Chapter 7

"Please contact me when you finish the repairs."

"W-Wait a minute sir. She's the owner of the digital camera, right? It's kind of-"

"There were no problems verifying the manufacturer's warranty and proving the sale and purchase date, and there shouldn't be any legal issues either. Besides, there shouldn't be any issue if the person filling out the form has the consent of the original purchaser, right?"

Ayanokouji-kun completely handled the clerk in an impressive manner, leaving the clerk with nothing else to say. His eyes kept on swaying from side to side, his perverted light had disappeared and I was grateful for that.

"N-No. I understand sir... There won't be any problems."

It didn't take long for him to finish it and hand over the camera to the clerk. Sakura let out a relieved sigh.

Apparently it would take about two weeks for them to finish the repairs. When Sakura heard this, she looked a bit down.

"The clerk was really terrifying... The way he was talking on and on was so imposing that it made me feel a bit anxious."

Airi said.

"He was gross, a pervert and will probably die alone. Don't let people like him get to you Airi-chan."

I told her then made to walk away.

"Yeah, I wouldn't completely agree with you, but he was little bit gross, wasn't he?"

Kushida laughed. At this point I began wondering what her other side was actually thinking. She was probably cursing him to the bone at this very moment for thinking he could get with someone like her. It almost made me chuckle. Almost.

"Hey Sakura, you know him from somewhere?"

Airi nodded to the question. I remembered when we first came here to buy her a camera. He was the very clerk we met, although I didn't remember him being so gross. I wondered what made him so bold as to behave like that with students.

'At least get the minimum requirements before you try hitting on your customers.'

"What do you think, Ayanokouji-kun?'

Kushida asked him.

"Well, I guess he was somewhat unapproachable. Especially for girls."

"There was a situation where he tried to speak with me before... Because of that, I was afraid of going to get the repair done alone..."

When was this? She didn't tell me anything about this yet she is just spilling in front of them. More specifically Ayanokouji-kun. Just how much didn't she trust me?

"Ah... is that why you did that back then, Ayanokouji-kun? You noticed this, right?"

"It's because she is a girl. I thought that she might be hesitant to write down her personal information such as her address or phone number."

He lied. I just looked at him from the corner of my eye and he caught my eyes. We really needed to stop doing that.

"Th-thanks... Ayanokouji-kun. You've really done me a great favor."

"No, it was really nothing. All I did was write my own address. I'll get in touch with you when I'm notified that the repairs are completed."

Sakura nodded happily.

"Hey, Airi-chan, you wanna get married to Ayanokouji-kun?"

I teased and as expected, she just yelped and shook her head, her face all red.

"N-No..."

"Sheesh, no need to be so harsh about it."

I said then crossed over to Ayanokouji-kun's side. Then I started poking at his face.

"The girl's say he is fifth in the class's ikemen list. He's quiet and sits at the back with you. He's even watching out for you like some kind of boyfriend. Don't worry, you guys will look like a cute couple."

I grinned maliciously at Ayanokouji-kun, hoping to catch him off-guard, but it didn't work. I knew that it would take a load more than this to fluster him... Was it even possible to?

"Please stop the teasing Tatsumaki-san."

He begged, but I didn't feel like stopping.

"Ne ne, Tatsumaki san, do you like Ayanokouji-kun?"

Kushida asked something absurd.

"No."

I shot her down with what I hoped was the most blunt tone I could get.

"Really? I heard that people like tease those they like a lot. And whenever I see you with Ayanokouji-kun, you are teasing him."

"Please, I don't interact much with Ayanokouji-kun so I don't see how what you are saying is possible."

I waved off her opinion and Kushida chuckled. That little wretch. I honestly felt like pulling out her video right now and shutting her up.

Airi-chan started laughing with Kushida, leaving Ayanokouji-kun and I the only odd ones out. I wondered what was so funny and by the way he looked at me, I could tell he was wondering the same thing.

"You two have a weird relationship."

A weird relationship? What's weird about wanting to destroy this walking contradiction? A god who didn't use his powers? Pathetic. Could you even call such an existence a god?

"I want to see if I can get something, would you guys mind waiting a bit?"

Ayanokouji asked us. I shrugged at his request, then took out my phone. Kushida and Airi reassured him that we wouldn't disappear without him.

While I was checking out my phone, Airi and Kushida began to talk about something.

"Huh?"

She jumped in front of Airi, startling the poor girl.

"Sakura-san, have we ever met somewhere before?"

She asked something weird.

"Eh? N-No... Not that I can remember, but-"

"Sorry. For some reason, when I looked at you just a second ago, I vaguely felt like I had seen you someplace before. Erm, if it's alright with you, would you mind taking off your glasses?"

