Chapter 2 Part II

"Hey...I've already given up since I've been saying this over and over but why is it my room?".

At night, for some reason, after eating dinner each individual member of the usual group gathered in my room. Ike and Yamauchi were naturally here as promised, but also Kushida and Sudou who had finished his club activities were also here. 

It would be perfect if Horikita were also here. 

"Kikyo-chan, do you know the birthdays of any other girl?".

"Yeah. I've pretty much memorized it from all the girls I've heard from so I know more or less. Whose birthday do you want to know?".

"The thing is, it might not be someone from Class D".

"Umm, if it's about senior students then I really don't know much but if it's only about the 1st years I might know" Kushida answered him.

As expected of Kushida, who has mastered the art of worldly wisdom. She seems to have recorded the birthday dates as to not forget them. 

"Then tell me one thing, which girls have their birthday on the 29th of this month?".

"A girl with a birthday on the 29th? Give me a moment".

Having brought out her phone, it seems Kushida is going through what is probably a birthday list. And after that, she scrolled across the screen for a while but after a while, she raised her head.

"Sorry. It doesn't seem to be anyone I know of" she said.

"I think it's probably a girl from Class A".

"Class A? Hmm, I've already heard all their birthdays though".

Even so, she doesn't seem to know the birthday of the girl that would be taking place the day after tomorrow. 

"If it's a 1st year girl I thought I'd know though, I can't think of anyone". If even Kushida's overwhelming social network could not place a name to that person it probably means the person receiving the gift would have to be from a different school year. 

If that is the case, even Kushida won't know and we were unable to get the answer we were looking for. 

"Does that mean the chances of it being a senior student are high?".

Ike threw up his arms helplessly with that statement and fell on his back. 

"Is there something wrong with that person born on the 29th?" Kushida asked Ike. And in response to her simple question, Ike replied to her in a matter-of-fact tone.

"Listen to this~. You know the baldie from Class A Katsuragi right?".

"Yep. Katsuragi-kun is the one who's responsible for organizing everyone in his class so he's quite famous. In the test earlier I was in the same group as him" Kushida replied.

"The thing is, that baldie's going to be giving someone a birthday present on the 29th. For a baldie that's not too shabby".

After hearing Ike repeat the keyword 'baldie' many times over, Kushida gave him a warning to be careful---

"Katsuragi-kun suffered from a sickness when he was little leaving him with complete hair loss. You better not tease him" Kushida warned.

"Uuuuu...."

Having been scolded by Kushida like that, Ike who was elated just a while ago quickly backed down and went silent. Indeed, we were too excited to notice that the lack of hair, aside from being a fashion statement, could only have been a result of sickness.

The act of mocking the sick is a shameful one, and Ike himself should have realized this. Just playing it up for cheap laughs because it was an easy point to mock seems to have backfired and lowered his likability. 

"Right? From now on, let's call him properly by his name ok?".

"O-of course, sorry Kikyo-chan. I made you feel uncomfortable".

"It's ok, as long as you understand. If you're going to fix that attitude from now on I'd be glad".

But after that conversation had ended, it seems she still has something to say to us since Kushida, without wasting any time, continued to talk.

"And also, about what happened today with Shinohara-san---".

"Uuuuu....".

It seems Ike who have preferred to forget that ever happened, but since Kushida was bringing up the subject, he could not stop her either. 

"I don't even have to tell you, right?" she asked him. And without delving into the subject itself, she simply said that kindly.

"...I'll apologize" Ike said.

"Right. If you do that, I'm sure Shinohara-san will also forgive you".

Although he seemed dissatisfied with it, Ike still honestly said that in front of Kushida. And towards Yamauchi, who was giggling at him, Ike sent a hateful glare. But leaving that aside, thanks to Kushida, it seems Ike was able to mature slightly. 

"And? You were talking about Katsuragi-kun giving someone a birthday present, right?".

"Yeah, yeah. I was wondering if Kikyo-chan would know anything about it".

It seems Kushida is utilizing her social network and searching for any clues inside her head, but it seems she wasn't able to find anything since after a while, she simply shook her head.

"I wonder, I don't really think Katsuragi-kun has that sort of image about him". 

At least not yet, she added. 

"Is there a chance that it could be a senior student?".

