Short Story 1 : Ichinose SS - In the cracks between dream and reality

In front of me, there were a dorayaki and a stromboli.

"I want to eat both!"

The starving me pounced on the two targets with a flying pose.

However, the two escaped at high speed.

"Muu, impressive. Then I won't hold back either!"

I leaped again, even more swiftly. After that, I directly extended my arm.

But the food once again slipped through my hands and increased the distance with me.

"…Then, how about this?"

I gave up on the stromboli and I only extended my arm towards the dorayaki. This time I didn't let it run away and I caught it easily. Just when I was calmly thinking about going for the stromboli, it escaped for the third time and increased the distance with me.

And the dorayaki that was in my hands just a moment ago had slipped away without me realizing it.

"This can only mean---"

When I realized what the food represented, they disappeared and the world dissipated in an instant. After that, I felt the soft ground catching me. Then, I heard the alarm sound I am used to hear coming from near my head.

"Umm~…"

That's right. I used my dizzy head to grasp the situation. Today is the last day of the special exam. Since I arrived at the room earlier than anyone, I ended up falling asleep while I was racking my brains about how to decide the outcome of the battle.

After getting up, I realized the figure of the class D student Ayanokouji-kun, who I didn't know when he arrived, inside the room.

"Go~od mor~ning Ayanokouji-kun. Sorry, my alarm clock must have surprised you."

"No, not at all. It looks like you have slept well."

"Ahahaha, sorry. I completely drowsed off. You are so early, there's still 20 minutes left, you know?"

"You too, since when have you been here?"

"Roughly 1 hour ago. I wanted to stay here calmly. It's noisy staying in the dorms, with friends going in and out of the room.

I wasn't planning to sleep, but I was a bit embarrassed so I ended up saying that.

However, this might be a good thing. The result of this was that I could decide the battle plan.

"And there were also a lot of things I wanted to sort out."

"Did you get results?"

"More or less."

If I chase after 2 rabbits at the same time I will end up getting none. I have firmly established the policies to confront the Rabbit group.

Still, I am rarely together with Ayanokouji-kun alone, so let's investigate him.

Yukimura-kun and Sotomura-kun are easier to read, but Ayanokouji-kun looks like he is in the clouds, he is very hard to read.

I stood up, fixed my hair messed from sleep, and sat beside Ayanokouji-kun.

"Since there's still time until the exam starts, if it doesn't bother you, do you want to have a little chat?"

"It won't trouble me. If you think it's okay, then it's okay for me, Ichinose."

He did not dislike it and agreed to my request.

"Then it's decided. I have something I wanted to ask Ayanokouji-kun. I have already asked all the Class B male students like Kanzaki-kun, but I haven't asked the students from the other classes, so it kept bothering me. Ayanokouji-kun, do you have a strong desire to be promoted to Class A?"

First of all, I need to ascertain his inner heart. What he thinks, for what goal he is taking action, and so on.

I have been questioning myself about the group distribution of this special exam. Being assigned into a group has a certain meaning. For example, Kanzaki-kun was assigned to the Dragon group, and the Dragon group had the names of the representatives of each class. I'm not trying to blow my own trumpet, but normally, shouldn't I be assigned to the Dragon group too?

But the reality didn't go like this. I was very discouraged during a split second, but I immediately pondered about it. It could be that there was another meaning.

There must be some implications in the fact that I was not sent to the Dragon group.

The Ayanokouji-kun in front of me could also be one of the possibilities--