningless banter with Kiryuuin, Nagumo got to the point.

"I heard something from Kiriyama. I would have never thought that someone who wasn't interested in both Horikita-senpai or I, would be interested in Ayanokouji. I was surprised when I heard that."

"Is that why you have come to see me? The student council president has too much time on his hands."

"I've finished my administrative work, so there's a lot of free time."

"You seem to have misunderstood something. I'm not a person who doesn't care about other people, Nagumo. I talk to people I'm interested in. There was a time when I was interested in you and Horikita Manabu."

Saying that, Kiryuuin gently stroked the ends of Nagumo's bangs.

"Your hair is well maintained. I know you take even better care of it than I do, a woman. I'm sure you're extremely popular, student council president. How's your love life been in these past 3 years?"

"Someone who has never been with a man before, can understand the fundamentals of love?"

"It's true that I've never been in a relationship, but that's nothing to be ashamed of. Rather, I should say that it has raised my value?"

"Like always, your way of thinking is rather strange."

A meaningless conversation between them started up again, but Nagumo immediately returned to the topic at hand.

"So… Ayanokouji? Is he someone worth keeping an eye on?"

"Since he's such a cute underclassman, I paid him some lip service, but that's all."

"That's it? So does that mean you don't care anymore?"

"I'll leave it on hold for now. We had a face to face talk, but I wasn't able to grasp his true motives. Although you can't really call that an ability, he was at least more interesting than you, the student council president, who I lost my interest in."

"You're the only one in the 3rd year who can say such disrespectful things to me."

Then Nagumo brought his mouth close to Kiryuuin's ear and whispered.

"If you think you're better than me, then let me show you your place, alright?"

Nagumo challenged her to the uninhabited island exam.

"The moment you lose, you'll lose something immeasurable, student council president. However, it seems you've misunderstood something, student council president. I'm not underestimating you. I don't have the leadership skills that you or Horikita Manabu possessed. I'm no good at making friends either, in fact I've never had someone who I could consider a friend, let alone a close one. You know that, right?"

Nagumo moved his mouth away from her ear, bored.

"However, if we're talking about the other elements, it's different."

Although he had moved his mouth away from her ear, the distance between their faces was less than 40 centimetres.

Kiryuuin gazed at Nagumo with her sharp eyes.

"Are you saying I'm inferior to you in some aspects?"

"Well well, can you really say that there's definitely nothing in which you're inferior to me at?"

"I have given you several chances to prove that, but till now you haven't done anything, and as a result ended up in Class B."

Up till now, Nagumo had competed with Kiriyama's class many times in the past special exams.

However, Kiryuuin never helped, and they eventually fell from Class A to Class B.

"Certainly, if you only look at the results, I failed miserably."

Kiriyama simply glared at Kiryuuin, who was merrily talking, but didn't interfere with their conversation.

"Well, I know that you're not the type of person who cares much about being in either Class A or B."

Marking the end of their conversation, Nagumo stood up.

"Sorry for being a nuisance, Kiryuuin. Enjoy the remainder of your school life."

Nagumo left her with those words, and prepared to leave.

"Although I said I would put his evaluation at hold, I think he's an interesting student."

"What?"

"You wanted some answers about Ayanokouji, didn't you?

One of the reasons for approaching her was to find out what Kiryuuin thought about Ayanokouji.

"Interesting? I think his personality is far from it."

Kiryuuin laughed, as she saw that the fish had eaten the bait.

"There's a saying, that a predator doesn't reveal his fangs, right? He seems to have gotten a perfect score in a difficult test."

"There are people who hate being in the limelight and hide their talents. I've defeated all of them, and they weren't very interesting."

After he said that, Nagumo turned his attention to Kiriyama, who was waiting for him.

"If I had to say, it's his aura. I feel that he has a different aura from you and Horikita Manabu."

"How abstract."

"Then why don't you test him?"

"Of course, that's what I'm thinking of doing. In the next uninhabited island exam, I might be able to see his true power."

"You seem to be bored ever since Horikita Manabu left. So this underclassmen should be a good playmate for you, eh? If you're really serious, then you'll definitely get 1st place in the upcoming exam."

"Of course I'll get 1st place. Or maybe it'll be Kiriyama, who's been dying to fight me. But to get control of the whole podium, I still need more groups, right? I'll give you this role, Kiryuuin. If necessary, I'll even help you find comrades."

And now, he finally spoke about the main reason he contacted Kiryuuin.

Kiryuuin laughed, as if she understood.

"I see. So you came here to ask for my help?"

"Although letting the underclassmen get 3rd place wouldn't be too bad, I'm not that soft."

"You have a lot of pieces on the chessboard right? You don't have to rely on me."

"So you're not interested?"

"The top 50% is enough for me. Sorry that you had to come all this way for nothing."

Nagumo seemed to be expecting that for his answer, and turned around.

"That's just how you are. We're both 3rd years, but it seemed to be a waste of time to try to talk to you like that."

Nagumo gave instructions to withdraw and headed over to Kiriyama.

"Since you came all the way here, I'll give you some tips."

"You to me? Sorry, but I don't need any advice from someone below me."

"With that logic, nobody can give you any advice".

Kiryuuin, who was behind Nagumo, continued talking after he mocked her.

"Then listen as if this were a monologue. You should look at what's going on in front of you, instead of playing with your underclassmen. If you pay too much attention to those behind you, you'll get badly hurt."

"What a boring monologue."

It was a waste of time to remain there any longer, so Nagumo left.