Chapter 103 :: Who I Want To Be

Chapter 103 :: Who I Want To Be

Lelouch's POV

Currently, I was standing in a rather monstrous group. From my class, there was me and Suzaku. Horikita and Kushida from Class E, Ryūen and Ibuki from Class C, Kanzaki and Ichinose from Class B and Katsuragi from Class A. For a total of nine people.

"Kuku, I'll tell you a little secret, Lelouch," said Ryūen with a smirk. "I already know who the one VIP from Class D is."

I raised my eyebrow, and Kushida, Suzaku and Ichinose all widened their eyes in shock. Katsuragi didn't show any sign of reacting, however.

"Oh really?" I responded with a smile.

"Really."

So, in that case, he knows that Suzaku is our VIP after all, does he? Well, might as well find out for sure.

"Hmm, I'll humour you. How did you find it?" I inquired.

"Oh? Perhaps, somebody in your class betrayed you and told me?"

He intended to be vague, huh? Well, he should also know that his lie won't work on me at all.

"But Ryūen-kun, I don't think anybody from Lelouch-kun's class would betray them, though," Ichinose interjected.

"Aren't you trusting?" Ryūen flashed his teeth.

"From a rational perspective, it would make no logical sense for any Class D students to work with you, Ryūen," Katsuragi said.

"Yeah! We all know what happens when we work with you!" Yahiko shouted, jabbing his finger towards Ryūen.

"Calm down, Yahiko," Katsuragi scolded him.

I let out a laugh, along with Ryūen. Apparently, we both found the little doggy Yahiko to be greatly amusing.

"Are you not concerned, Lelouch?" Kanzaki asked me.

"Not at all," I replied immediately. "It's impossible for us to lose this exam, after all."

We've already gained 50 class points from Light's trick, and considering that we only have 1 VIP that can be guessed, it's mathematically impossible for us to go into the negatives now, even in the worst-case scenario.

"That may be true. But it's also impossible for you to win." Ryūen said with a smirk.

Well, he's not wrong. If Ryūen knows our VIP, then he must have figured out the pattern, and the only way he could've done that is by colluding with the other classes. The most likely of which being Class B or Class E, perhaps even both.

That doesn't matter, though. Class D already knew this was going to happen from the very beginning. But it's okay. On the surface, it looked like we'd just been outsmarted by Ryūen's scheme, but that wasn't exactly the case.

If we teamed up with Class A, we'd be able to figure out the pattern and guess around eight VIPs, or four each for a 200 class point gain, which would be a net victory for us and Class A over the other three classes.

However, if we did do that, the gap between Class D and Class A wouldn't close at all.

For that reason, we'd deliberately chosen not to do that.

While it is a stain on our record to give Ryūen this win, it's better for the long term. We only have one VIP, which means we can't gain as much from this exam as other classes can, but it also means we can't lose as much.

By allowing Ryūen to come out on top this time, it means that all of Class A's VIPs will be guessed – and since they are playing pure defense, it means that they're near guaranteed to lose 150 class points from this exam, while we won't lose anything.

Sure, we'll be allowing Class B and Class C to close the current gap in class points a little, but the amount we'll gain on Class A is bigger, and they're our main focus at the moment.

Not only that, but if we don't do this, there's a possibility that Class A will end up sitting comfortably at the top down the line. It's better to just take the backseat in this exam and let Ryūen do his thing to hit Class A hard now, while we have the chance.

All of Class D (minus Suzaku, of course) had arrived at this same conclusion wordlessly, so we didn't ever need to discuss it. Obviously, Suzaku still had no idea what we were doing, but keeping him in the dark a little is rather amusing.

"That's fine by me, to be honest." I replied with an equal smirk.

"Kuku, remaining all cocky even when defeated, are we?" Ryūen shot back.

"No, that's not it. What I meant was, I'm all right with taking a little damage if it means Class A gets dragged down."

Katsuragi raised his eyebrow, and his eyes widened slightly as I said that.

"What makes you think Class A will get dragged down?" he asked.

I shrugged my shoulders. "Just a hunch. That's all."

Suzaku, Kushida and Ibuki looked completely lost by the conversation. It seemed that Kushida and Ibuki, like Suzaku, hadn't been filled in on the specifics of the exam either.

"So, you saw even this far ahead right from the start, Lelouch-kun...?" Ichinose muttered. "That's..."

I smirked at the puzzled Ichinose as I answered. "Due to the frankly unfair circumstances of this exam for Class D, the strategy we'd employ was obvious to everyone. However, that also means that your strategy is obvious as well."

"You're saying everything was destined to pan out like this from the start?" Horikita asked.