"Eeeeeh!? T-This is a bit...!"

Sakura looked at me for support, but I pretended not to have noticed. I was interested in where this was going.

"My eyesight is so bad that I can't see anything..."

She lied, waving her hands from side to side in front of her.

"Hey, let's get together sometime, Sakura-san. Not just you and me, but with our friends as well."

"That's..."

She couldn't formulate whatever sentence she wanted to.

It didn't take long for us to get back to the meeting spot.

"Um... Thank you very much for today. You've really become my savior."

She told Ayanokouji. I didn't like her use of the term "Savior", but I didn't say anything. I was glad that she took the advice I gave her last night to not rely on me for conversations. She needed to learn how to communicate.

Why was I being so concerned with here anyways? This was weird.

"No, no. It's not anything you need to be that thankful for. Moreover, Sakura-san, if it's alright with you, could you speak normally? It's strange to use honorific language with classmates."

I completely agreed with him on this matter. It didn't matter her social disorder. Even something like this should have been common knowledge to her.

"I'm not really doing it on purpose... am I strange?"

She asked. This was where I had to stand in, but Kushida who had more presence than me cut in.

"I'm not saying you've done anything wrong. However I'd be happier if we could just speak casually."

She said, laying bare her own selfish desires.

"Ah, y-yeah... Understood – I mean... I get it. I'' try my best."

And of course she took Kushida's words to heart. Still, that wasn't the way to begin clearing her social disorder. The key wasn't forcing it. A lot of people could feel this forced pretense if you weren't very good at it and it created a very weird relationship with those around you. This would lead to ostracism or possibly bullying.

"You don't have to push yourself if you don't want to."

A surprising remark came from Ayanokouji-kun. I didn't see this coming from someone like him.

"I-It's ok. Because... I also..."

What? What the heck was she about to say?

The way her eyes were casted downwards I had gotten curious. Still I couldn't hear her, and we just decided to end it there.

"Well then, see you guys at school."

Kushida spoke, trying to end for the day, however as we walked, Airi stopped walking.

"Airi?"

"About that thing with Sudou-kun..."

She begun.

"As a thanks for today, I haven't been completely honest but... if it's alright with you..."

She stopped, creating this mood of anxiety.

"... About Sudou-kun. I, I may be able to help."

I didn't think that she would actually do it, but she told them everything. Described it from the very top. Without leaving out anything.

While she did this, I found myself wondering something.

'Why? Why did she tell them? Was it because of Kushida-san? No... Ayanokouji-kun? Had he slowly been manipulating her this entire time to get this desired effect? But how... ? T-This is the white room's greatest product? He convinced her to tell him everything without even talking about it, and I didn't notice it a single bit. I couldn't get the signals he was giving off for her to tell him... if this is his level of manipulation, I'll need to prepare myself. Wait... is he manipulating me to think like this right now?'

I glanced at him. He was looking intently at Airi, but then when he noticed my gaze he looked back at me with that ever unchanging gaze of his.

'Tch... no way. He isn't doing such a thing. Calm yourself Shiro. You are overthinking this. Wait... president Horikita said that he was opening a room for Ayanokouji or me... in that case had he already decided that he wanted that seat? Is that why he is acting now? Damn it, I have to do something soon.'

After that we went our separate ways.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

I let out a yawn and stretched a bit.

According to my phone it was 5: 43 am. A time at which most of the student body would have been sleeping. Which is why I found it odd meeting Onodera-san in her uniform and her bag slung over her shoulder.

"Onodera-san?"

I called. She yelped. She turned around quickly, then let out a relieved sigh when she that it was me. I couldn't blame her though. It was odd to meet someone at such an unorthodox time.

"T-Tatsumaki-san? You scared me!"

"Is that so? Sorry."

I gave her sometime to cool down before continuing to speak.

"Hey, Onodera-san. Why are you here at this time?"

"I could ask the same about you. Even worse you look like some kind of delinquent."

"Eh? How so? It's just a black hoodie and some sweat pants. Some black gloves to keep me warm, that's all."

"Could have fooled me. You look like you are going to start some kind of heist."

"Hehehe."

"I was going to the pool to go practice. It's my daily routine. What about you?"

She answered without a second thought. How could people be so honest?

"I wanted to start jogging early in the mornings before school."

"Is that so? That's a nice commitment. Maybe I'll join you one of these days."

"Ha... I look forward to it."

Again... what the hell did I get myself into?

Afterwards, we split up and I went towards the area in the annex building where I saw Sudo and the class C boys fight. I looked around with the torch light and I couldn't see anything out of the ordinary.

To be honest, I realized that the place was almost the perfect place to commit such a crime. There were no cameras around, and the only problems were the windows and passing personnel, but when done at the right time, none of those mattered. And the time at which they did it, there was no person around. Everyone had gone to their rooms or the mall with their friends.