"That's right, there are still a lot that I don't know about after all". 

It would be amazing if he was able to go out with a senior student not too long after enrolling, or giving them a birthday present. I honestly wish to offer my respects to the Class A leader. 

However, I wonder if it would be ok if we narrowed down the search to only senior students at this stage. It seems approaching this matter from a different perspective is necessary, but the mood has already switched to finding his girlfriend. 

"Since it's come to this, let's find out who's Katsuragi's girlfriend!".

I feel bad for interrupting them while they're in high spirits but it would be prudent to point out that there is still another possibility.

"Is it really ok to conclude that it's a senior student?".

"But Kikyo-chan already said she doesn't know any girl whose birthday is the 29th so there's really no other option besides that, right? Or is it that? By any chance, could it be Horikita-san?".

It was only Ike's uneducated guess, but I cannot rule out that possibility either. 

"I suppose that's also a possibility...".

"Huh? Don't fuck around" Sudou said. Sudou, who had been quietly listening to our conversation until now, said those words while glaring at me and Ike. 

"Guuu! I-I just said that was a possibility, that's all!" Ike replied to Sudou.

"Oi Ayanokouji, when is Suzune's birthday" Sudou asked me. 

"I don't know" I replied.

"What the hell you're useless" Sudou told me.

But even if he says that, there's no way I would know when Horikita's birthday is. 

"If you think about it logically, I don't think anyone in this school knows when Horikita's birthday is".

The only one who would likely know would have to be the student council president who also happens to be her older brother. 

"I see. I suppose that's also true, so even though Ayanokouji and I don't know, he knows huh---".

"I know too. Horikita-san's birthday is on the 15th of February. I don't think that has anything to do with this case" Kushida piped in. 

"...as expected of Kushida".

I unexpectedly praised her without thinking. I never expected she'd even know Horikita's birthday. I thought even Kushida would not be able to find out the personal information of loners like Horikita and Ibuki. Especially when it came to Horikita. This is something only I and the concerned party know, but apparently Kushida hates Horikita and in turn, Horikita also dislikes Kushida. That's why I never thought they would be the type to tell each other of their birthdays. She could have learned from a third party, but it's not like Horikita normally talks to other people as well. That's why I was impressed with Kushida.

"So it's the 15th of February, huh? I've heard something really good" Sudou says while grinning and laughing. Ike, whose neck was trapped under Sudou's arm, tapped the ground while his face slowly turned pale. 

"Oh---sorry, I forgot about you" Sudou tells Ike. 

"Zeze, Ken you should be more careful since you have monstrous strength!".

"It's because you were saying some confusing stuff".

"Then do it to Ayanokouji too, why are you only picking on me?!".

"It's because you're the closest".

"You single-celled organism!" Ike shouted back at Sudou.

"Huh?".

When Sudou moved to grab him by the chest again, Ike panicked and quickly took his distance from Sudou. I'd like him to stop rampaging around in someone else's room. Sooner or later I think there will be a complaint. 

"The conversation drifted a bit, but what I wanted to say is different. I wanted to say that there are also other possible candidates. It could also be for a teacher or for one of the clerks at Keyaki Mall. The people we saw during shopping today were all beauties, right?" I said.

"I-I see. When you put it that way, it seems like that's also possible". 

Of course, that is leaving aside whether or not a grown-up would actually attempt to date a 1st year student. Considering rules and morals, and the massive problem it would entail, I cannot imagine such a couple relationship being established. I'm sure Katsuragi also understands that. It's just that it's too soon to exclude that as one of the possibilities.

In any case, what we have to be mindful of right now is, to not arbitrarily decide that it must be a senior student. Basically, it's quite difficult to narrow down the person in question, so I'd like them to quickly understand that it's best to just leave it alone. 

"Let's stop beig overly excited by ourselves here and stop trying to find out who's Katsuragi's girlfriend, how about that?" 

"Are you fine with that?! Even if that baldie has an older girlfriend who's both tolerant of him and with extremely large breasts?".

Even if he had that sort of ideal girlfriend, I wouldn't feel the need to curse at him. 

"If it's someone from Class A, it wouldn't be strange even if they were popular with older girls".