"Exactly," I said. "Every other class concluded that Class D are forced to go for a betrayal strategy in our groups. And the only way to stop that is to betray first yourselves! That's how I knew what you'd do."

Most of the intelligent people, like Class D and Ryūen, had already foreseen this outcome right from the very start. The outcome where Class A takes the fall.

I'd considered approaching Katsuragi and explaining this to him, and offering to help in exchange for a contracted favour, similar to the one we have with Class E. However, I decided not to in the end, because it's unlikely that Katsuragi would accept, seeing as he almost definitely forged one with Ryūen back on the island.

Besides, Class A taking a 150 class point hit is something everyone loves to see.

"I see..." Horikita looked down. "I hate to admit it, but Class D... may be better than I gave them credit for."

I was stunned for a brief second, but quickly snapped out of it and let out a loud bout of laughter, much to Horikita's annoyance.

"Ahh, that's something I never expected you to say, Horikita."

Ryūen nodded his head in agreement, a grin on his face.

"Kuku, Suzune has matured a little after being shown the huge gap between her and the other leaders repeatedly."

"Hey! Since when did I agree that there's a 'huge gap' between me and anyone?!" Horikita snapped.

"Hmm, let's see..." I began. "During the first month, my class had already figured out almost all of the S system, and special exams. Ryūen was already experimenting with what he could and couldn't get away with, and gathering advanced intel such as the camera locations in the school. Ichinose had managed to form such strong unity that not even Ryūen could break it apart."

At the start of the school year, as well as attempting to cause trouble by framing Light as a violent perpetrator, Ryūen had also made some other movements behind the scenes.

One of these such things was his attempt to cause a split within Class B. Ultimately, he'd failed, but he'd actually managed to cause around 100 class points of damage to them in the process.

Every class was doing things to strengthen their class right from the start, albeit each in their own unique ways. That is every class except for the original Class D.

"What were you doing during that time, Horikita?" I asked.

"Uh, well..." Horikita started, but the words got caught in her throat.

"Eto, Lelouch-kun, don't you think it's bad to ridicule Horikita-san like this?" Kushida interjected with gentle, pleading eyes.

I looked down at the cute girl before me. I'm sure that most men would be captivated by merely her gaze, but to me, who has zero interest in the opposite sex, her charms were as good as non-existent.

That being said, however, I can't act rude or dismissive, especially to Kushida. I was one of the few people in Class D with a strong social pull, and that was an asset we desperately needed to keep. So, I had to play nice.

"Well, I suppose so," I said.

"The next discussion is starting soon, so I'm going to take my leave," Kanzaki said, turning his back to us.

Ryūen let out a laugh. "So, you're really fine with letting me stain your record, Lelouch?"

I responded with a laugh of my own. "It helps Class D anyway."

"Are you trying to say you're using our strategy against us, or something?" Ibuki interrupted with a scowl.

"Relax, Ibuki," Ryūen told her with a smile. "They probably think they're all clever. But I calculated this from the beginning. I'm okay with giving Class D a slight helping hand in the short term. I'll just crush them later."

With that, Ryūen walked away without waiting to hear my retort. Ibuki, and then Class A and Class E shortly after, followed suit and left for their respective rooms.

"Is it really all right to let Ryūen have his way?" Suzaku asked after they'd all left.

"We're losing the battle to win the war. There's no need for concern," I answered confidently.

One benefit to only having seven students in your class is that you don't have to worry about morale. Everybody mutually understands our objective, which makes the scope of our options much broader, since the human element of our team is greatly reduced compared to the other classes.

"Ryūen will still be catching up to us though," Suzaku pointed out.

"Right. But, what would be the point in beating Ryūen again? We already surmounted him in the island exam, so there's no point in considering him as a main adversary any further. Right now, our main priority is surpassing Class A, and if Ryūen wants to help pull them down, then why not go ahead and let him?"

When you're in this position, it's wise to choose your battles carefully. We don't know how many special exams there will be, and many of them may not be as kind to our class as the island exam was – the disadvantage endured by only having seven people could be much more prominent in the future.

As a result, it's very well possible that we don't get a chance again to beat Class A ourselves. It's vital, then, to capitalise on this opportunity right now.

"Anyway, what I predict will be the final meeting for every group is about to start. We should get going," I said.

A raised eyebrow and suspicious look of confusion made its way onto his face, but it quickly disappeared and Suzaku gave a nod of agreement.

"Right. I'll meet you here afterwards?"

"Yep."

With that, we went our separate ways.

Sora's POV

A golden sunset washed over me as I walked along the quiet ship deck, hand in hand with my sister.

