Chapter 5 Part III

"Hey, we're hanging out with Kushida-chan and her friends later, you wanna go too?"

During one of the afternoon classes, I was absent-mindedly writing down notes from the blackboard when I received a text.

Oh… Is this what they call a youthful student life? This is my first time being invited somewhere after school by friends. I didn't give any reason to refuse, but I asked who was going.

If there are a lot of people I don't know, I probably wouldn't go. It'd be somewhat awkward.

I quickly got a reply. Of course, Ike, Yamauchi, and Kushida were going. Then, including me, five other people. People I didn't particularly know. If it's that much, then I guess it's fine. I replied, saying I would go, and another reply quickly came back.

"Kushida-chan's mine, so don't get in the way! – Ike-sama"

"No, no, Kushida-chan is my target, so you back off. – Yamauchi"

"Haa? You're saying you're also aiming for her? Are you trying to pick a fight with me? – Ike-sama"

I wish they'd got along, but rather they started fighting over Kushida.

I think hanging out after school would be fun, but now it seems like a bother.

When class ended, I left school with Ike and Yamauchi.

Because the campus is so big, I still haven't explored much of the school grounds.

"We're in the same class, but we couldn't go together with Kushida…"

"She had to talk with one of her friends in another class. Kushida-chan's a popular person, after all."

"Perhaps… she's talking to a boy?"

"It's ok, Ike, it was confirmed. She's talking to a girl."

"Good, good."

"Are you guys seriously going for Kushida?"

"Of course. She's honestly my heart's desire."

Yamauchi must have had the same opinion, since he kept nodding his head in agreement.

"Well, you're going for Horikita, right? She's beautiful, I'll give you that."

"No, there's nothing happening there. Seriously."

"Really? During class, didn't you guys glance at each other and casually hold hands? That kind of bittersweet, irritating event?"

As Ike pressed me for answers, I saw Kushida running over.

"Sorry for being late. Thanks for waiting!"

"Oh, we were waiting Kushida-chan! Wait, why is Hirata here!?"

Ike, who was excitedly jumping up and down, suddenly took a step back and exaggeratedly fell down. What a strange guy.

"Oh, he joined us on the way. He asked me if they could come. Is there something wrong?"

Kushida brought along Hirata, (what looks like) his girlfriend, Karuizawa, and two other girls. The two girls were Matsushita and Mori, who always hung out with Karuizawa.

"Hey, is there no method to refuse Hirata and send him back?"

Ike put his arms around my shoulder and whispered into my ear.

"I don't think there's any reason to send him away."

If that ikemen's there too, our existences will be thin! What are you going to do in the unlucky event that Kushida-chan falls in love with Hirata? If we make the ikemen stay away from her, there's no way the event can happen?"

"No, I wouldn't know… Also, isn't Hirata dating Karuizawa? Don't worry."

"Just because you have a girlfriend doesn't guarantee anything. If you compare a used, dirty, and gaudy girl like Karuizawa with the pretty angel Kushida-chan, anyone would pick Kushida-chan!"

As he kept fervently speaking, his spit got into my ear—feels disgusting. There are some disgusting words coming from his mouth too.

Certainly, Karuizawa looks gaudy, but she's still cute.

"But Ike… you know that there's no guarantee that a cute girl like Kushida-chan is still a virgin, right?"

Yamauchi joined our whisper conversation with an anxious voice.

"Uu, that's… that might be true… n-no, Kushida-chan must be a virgin!"

The boys continued to do as they please as they indulged in their fantasies. I wonder if you could call this discrimination against women. If possible, I'd rather not be involved in this conversation.

"Um, if we're intruding, we can go as a separate group."

Hirata said to Ike and the others in a reserved tone. He noticed our whispering.

"N-no, it's all right! Right, Yamauchi?"

"Y-yea. Let's hang out together. The more the better. Right?"

You two are being annoying! They couldn't do anything, though, because if they tried to kick Hirata and his group out, Kushida may also be disappointed with them.

"Wow, that's a pretty normal answer. Why are you three whispering stealthily by yourselves?"

Karuizawa's words were reasonable, but I was shocked that she grouped me in with them.

"Ok, here it is. I was thinking like this. If we exclude Hirata and Karuizawa, the number of boys and girls are the same. In other words, this looks like a triple date. Ayanokouji, this is your chance too, you know?"

"Yamauchi, you're fine with Matsushita, right? I'm going to talk with Kushida-chan."

"Hey, is that a joke? I'm aiming for her! We're going to get married and give our vows under a big sakura tree! It's fate waiting to happen!"

"Lies! I've thought this for a while, but all you say are lies!"

"Ha? It's all true!"

If you believed everything that Yamauchi Haruki said, he would be a very good gamer, having been scouted internationally by pros, a national-level ping pong player in elementary school, the ace of his baseball team in middle school and unmistakably a potential future pro. What a very high-spec man.

There's been no proof for any of his claims, though.

I didn't know where we were going, so I stayed in the back and followed quietly.

Ike and Yamauchi were too engrossed in their fantasies, while Hirata was surrounded on both sides.

"Let me ask frankly, Hirata. Are you dating Karuizawa?"

In order to see if Hirata was his rival, Ike asked without beating around the bush.

"Eh… Where'd you hear that?"

Hirata looked surprised and confused at the same time.

"Oh, looks like the word got out. We are dating."

Before Hirata could even respond, Karuizawa came and hugged Hirata's arm.

