14 Chapter 14

Ayanokōji's POV

The time on my phone read 16:40. That meant that in twenty minutes time, I would be meeting my six Class E acquaintances at Gymnasium No. 1 for the club fair. After that, we were all going to share what we had learned about the other classes over the past few hours.

I, of course, had just been relaxing in my dorm for the past few hours because I felt that I'd learned everything important at lunch. It was around a ten minute walk from here to the Gymnasium, but it never hurts to be early so I decided to go leave now. If I put it off and accidently left it until 16:55 or something then I would end up late, even if I sprinted.

I slipped my phone, keycard and student ID card into my pocket and headed for the door. I locked my dorm and called the elevator to my floor. After approximately fifteen seconds, the elevator arrived on my floor and the doors opened. Someone was already on the elevator, so I raised my hand in greeting as I stepped on.

"Ugh. Why do I happen to run into you everywhere I go? Is this what they call misfortune?"

Horikita complained about my existence with a scowl, but she didn't seem to be particularly angry. Good, that means that Kushida hasn't told her that I called her a 'friend,' yet I thought.

"It's not like I'm intentionally running into you or anything either," I responded.

"I wasn't suspicious of you until you said that. Are you really this dumb?" she looked at me like I was the scum of the earth.

She was being more hostile than she usually was right now. Could it be that Kushida had told her after all? I decided to tread the waters, and asked her a simple question.

"You seem a bit high-strung today. Something happen?"

"Stop acting like you know me." she snapped.

"..."

"I had a rather frustrating encounter earlier today. That's all." she sighed in exasperation.

"I see..."

In reality, I didn't see, but saying that to her right now would probably be bad for me so I let it go.

"Are you going to--" I tried to ask, but was quickly cut off.

"I have no interest in joining any clubs."

"You didn't even let me finish."

"Go on then," she said defeatedly.

"Are you going to the club fair?"

"Are you-- Are you actually trying to get on my nerves or are you this stupid all the time? Didn't I just say that I have no interest in joining any clubs?!"

It seems that I'd said something I shouldn't have.

"That doesn't mean that you won't go, though." I pointed out.

Horikita merely hung her head in defeat, as if to say 'Why do I even bother?'

"I take it that you're going to join a club then?" she asked, clearly trying her best to conceal the irritation in her voice.

Really, that surprised me. Of all people I didn't expect this girl to try and be considerate towards me, even if she did fail spectacularly. Out of respect more than anything, I decided to pretend like I didn't notice it. The elevator doors opened and I spoke to her as we stepped out onto the ground floor.

"I'm not really interested in joining a club either, to be honest. I'm mainly going out of curiosity." I didn't exactly lie but I didn't tell her the whole truth either.

Stepping out of the reception I started to head towards the Gymnasium but noticed that Horikita had stopped in her tracks a few feet behind me and was staring a hole into the ground.

"Are you coming?" I asked.

She slowly lifted here gaze and stared at me. After what felt like an eternity, she returned to her normal posture and facial expression and caught up to me.

"Out of kind consideration, I suppose I will accompany you to the club fair," she said with a sigh.

"There are more people here than I expected."

Almost all of the students assembled here were freshmen; there were somewhere around a hundred people waiting around. We stood near the back of the room and waited for the fair to begin. While waiting, we glanced over the pamphlet that students received upon entering the gymnasium. The pamphlet contained detailed information about club activities.

"I wonder if this school has famous clubs. For example, something like karate."

"Every club seems to operate on a high level. It looks like many athletes and club members here are famous throughout the nation."

Even though this school didn't appear like a top-tier institution for activities like baseball and ballet, the clubs here certainly looked great.

"These facilities are significantly more substantial than ordinary schools. Look, they even have O2 chambers. The equipment here is so luxurious, it puts the professionals' stuff to shame. Oh, but it looks like they don't have a karate club after all."

"I see."

"What? Were you interested in karate or something?" I asked.

"No, not particularly."

"It seems like it'll be hard for newcomers to get into athletic clubs," I said. "Even if a first year managed to break in, they still might just be a benchwarmer forever. I can't imagine that would be much fun."

Everything around here seemed far too orderly.

"Wouldn't that depend on one's efforts, though? Surely by training for one or two years, anyone could get in and play."

Training, huh? I didn't think I'd be able to put in the effort to train at anything, no matter how desperate I was.

"Yo, Ayanokōji!" A voice called out to me.

"Ugh." A scowl twisted Horikita's beautiful features when she noticed Sora and Shiro approaching us, hands interlocked as usual.

"What's wrong?" I asked.

"I'm leaving."

It seems like Horikita was repulsed by the mere presence of Sora. Even for a high-strung Horikita, that was quite harsh. Did something happen between them? Or is Sora really just that ugly? I couldn't help but wonder.

I grabbed Horikita's arm as she tried to walk away. She turned shot me a glare at me, but I ignored it.