It had been a fair amount of time since the discussion we'd just had had ended, and since there was nothing else to be done before bed, I'd decided to go for a walk with Shiro to kill some time.

I stopped walked, and felt Shiro pause as well beside me. I turned silently, and gazed out over the vast plane of sparkling ocean, which was dyed a reflective orange by the descending sun on the horizon.

"Who would've ever thought we'd be standing on a ship with this view, eh, Shiro?" I said with a smile.

I felt Shiro's hand relax slightly in mine.

"Nii is... enjoying himself...?"

Despite the stumble I'd endured at the hands of Ryūen today, I was still happy with my overall situation. It'd be foolish to expect no hardships to come up, and facing those challenges is much better than being holed up in that room day in and day out.

And there were still new ways for me to test myself at this school, and good friends I had. But, most of all, the atmosphere here was... tranquil, in its own way.

This school was probably the only one in the world that could foster this kind of environment. One where Shiro and I could live comfortably.

"Of course I am!" I proclaimed, before quieting down and shooting my sister a worrying glance. "Are you not, dear sister of mine?"

"Well... the school is good... but... it's hard," she replied, looking down.

Yeah, tell me about it.

But, to be fair, I hadn't let Shiro know about the incident that took place between me and Ryūen earlier. Ayanokōji – whom I now referred to as Kiyotaka – was the only person who knew about it. And I intended to keep it that way.

Somehow, I found it easy to connect with Kiyotaka. Well, it was easy to connect with all of my classmates, really, but I felt a special kind of understanding between Kiyotaka and I in particular.

It's unclear exactly what that thing is, and I'd concluded that it's probably something which lies beneath the surface. As a result, it was better to not try to find out about it, either.

We all had secrets, after all. Me included. And a secret isn't a secret if people find out about it. For that reason, I didn't feel the need to pry into the life of Ayanokōji Kiyotaka.

I took my hand back from Shiro, and moved it instead to her head.

"Hard is a subjective word." I told her.

"What... do you mean?" she asked, her eyes questioning.

"Digging a hole is much easier if you have a shovel than if you don't. This school, as well as everything else in life, is the same." I answered.

Shiro looked as if she didn't get it.

"So... what should I do...?"

I shot her a smirk. "You gotta get yourself a shovel."

Just then, a barrage of buzzing noises assaulted the once peaceful air around us. Both of our phones pinging with multiple notifications simultaneously. I let out a sigh as I reached for my phone.

"From... the school...?" Shiro murmured as she flickered her eyes over her own phone screen.

Sent to our phones were, indeed, ten mails from the school. Each of them saying the exact same thing.

The end of the exam for the Rat group. And the Cow group. And the Tiger group. And the Rabbit group. And the Dragon group. And the Snake group. And the Horse group. And the Sheep group. And the Dog group. And the Pig group.

"Just as we predicted..." Shiro continued with a soft smile.

I let out a laugh of genuine joy.

"Isn't it exciting, Shiro?! Class D is in a precarious state right now! We either have a net zero, or negative 100 points from this exam! And we have no way to know which it is until the end!"

My sister appeared a little taken aback by my ramblings of glee. Well, I suppose anybody would be.

"Nii... do you really think... that Horikita lied? To Light?" Shiro asked me.

I shrugged. "Well, probably not. But, there's always a chance. So we can never be completely certain."

Shiro closed her eyes for a brief second, before opening them and beginning to speak once more.

"There are 183 different possible selection patterns which include both Kururugi Suzaku and Inogashira Kokoro... With Yamauchi Haruki, 167... And Mori Nene, 171... Statistically speaking, it's more likely that she wasn't lying..."

"183?!" I echoed in shock. "The hell kind of patterns are you considering?! Their blood types?"

Shiro looked me in the eye with a serious look.

"Brother, even with just names alone, there are countless possibilities... Alphabetical order and reversed alphabetical order, with a huge variety of ways to select which name on the list is the VIP... number of vowels in a name, number of a specified character, surnames ordered by how common they are... not to mention there are tons of different languages and scripts the names can be written in, wherein all of these possibilities can be repeated and counted again... And—"

"Okay, okay!" I exclaimed, waving my hands in front of me. "I get it. I'm sorry for doubting you."

I should've known that Shiro wouldn't make a mistake when it came to calculation, but still, it was quite hard to believe that there were 183 different ways to link two completely different people.

I removed my hand from Shiro's head and started resuming my walk, but I was stopped by a tugging sensation on my shirt.

"Nii..." Shiro whispered.

"Hm? What is it, Shiro?" I asked, turning around and placing my hand on the back of her head.

"Am I... no... I'm an outcast again... aren't I? Everybody else... they were able to do this exam without difficulty... but me... I couldn't even go to one meeting..."