But alas this is Class D. Just having a handsome face or a good personality won't be enough to make us popular...but that's not really right either. Hirata is not only popular with the 1st year girls but also senior students as well, it seems like. 

And also, a while ago, it seems Kouenji has been getting some attention from the senior students as well. 

In the end, it seems the one thing Ike and the others share with me is our lack of popularity. 

"I absolutely don't want him to get ahead of me!" Ike said.

"But even if you say that, there's nothing we can do about it".

"That's not true. Just because it's an opponent that we're likely to lose to, doesn't mean we have no chances of winning either" Sudou said as he glanced at us while hitting his thighs.

"In basketball, as long as it's for victory, even barely legal plays can be done. No, if it's for the sake of victory, as long as it's needed even outright fouls will be committed. You need to be that serious and obsessed about winning. If him giving a girl a present would bring him closer to her, all we have to do is stop him from doing it" Sudou continued.

He seems rather aggressive. But if this were a crucial game to be won, Sudou's idea is the perfect answer. If it were me, I would have done the same thing. But this time, this idea is not coming from a logical point of view but rather being done out of personal jealousy. It's not something that should be praised. But even so, it's not like the usual Sudou, he seems to be all fired up. 

"Speaking of which, your tournament's coming up soon". 

It seems Yamauchi noticed that since he said that as he turned to look at Sudou.

"Yeah. It's on Thursday. I still don't know if I'll get to play or not but I'm ready to head out onto the field anytime" Sudou said as he slammed his right fist into his opened left hand as if to show off his perfect condition. 

"Yeah, that's it! I'm going to mess with him". In response to Sudou's reckless thoughts, Ike seems to have made a decision to interfere. 

"Kushida, please say something to him".

"Kanji-kun, it's no good if you interfere with him like that". 

"Ehhh, no way...Kikyo-chan, you're also interested to find out who's Katsuragi's girlfriend aren't you?". 

"Of course I'm also interested to know who he's giving the present to, but intefering is no good".

In the end, Kushida doused Ike's excitement from his intention to interfere, leaving him discontent. 

"And that's that".

Perhaps he's dissatisfied from having his idea to interfere using Kushida be ruined, or from being reminded of the incident with Shinohara, Ike turned to me and said this.

"Then Ayanokouji. You find out their identity. Who exactly is it that Katsuragi is going to hand his present over to". 

"That's impossible".

"Even if it's impossible, you must still do it. You're free anyways, right?" Ike told me.

I certainly cannot deny that but...if he's that curious I'd like him to investigate it himself. 

"Finding out is fine and all but, I'm not in the same class as him and we're not even friends you know" I told him.

It's going to be painful to research the contact number, the room number and names of people I don't even know. 

"If it's Katsuragi-kun's contact number then I know. Do you want me to tell you?" Kushida asked me.

".....".

That's right...the one beside me right now is someone who even knows Horikita's birthday, the beautiful girl with the largest social network in the school. It certainly wouldn't be strange even if she were to know Katsuragi's contact number.

"How do you know his contact number?".

"A while ago during the test we were in the same group. I asked him for it then".

I see. To be able to exchange contact numbers even in a situation like that is something amazing. 

"So, I'll tell you then".

"No. That's fine. If I just suddenly happened to contact him, Katsuragi would also be surprised".

He might even ignore an incoming call from a number he doesn't recognize.

"You stopped me from interfering with him so take responsibility" Ike told me.

"Even if you tell me to take responsibility...".

"I'm also curious so make sure to investigate it" Sudou gives me an order with a bullish attitude.

"Don't you think you should investigate it yourselves?" I asked.

"Huh? I'm not free until the tournament on Thursday. I only have a few more days to practice you know?" Sudou replies to me.

He's using his club activities as an excuse to force this onto me. When I remained silent without answering him, Sudou starts to glare at me. 

"Do you want me to make you listen to me with force?" Sudou asks me as he starts swinging his arms around. Depending on the situation, he may put me in a headlock. In this group, the one with the lowest communication ability, which is me, would be unable to escape if he decides to make an example out of me. 

"...I got it. I'll try looking into it tomorrow. Just don't expect too much. I don't know how it's going to turn out" I told him. Let's get this over with for now. I can just tell them later I tried to investigate it and couldn't find out anything and that'll be the end of that.