Giving up, Hirata scratched his cheek with his finger in embarrassment, admitting the truth their relationship.

"Seriously? I'm so envious that you get to date a cute girl like Karuizawa!"

Yamauchi said with fake envy in his voice. Lying without being conscious of it is surprisingly hard.

"Kushida-chan, do you have a boyfriend?"

While on that topic, Ike shifted the topic over to Kushida. Clever.

"Me? No, I'm not dating anyone."

Ike and Yamauchi were rejoicing in their minds, and their expressions lifted. Your delight is leaking out…

She might be keeping a secret, but for the most part Kushida was confirmed as single. I'm also a bit glad.

"Oh no, I'm crying…!"

"Don't cry, Yamauchi! Our hope is right in front of our eyes now!"

It's no longer an insurmountable mountain, but rather a really steep road…

Hirata, Karuizawa, Ike, and Yamauchi all walked together, surrounding Kushida. Matushita and Mori weren't with the rest of the group.

They were walking behind them. I walked even further behind, all alone.

"Hey Ike, where are you going?"

A voice called out, asking about the destination. Ike looked back and brusquely replied.

"Since not a lot of time has passed since the entrance ceremony, we're just checking out the facilities."

There's no clear destination. In other words, this awkward feeling will probably continue for a while…

My expectations were broken in an unexpected way.

"Ne ne, Matsushita-san, Mori-san. Do you two have anything you want to see?"

While Ike and Yamauchi were happily talking to each other, Kushida fell back and talked to the two girls.

"Eh? Oh, um, I've always wanted to go to the movie theater at least once."

"Yea. Since school is over, I also want to go."

"Oh, that's right! I've always wanted to go, but didn't yet. Karuizawa-san, how about you guys? Anywhere you want to go?"

Kushida started to organize the three groups. As expected of her. I probably couldn't do the same thing even if I tried. Also, she would occasionally turn around and smile at me. I didn't see that coming.

Even though I tried to ignore her, I felt troubled because she kept looking at me. I tried to convey to her that I wasn't trying to ignore her, but that it was how my personality and way of thinking was. If Kushida couldn't read the atmosphere, and she just liked being in the center of things, she wouldn't be able to receive my message.

However, there are also the type of people that go "What, can't you read the atmosphere?" after you refuse their invitation to sing at a karaoke even though you only went without ever intending to sing.

After all, egotistic people who think that singing is fun = everyone should like singing are stupid. They can't understand that there are people who simply don't like to sing.

While I was lost in my bitter internal monologue, the surroundings got loud and busy.

Somehow, we were next to a clothes shop… we seem to have arrived at a stylish boutique.

Everyone seems to have been here already once or twice, so I also went in without hesitation. I only went outside during the weekdays for school and stayed in my dorm for the weekend, so I never had the need to buy any casual clothes.

There were a lot of students inside, though only a few of them were upperclassmen and the rest were first-years. Maybe it's because it's my first time, but I felt inexperienced and out of place inside.

After checking out a few clothes, the group walked to the nearby cafe.

Hirata was holding Karuizawa's purchases from the store. The clothes were about 30,000 points.

"Are you guys familiar with the school yet?"

"At first I was really confused, but I'm used to it now. This is the school of my dreams, I never want to graduate~"

"Ahaha, it looks like Ike-kun is thoroughly enjoying his school life, huh."

"I wish we would get more points. About 200,000… 300,000 points? After buying clothes and cosmetics, my points run out quickly."

"Wouldn't it be strange for a high school student to get 300,000 points a month for their allowance?"

"If you say it like that, then 100,000 sounds reasonable. I'm a bit scared. If my school life continues like this, I'm worried about how I would live after graduating."

"Are you talking about losing your sense of money? That really does sound scary."

The students all seem to have different opinions about our 100,000 point allowance. Karuizawa and Ike want more points, while Hirata and Kushida are scared of their life after their luxurious school experience ends.

"How about you, Ayanokouji-kun? Do you think 100,000 is too much? Too little?"

Although I was only listening at first, Kushida included me in the conversation by asking a question.

"Hmm… I don't think I really have a good grasp of it yet. I don't really know."

"What kind of answer is that?"

"You know, I can understand what Ayanokouji-kun's saying. This is far from a normal student's school life. It's impossible for me to know without a good point of comparison."

"Well, it's useless to be concerned over it. It's seriously a good thing that I got in. I can buy whatever I want. Even yesterday, I just bought myself some new clothes."

Ike's living a positive life, never looking back even once.

"Oh right, Kushida-chan, Hirata, Ike, and Karuizawa all got in, right? How'd you get in? Aren't you guys pretty stupid?"

"Yamauchi, you don't look smart either."

"Ha? I got 900 points on the APEC before."

"What's APEC?"

"You don't even know what that is? It's a really difficult English test."

"Uh, isn't that TOEIC, not APEC?"

Kushida inserted a small tsukkomi. By the way, APEC is the Asian-Pacific Economic Cooperation.

"T-they're related things."

I don't think they're related at all…

"Well, this school's goal is to nurture the youth with potential, so they probably don't pick people solely on test scores. Honestly, if they only judged by scores, I wouldn't have applied."

"That, that. The 'youth with potential' part. Those words describe us exactly."

Ike crossed his arms and nodded his head.

Despite being the preeminent school in Japan with a great employment rate, their admissions aren't based only on test scores.

But how on earth does the school see potential in these people?

The question suddenly popped into my head.