Ah, I see. Even though Light had done his best to help out in that department, Shiro was still feeling down as a result of not being able to do what everybody else, including me, managed to do.

And then, as a derivative of that, she was likely remembering that past of hers. It's natural she'd also feel a lingering sense of fear in this situation, I suppose.

I gently ran my hand through Shiro's beautiful, white hair.

"Nobody will blame you for it, you know?" I reassured her.

"How... do you know...?" Shiro asked back.

"Your brother is the best of all at reading people," I answered. "And I've already concluded that our classmates aren't those kinds of people."

Shiro looked down briefly, before letting out a soft hum of acknowledgement.

"If Nii says so... then it must be."

I gave her a satisfied nod, before taking her hand back in mine.

"Well, we should start heading back. It's getting late," I said to my sister.

Shiro gave a nod of agreement, and we began making our way back to the guest room. I hope Kiyotaka hasn't been lonely

Ayanokōji's POV

It was around half one in the morning when my roommate quietly woke up. Taking extreme consideration as to not wake his sister, Sora slipped out of bed. Since students were required to sleep in their jerseys, he stole out of the room while still wearing it.

After I'd confirmed he wasn't going to the men's room, I grabbed my key card and got out of bed myself. It was just a small hunch, but it seemed like my shot in the dark had been spot on.

Once he realised that I was awake, we exchanged glances without speaking a word. Without looking away, he motioned that we should move out to the hall. Then, he stepped out. I found him in the hallway, wearing a mixed expression.

"I'll assume it's safe to say I didn't wake you?"

"Right. I had a suspicion you'd be leaving the room tonight."

Sora let out a laugh. "Now, why would you think that, I wonder?"

Trying to deceive him would have a detrimental effect, so I thought it best to just be honest.

"You told me all about the situation with Karuizawa and those Class C girls, right? I had a feeling you'd still want to do something about it, but you wouldn't want to trouble Shiro with it. That's why I guessed you'd make an escape during the night."

Honestly, the chances were pretty low, but, knowing Sora, he wouldn't be able to just sit by and watch.

The boy in question gave an immediate nod. Quick on the uptake, as always. Only to be expected of Class D's resident human-reading expert.

"I can't say that I expected Kiyotaka to appear here, but at the same time, it's not entirely unexpected, either."

It's still slightly jarring every time I hear him call me by that name. Perhaps it's because I've never heard that name called in a friendly way until now.

The both of us silently agreed to start walking, and I allowed Sora to lead the way as I began speaking.

"To be frank, I half-predicted you'd make a move to do something during the night, but I actually have no idea what you're planning to do. Do you have some sort of plan?" I asked him.

A complex smile formed itself on Sora's face. "I'll be honest here. I know that I seemed all rejuvenated and that after you found spoke to me on the emergency stairs earlier, but that was mostly only a boost to my motivation. In reality, the fact that I'm a massive weakling hasn't changed. As a result... well, you get what I mean."

That makes sense. Although I had helped guide Sora back onto the path of self-improvement and determination, in this very moment, on this ship, he hadn't actually changed apart from that boost in motivation

In other words, Sora remained both physically and mentally incapable of solving this issue on his own. He couldn't influence the situation directly. That meant that he'd probably try to help somebody else solve the problem instead.

"I see," I replied. "So, where are we going?"

"Earlier, the incident between Manabe and Karuizawa was by far the most severe thing that's happened thus far. Now, I've observed Karuizawa's behaviour for a few days now, and one thing is clear. She gains power by getting a highly influential figure into her palm, even if the risk is making enemies."

Gaining power by taking control of powerful names, huh? That meant that she behaved almost like a parasite would, attaching herself to the most powerful man she can in each new environment.

But no, what I was more intrigued by was her mindset in all of this. From what Sora had just told me, it was clear now. Karuizawa effectively just viewed her 'hosts', so to speak, as tools for her own power security.

Well, anyway, knowing this meant that you could get a pretty good read on how Karuizawa would act in this kind of situation.

"In other words, she'll turn to the highly influential figure she's had almost this entire time now. Hirata Yōsuke, her boyfriend."

I concluded that that's where Sora was intending to go tonight. He'd deduced that, if Karuizawa had contacted Hirata, they'd have to meet up somewhere out of the way, since it's a very delicate subject.

That meant that they too would likely be having a secret rendezvous during the dead of the night. And Sora intended to make his move by appearing before them during this time. That was his way of trying to help.

"Exactly. But, if you ask me, I think that Hirata is completely underqualified to deal with this kind of thing."