"There's no point in leaving after you went out of your way to come all the way here."

"But..." she started to voice her protest but trailed off as Sora and Shiro arrived next to us.

"You looked like you were in a hurry, Horikita. Why could you possibly want to leave so soon, I wonder?" Sora said with a grin.

"Just shut up. And you, let go of my arm."

"O-oh, sorry..." I realised that I was still holding her arm and let go.

Surprisingly, Horikita didn't leave. It looked like she'd resolved herself to stay. I started to put the pieces together in my head and had a vague idea of what'd happened. Sora knew her name and Horikita was especially hostile to him - evidently, Sora had done something to seriously get under Horikita's skin when he paid Class D a visit a few hours ago. I wondered what he possibly could've done to get hated this quickly.

An terribly awkward silence befell our group of now four. I desperately searched through my brain for some conversation topic, literally anything to talk about but came up with nothing. Luckily, we were saved by a sweet voice ringing out from the loudspeakers in the gymnasium.

"Thank you all for waiting, first-year students. We will now begin the club fair. A representative from each club will explain their function. My name is Tachibana, the student council secretary and the club fair's organizer. It's nice to meet you all."

After Tachibana delivered the opening remarks, representatives from each club quickly lined up on a stage. It was quite a diverse crowd. The club representatives included everything from burly athletes in judo uniforms to students dressed in beautiful kimonos.

"Hey, if you want to get a fresh start, why not try joining an athletic club? The judo club looks good, doesn't it? That upperclassmen looks kind, and I'm sure he'd encourage you." Horikita nudged me with her elbow.

"What do you mean 'kind'?! He looks like a gorilla! He'll kill me for sure!" I snapped.

"What about you, Sora?" I decided to drag him into this, to Horikita's clear displeasure.

"No way, dumbass! I'd definitely die, even more than you!" He protested strongly.

Shiro placed her hand on Sora's such that now it was sandwiched between both of hers.

"Don't worry, Nii, I would mourn for you."

"I wasn't worried about my funeral attendance!"

Apparently, even the usually quiet Shiro could tease people. I made a mental note to try it for myself when I next got the opportunity.

Do you know them, Ayanokōji?" Horikita asked me.

"Yeah." I saw no reason to lie at this point.

I didn't elaborate further though since there was no need.

"Say, Ayanokōji-kun, what class are you in?" Horikita queried.

Impressive. Horikita had deduced that I most likely knew Sora because he was in my class. She had probably asked Sora what class he was in before and he didn't give her an answer, so she was asking me instead. She probably thought she could probe information from me, since she viewed me as an idiot.

"That's a secret." I said flatly.

"How irritating. Sora-kun's got you in on that as well, I assume?"

I exchanged a glance with Sora before looking back to Horikita.

"Who knows?" I said, purposely being ambiguous.

"Tch."

I genuinely had no idea what Sora had done to annoy Horikita this much, but quickly dropped the thought. He would be revealing it later anyway.

A girl dressed in archery gear stepped onto the stage. "Hello, my name is Hashigaki, the captain of the archery club. Many students may be under the impression that archery is an old-fashioned, simple activity, but it is actually a fun and rewarding sport. We welcome beginners with open arms. If you're interested, please consider joining."

"Oi Shiro, you should join the archery club. You'd easily be the best." Sora praised his sister.

"I'm not joining a club unless it's with you." Shiro huffed in response.

These two were so close that they wouldn't join a club without each other? Even for siblings, I that was quite excessive. I briefly wondered whether Shiro would actually be the best if she joined the archery club or not. Sora was probably just flattering her was the logical conclusion I came to, but something in the back of my mind made me unsure.

As the seniors introduced their respective clubs one by one, I glanced around the room. I noticed three of my other classmates together a bit away from us, also at the back of the gymnasium. Ryuzaki also noticed me, and we exchanged nods before returning our attention to the stage.

Light wasn't with them, and I didn't see him standing anywhere else in the room either. Where is he?

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Horikita suddenly tense. She was staring at the stage, her face pale. Sora seemed to notice as well, as he narrowed his eyes at her. He was probably trying to read her reaction.

"What's the matter?" I tried to ask.

She didn't even seem to notice me anymore. I followed her line of sight to the stage, but I didn't find anything of note there. Just the representative of the school baseball team, dressed in uniform, giving his introduction. Had she fallen in love with him at first sight? No, I doubted it. Surprise? Disgust? Or maybe she was overjoyed? To be honest, Horikita's expression was complex and hard to read.

"Horikita, what's the matter?"

"....."

It was like she couldn't hear my voice. She kept staring intently at the stage. I decided that I'd stop talking to her and simply wait for an explanation. The baseball team's introduction wasn't any more compelling than the others. All things considered, the greeting was rather stock, nomatter their schedule, appeal, or how welcoming they were to newcomers.