I let out an annoyed sigh.

'What did I think coming here would do?'

I sat down on the stair case. This place literally had zero evidence for the crime. In fact, you wouldn't know that people fought here. This Ryueen guy properly thought this thing out. Now I was interested in who he was, but I wouldn't search for him. Since he was the class C leader, an important figure, we would eventually meet.

While sitting and thinking to myself, I heard a weird whirring sound. I looked up and through the window, I saw something hovering in the air. It was a drone.

Since when did drones fly about here?

I decided to take a picture of it. Then when I checked my phone, the time was 6 am. Some people would start waking up now. I couldn't have them seeing me dressed up like this, so I decided to head back.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

I slid open the door to the classroom and saw the classroom filled with everyone in various groups, talking about their own matters.

I went straight to Kei's group.

"Hey, Kk-chan."

"Eh? Kk-chan?"

She was surprised. I guess I hadn't told her the name I accidentally came up for her.

"Yeah, Kk-chan. You know, Karuizawa Kei, I felt like I could make it cuter. Is there a problem?"

Her face was pink now and she nodded while playing with her fingers and I got a good laugh out of it.

"Mou... what did you want?"

She reminded me of why I even came. I took out my phone and showed her the picture of the drone.

"Have you ever seen this thing before?"

"Huh? What is that?"

"A drone. I saw it earlier today and took a picture."

"Earlier today? Shiro-chan, what time?"

"That doesn't matter now. I just need to know if you've seen it before."

"Um, know, but I remember Hirata-kun saying something about a drone some time back."

"Hirata-kun? Where is he?"

"Huh? Did you need me for something Tatsumaki-san?"

A voice came from behind. I turned around and saw Hirata-kun standing there with his bright sunny smile. He leaned in closer though, which I found weird.

"Have you had any rest, Tatsumaki-san?"

'Eh? What stupid question is that?'

"Yes. Hirata-kun, I'm sorry if this is a bother, but have you seen this before?"

I showed him the picture of the drone. He looked at it for a bit before nodding his head.

"Yes. I remember Sotomura-san showing me pictures of his drone. He sent them to me, let me show you."

He took out his phone and showed me the pictures. They matched, which meant the drone probably belonged to Sotomura. To be honest this was a drastic change of events. I originally thought that the drone was owned by the school and so I could just go and ask about the video footage, but who would've guessed.

"Where is Sotomura-san?"

The whole class looked at me weirdly. It wasn't long before I started hearing voices. It may have been because of how a bit distressed I seemed. I had really let Ayanokouji get into my head. That was a bad mistake.

"Hey, why is she being so proactive about this?"

"Aww, did she find out that she has a crush on Sudou-san?"

I decided to ignore their voices. I looked around and still couldn't see him. Soon it would be time for homeroom. Surely he wouldn't be late for that.

The doors slid open and fortunately, he came walking through.

"Sotomura-san."

I called to him.

"Oh, hi there. To what do I owe this visit from you Tatsumaki-dono."

I really didn't like the way he spoke. It was too weird and cringe.

"Is this your drone?"

I showed him the picture and he nodded.

"Yes, that is indeed mine. What of it?"

"I saw it at the annex room this morning and took a picture of it. I heard you bought it not too long ago?"

"Yes. My queen went on her first flight about a week ago."

"About a week ago? Where?"

"Um... the annex building complex."

"So you were there that day?"

"That day?"

"Yes. The day Sudou-kun fought the class c boys. Does your drone record video?"

"Unfortunately, I do not possess the storage device necessary for that, so I couldn't record any images. My queen was just sending a direct feed to my phone... I also didn't record on phone."

I clicked my tongue.

"But wait, you were there right? So you should have seen something."

"I'm sorry, but I didn't see anything. I was too busy talking to Ike and Yamauchi-kun about the latest Power Fan Girl anime episode that came out. It was truly an intense conversation."

"Tch, why were you guys even there?"

Kk-chan asked.

"Why you ask? Because the drone only works in a 200 m radius and we happened to be there."

He responded cooly, then made to take his seat, but I wasn't done questioning him. He may have found a smart way out of it, but he hadn't properly answered the question.

"Hey, Sotomura-san. When Kk-chan asked why you were there, I think she meant why the Annex building of all places."

"Oh... um... that- that's um..."

His reaction this time was off and awkward. I had caught him. He knew something, but just didn't want to talk.

Everyone in the class caught on to how weird this was. They started to ask him about it as well, wanting to know just what exactly he was doing there when he had no reason to be there.

The bell for homeroom went off and almost immediately, Chabashira sensei walked in.

"Settle down students."