Sora seemed to share my sentiment on this matter, too. Hirata was like Ichinose – he wanted to be everybody's ally, and was on everyone's side. This seemed good at first glance, but in a situation like this, the problem is that he won't put wholly put his support behind Karuizawa.

In fact, there's a good chance that Hirata won't even help at all, because he also wants to be an ally to the Class C girls. If that happens, Karuizawa will be in an extremely tough position.

"I agree. That's what separates the likes of Hirata to a true elite like Light."

While Light also upholds his principles of being amicable, he wouldn't be naïve enough to think this situation will just disappear if you try to be friendly with everyone.

No, he'd probably take one look at this whole thing and instantly see that this'll only escalate if nobody intervenes. And, no matter how you spin it, Manabe and her gang are bound to end up being the ones to escalate it further, and ultimately, will be the ones in the wrong.

And we all know what Light's policies on justice are by now.

All in all, this would make him a much more valuable 'host' for Karuizawa than Hirata. Even as a mere ally, he'd be a much more powerful asset, in my opinion.

"So, anyway, what do you plan to do? Stalk his room until he comes out?" I made an attempt at a joke.

Sora turned to look at me.

"..."

"..."

"..."

"So, do you think he'll come out any time soon?"

We found ourselves hiding near the exit to the boys' guest room corridor.

"I dunno..." Sora replied. "It's been like, half an hour now..."

Just as we were beginning to think we were wasting our time, I sensed movement coming from the corridor.

Sora didn't seem aware of it yet, so I conveyed the information with a deliberate nod towards the corridor, which was located just out of sight from us, who were waiting on the stairwell exit.

The presence eventually reached right to the other side of the wall, and then shortly after, a reasonably loud ding sounded out.

Sora and I, immediately realising what it was, looked at each other but didn't say a word. It seemed like both of us were speechless due to our own stupidity.

"Uh, this is a problem," Sora said eventually, as the person outside who was probably Hirata stepped forwards.

On the Speranza, there were two different modes of transport for traversing between the levels of the ship. There were the emergency stairs and the elevators. The elevators were, of course, by far more commonly used, and were also what Hirata(?) had just called now.

"How the hell are we gonna know which floor he gets off at?" Sora continued in a panicked whisper.

"Well," I began, thinking of the only possible solution. "You said you wanted to get stronger right? Might as well start now. We just have to get to the next floor before the elevator does. This'll be a good workout for you!"

Sora stared at me as if I was an alien species. "Have you gone mad?! Are you aware how difficult it is to sprint up this many stairs?!"

Well, maybe for a beginner, this kind of exercise was far too taxing. The upside is that it'd be a good indicator for where his current level is.

"Well, we don't really have much time to think of an alternative. The elevator is literally about to start going up," I retorted.

Sora thought for a few painfully slow seconds, before shaking his head aggressively. "Fine! I got no better ideas."

Without waiting to hear more, I turned on my heel and began running up the stairs.

Contrary to popular belief, what the human body feels and senses is not speed, but acceleration. This is because, no matter what the speed is, when a human is moving at a constant velocity, there are no forces acting on it.

However, some kind of force is required to either accelerate or decelerate you, so you can feel, or sense, that force. Like when you're sitting in a car, you only get that feeling of being pressed against your seat when you speed up to overtake someone.

The same is true for elevators – elevators accelerate quickly when they start moving, and then travel at a constant speed right up until they stop quickly.

In other words, unless you were an abnormal human calculator like Shiro, who could map out the travel times between floors on the elevator and vertical distance between each stop, there was no way to tell how fast the elevators actually moved.

All I had to go off of was the approximate time it took to move between floors, but since the number of floors travelled at a time often varied throughout the course of the day, getting a consistent measurement was extremely unlikely.

What this meant was that I couldn't afford to run slowly to account for Sora's pace – if it turned out that the elevators moved faster than I assumed, then I'd miss Hirata(?) getting off at his floor.

I funnelled power into my legs and swiftly left the astonished Sora behind, climbing the metal stairs at a speed that would probably win me a barrage of questions if it were witnessed.

I arrived at the next level up in no time, and after waiting a reasonable amount of time, concluded that the person in the elevator wouldn't be disembarking at this floor.

The panting Sora just managed to clamber up to where I was, clearly exhausted already just by running up one flight of stairs. I felt a little bad, but had no time to lose, so I shot off once more up the stairs.

As I ran, I couldn't help but let random thoughts wander into my mind – these stairs are kind of creepy.

I mean, what I'm essentially ascending is a giant vertical tube, which was very dimly lit and was only accompanied by a spiralling set of stairs that looked as if they went on forever.

Due to the only light sources coming from the rooms on each floor, the actual stairs were very dark. As a result, all you could see by looking up was a set of stairs that lead into a deep blackness. It gave off an eerily vast sense of scale, as if you could continue up these stairs into the pitch-black void forever, to no end. Humans naturally would feel unsettled by this, as it opposed all the sensible norms we know of the everyday world.

Not only that, but in this dark and at this desolate time of night when everybody was sound asleep, anyone could be lurking on these stairs somewhere, or anything could happen on them, and nobody would ever know.

I reached the next level, and once again confirmed that the suspected Hirata was not getting off at this floor before beginning my ascent once again. This time, Sora did not make it up in time before I left.

I repeated this process of sprinting procedurally up the eerie stairs, until eventually, I heard another ding sound ring out. By the sounds of it, the door had opened.

This is the floor. Concealing my presence as best I could, I shifted to get a better view. Sure enough, it was Hirata. He was taking great care not to be seen as he sneaked toward his destination.

I quickly sent Sora a text, informing him of which floor we were on, before tailing Hirata silently.

It was not admirable to eavesdrop – the fact that Karuizawa called Hirata out at this time indicated that it was something she didn't want others to hear. However, it's almost impossible that they'd agree to Sora and my presence at their discussion, so hiding and listening in was a necessary evil.

The meeting place ended up being in front of the vending machine near the second-level lounge area. This location also appeared to be chosen deliberately.

It was in the centre of the hallway, which meant that while it'd be easy for them to be spotted by some, they'd also be able to see them, too. Its location made eavesdropping difficult.

However, to me, when it came to things like this, as long as it wasn't 'impossible', I could handle it like a trivial task, even if it were deemed 'difficult' by even an experienced spy or hitman.

I quickly found a good spot, and settled into the shadows such that I could easily hear and see what was going on, but my presence was thoroughly concealed.

Karuizawa was already waiting for Hirata, clad in her jersey and sitting on the sofa. When Karuizawa saw Hirata coming, she instantly smiled and greeting him.

"Ah, Hirata-kun! You came!"

"Of course I did," Hirata responded. "So, I assume you wanted to talk alone, right?"

"Yeah, clearly. Why else would I go to the effort of coming to such a secluded place?" Karuizawa answered.

There was a brief lull of silence, and it looked as if Hirata was considering how best to approach the situation at hand.

"You were telling me about a fight with Manabe-san from Class C, right?"

Hirata went with a direct approach. Well, I suppose there was no merit in skirting around the issue when it's just the two of them.

"That's—... right." Karuizawa confirmed, her smile slowly fading as she recalled the memory.

"Did they use violence?" Hirata asked tentatively.

Karuizawa swallowed heavily, before replying with an unexpectedly weak nod of affirmation.

Hirata, on the other hand, looked momentarily lost in thought and closed his eyes. I wondered what he'd do. Would he call Manabe and her friends out and reprimand them? Or would he report them to the school?

"If Manabe-san and her friends got violent with you, we definitely need to take action. I absolutely cannot allow violence," he said.

When Karuizawa heard Hirata's just words, she broke back into her wide smile. "So, you'll take revenge on her for me, right?"

I hadn't expected such unsettling words. Then again, from the perspective of someone who'd been physically threatened, it must've looked like a kill-or-be-killed situation.

Just then, I sensed an additional presence approach the area from behind me. I looked over my shoulder, and confirmed the silhouette of a thoroughly worn-out Sora approaching and silently as he could in his condition.

I beckoned him over, and he crept up next to me, trying as best he could not to be noticed. I had to give him props – for a shut-in, he was surprisingly good at hiding himself. Maybe he'd learned some techniques from a game or two.

"I can't do that," Hirata's firm voice brought my attention back to the ongoing conversation.

I could make out the confused yet attentive facial expression of Sora, who had only just tuned into the conversation, trying to make sense of what was being said

"What?! Why not?" Karuizawa raised her voice, apparently not being mindful of the noise.

"Because this isn't like you, Karuizawa-san. You aren't a violent person," Hirata answered.

"But your girlfriend's suffering, right? You should want to help me."

"Yes, I do. But I don't believe in an eye for an eye. You know that, don't you?"

Their core differences were starting to clash, and it seemed like Sora was thinking the same thing. Although he likely didn't know the exact specifics of the conversation, he'd been able to pick up on the gist of it just from a few lines of back-and-forth dialogue.

"Let's think this through. If possible, let's find a way to get along with Manabe-san and her friends," he said.

I heard Sora sigh gently yet disappointedly under his breath and whisper: "What the hell is up with this guy? His optimism is a borderline mental disorder!"

I was focused on a different thing, however. Namely:

"Hey," I whispered deadly quietly to Sora. "Doesn't their conversation seem a little... off, for a couple?"

"Hmm... now that you mention it, yeah. Even if they don't really like expressing affection in public, you'd at least think they'd be a little more intimate with each other when they're alone. They've been dating for what, like four months now?" Sora agreed.

"They seem a bit too formal..." I murmured, as Karuizawa began speaking again.

"That's impossible isn't it? I mean, they absolutely hate me for practically no reason. Please, you have to understand!" she begged.

"No reason? Didn't this start because you had an issue with Morofuji-san, Karuizawa?"

Hirata said Morifuji, but he probably meant Rika. That must've been her last name. It was amazing how much information he had.

+

"But that's... I didn't have any choice! Shinohara and the others were there, and I have to keep up appearances! You understand that, don't you?!"

I narrowed my eyes a little. Because Shinohara was there, she had no choice? What did that mean?

"Please, I'm begging you. Help me. Hirata-kun. You said you'd protect me, didn't you?"

"Of course I'll protect you. But I can't just hurt Manabe-san and her friends for no real reason. Let's try to find a way to resolve things peacefully, through discussion."

"I'm telling you, that's not possible! If I could do that, I wouldn't need your help!"

What she said might have sounded absurd, but I understood how she felt. Karuizawa's position was more dangerous than I expected. Things might very well end violently. For example, students here weren't allowed to smoke, much like many other schools around the world. But there were many schools worldwide who smoked and got away with it. Not everything could be bound by law or governed by rules, and bullying was one of those things.

Hirata did seem to be worried about Karuizawa, but he was also worried about Manabe and her friends. Hirata wanted to think of a way to resolve things peacefully for all parties. He wasn't treating Karuizawa like his treasured girlfriend, but as another friend.

"It doesn't matter what the reason is. I can't do what you want. You're one of my classmates, Karuizawa-san. If you're in trouble, I'll help you, protect you. But I can't hurt someone else to do that, even if they're from Class C," he said.

"You liar! You said you'd protect me!" she shouted.

"Liar"? You've known this was my stance since the beginning." He stood up. The next words out of his mouth would've taken all the students in the grade by surprise. "I've told you from the start that we aren't really boyfriend and girlfriend. I don't mind pretending to go out with you, but I definitely won't fight a war for you."

"You know..." Sora whispered to me. "I know this is probably one of those clichéd 'big reveal' moments and all, but hasn't this been obvious for like the last ten minutes?"

Well, he wasn't wrong about that. Hirata hadn't acted like he was dealing with his beloved girlfriend even once throughout this entire interaction.

"What?! Wh-why are you saying all of this now?!" Karuizawa was horrified by what she'd just heard.

"Because we need a new option now. I want to help you," he said. He wasn't abandoning Karuizawa at all. He was seriously trying to help her, in his own way. He approached Karuizawa, who now looked really upset, but didn't even try to touch her slender, delicate shoulder. I would've expected him to do that much.

"So are you saying... it's better for me to get violent with them?" she asked.

"That's not what I'm saying. I'll do what I can to help you. When morning comes, I intend to speak with Manabe-san and her friends. I'll tell them to stop harassing you, Karuizawa-san. You probably won't like this, but I'll tell them that you'll apologize."

"I don't want to!" Karuizawa had come to Hirata in order to take revenge on Manabe and her friends, and that spoke to her true personality – her real self. More than anything else, Karuizawa was afraid.

"If that's the case, then I can't help you. I'm sorry."

Hirata was calm. Even now, he was composed. But he was also extremely reliable, and for someone like Karuizawa who needed that reliability, losing it was basically a death sentence.

"Whatever! If you're not going to listen to me, then I don't need you!" Karuizawa threw the can of juice she was holding down the hall. The contents spilled all over the place, and the sound echoed down the hall

"Wait!" Finally, Sora called out from our hiding place, freezing both Hirata and Karuizawa in place.

Karuizawa slowly turned around, and it looked as if she'd seen a ghost. Meanwhile, Hirata was equally surprised, and was trying his best to make sense of the situation.

Sora looked quickly at me. We still hadn't shown ourselves, just Sora's voice. "Listen. I don't know what you want to do, Kiyotaka, but I certainly won't be able to do much directly myself. In other words, I'm counting on you... will you help me?"

I let out an exhale and closed my eyes as I sunk into thought.

Ayanokōji Kiyotaka.

This name belonged to me, but depending on who you asked, a very wide range of connotations would be listed as related to that name.

No matter what different people would say about me, though, one thing was for sure; I am a blank slate. When I enrolled at this school, I couldn't really call myself a fully-formed person – I was still trying to find who I was, and more importantly, who I wanted to be.

And, unfortunately, I still was clueless as to who I wanted to be. As to how I wanted the name 'Ayanokōji Kiyotaka' to be remembered by the people who knew him.

I was sure of one thing, though. And that was who I didn't want to be. There was no doubt in my mind that I wanted to be different from 'that man'.

In a sense, him and I are exactly alike. As long as I can protect myself, I don't care what happens to other people.

But even if we are similar in essence, I believe that it's best not to show that essence to others.

In short, what do you do to the many people that you pass by, uncaring of their existence? Should you dispose of them? Or should you reach out your hand to them?

'That man' would undoubtedly do the former. And that's the reason why I, in stubborn opposition, would choose to do the latter.

As long as I win in the end, the fates of others is not a concern. However, this does not mean that I must view everybody as an inferior insect, and crush them under my foot.

Besides, doing that would conflict with my goal of enrolling here in the first place. I came here to enjoy a life that I was unable to live in my past – seeing every other person as a lesser being to destroy would not satisfy that

Consequently...

I gave the spiky-haired boy beside me an affirmative nod. "Okay. Do your best to anger Karuizawa to the point of making her run off. I'll chase after her while you ensure Hirata doesn't follow after us."

Sora's gradient crimson eyes stared deep into mine.

"Right. I'll assume you have an idea of what to do with Karuizawa, so I'll take the bullet on this one."

With that short exchange, the two of us emerged from the shadows, and presented ourselves before Hirata and Karuizawa.

"A-Ayanokōji-kun too?" Hirata stuttered, understandably still dumbstruck.

Karuizawa, on the other hand, glared at us with terrifying bloodlust. "What the hell are you two doing here?! How long have you been there?"

"We were here the whole time," I answered.

"Yeah. We got to hear all about that pathetic situation of yours," Sora added with a taunting smirk.

So, he's really going for it, huh? This is a rare instance where I don't actually need to use someone for them to be effective; this guy is by far competent enough to be a partner.

"So what?!" Karuizawa snapped. "What are you going to say, the same guy who looked like a scared little boy back on the stairs before?!"

Betraying expectation, Sora's grin only grew wider. "Difference is, I didn't run begging to someone to 'take revenge' for me. I just took it on the chin and moved on, unlike a certain someone who needs to get a grip already!"

"Hey, hey, that's uncalled for." Hirata said sternly, slight anger clear in his demeanour.

"Oh, shush, you. You faked being someone's boyfriend just to protect them, and you can't even do that right. You're pretty much useless," Sora goaded him.

"I hate you!" Karuizawa's shout echoed off the walls. "Sora-kun! I absolutely hate you! I wish I could never see your face again!"

"Pff, why's that? Is it because I remind you of how much of a weak, pathetic, bullied little girl you really are?"

Those words seemed to shatter whatever fighting spirit Karuizawa had left at this point, and instead of screaming a retort, simple tears formed in the corner of her eyes.

Hirata looked visibly furious at this point, but knowing that it was Hirata, it wouldn't be unsafe to leave Sora alone with him.

Karuizawa began to take steps backwards and she desperately tried to stop tears from running out of her eyes. She just needed one final push.

"Running away, are we? Well, I suppose you're no stranger to that." Sora put the final nail in the coffin.

Karuizawa spun around and fled, rather than storming off, she ran away.

Hirata looked like he was about to chase after her, but I was faster, and kicked off the ground in the direction she went. Realising that I had it covered, Hirata turned his very angry gaze to Sora, whom I had to applaud for a job well done.

In fact, I don't think anybody could've done it better than him. And he did it all without Shiro here, too. I wonder how...

After a few steps, I ducked around a corner, such that the wall obscured Hirata's line of sight to me. This allowed me to speed up, and I dashed at high speed after Karuizawa.

Coincidentally, in this direction, the second-level lounge was located. And sure enough, as I turned another character, my eyes fell on Karuizawa's back, which had just burst into said lounge.

I ran through the door after her. At this point, she seemed to notice me, and turned around with wide eyes. I noticed the very obvious moistening around them. It seemed like Sora really did go all out on her.

I scanned my eyes over the room before me, and zeroed in on a door to our left, which was labelled as a pool room; through the window on the door, several pool tables could be seen.

If one thing was for sure, nobody would be going in there at this time of night.

Within the blink of an eye, I caught up to Karuizawa. She seemed like she was going to let out a loud squeal of fright, so I clamped my hand over her mouth and used my other hand to pull her by the arm.

I dragged her into the pool room, taking care not to remove my hand from the terrified Karuizawa's mouth as I opened the door, and closed it behind me as I pulled us both in.