9 Chapter 9

I found my way to the 1-B classroom and noticed something almost immediately through the window. One girl seemed to be attracting the attention of the entire class, boys and girls alike. She was attractive, with strawberry-pink hair and very generous proportions. She looked very bubbly, and seemed to give off an infectious, bright aura. I had no doubt that she was the one who had become the leader of class B.

Of all the ways to become the leader of something, doing so by simply being friendly and trustworthy was certainly one of the harder ways to do it, so this girl had my respect already. Gaining the admiration and intimate trust of an entire class in just two days was definitely not an easy task - in fact, it was something that I'd never be able to do.

It seemed that the strawberry girl had likely asked her class to stay in during lunch so she can discuss something with them. I briefly wondered what a class could possibly need to discuss during the second day of school. It may be hypocritical coming from a Class E student, but I couldn't imagine any reason why an entire class would need to come together for a dicussion this early into a new school year. It couldn't be anything that important, right? At the very least, it probably didn't concern me in the slightest.

I came to the sudden realization that I probably looked very conspicuous just hanging around outside another class' classroom. I already got some good information regarding Class B and now I just had to swiftly depart. If someone in Class B spotted me, the entire class would likely become aware that I had been watching them; if that were to happen it could turn out very troublesome.

I was just about to make my stealthy exit when I was struck by misfortune. A bright, cheery voice called out to me from behind.

"Hey, are you waiting for someone from Class B?"

Damn. If I don't watch what I say I could be in trouble here.

It was a girl of average height - she had short beige-colored hair and a rather well-endowed figure. Similarly to Class B's leader, she emitted an aura of excessive friendliness. All things considered, I found her to be quite attractive.

"Oh, uh, no I'm just a little lost. I missed the first day of school and I was just looking for a friend who is in one of the other classes."

It was possibly the most pathetic excuse any human had ever given and I was sure that the girl would see right through my lie, but she surprisingly showed an expression of understanding. I couldn't tell if she was just overly-friendly or gullible. Perhaps a mix of both.

"Ah I see. Even though it's only the second day, I've already gotten a lot of people's contacts. Maybe I can help you reach them? What's their name?" She asked, getting closer to me as she spoke.

This girl could get close to people as if they were friends for years when meeting someone for the first time. Of course, someone cute and cheery like her that could do that would easily become extremely popular and would quickly accumulate contacts. This is what Sora was referring to when he said that Class E lacked convenient access to social networks in the school. I'd overlooked this and found myself in quite an awkward situation, but I was too far in to back out now. I chose to give the one name that I thought would cause the least damage.

"Horikita Suzune," I said, acting as natural as I could.

After hearing that name, the girls face stiffened up. Though it was only for a flash and she was quickly back to her normal, jovial expression, it was enough for me to notice. I was wondering what the reason for this reaction could be, but it turned out I didn't have to wait long to find out.

"Oh. That's... the one contact that I don't have in my class..." she said, her gaze lowered.

So that was it. Knowing Horikita, she had probably acted cold towards her classmates and rejected any advances. This girl, who acted friendly towards anyone, was probably quite hurt by Horikita's attitude. I envisioned her saying something like I dont have any desire to be friends with people like you. Leave me alone. In my head.

"It's fine. I'm sure I'll be able to find her eventually. Thanks for your concern, though." I said in an attempt to lift her spirits.

She looked back up at me, seemingly rejuvinated, and spoke in her bright voice once again.

"I'm Kushida Kikyō from Class 1-D. Nice to meet you!" she said with a smile.

"Ayanokōji Kiyotaka. Pleasure to meet you as well."

I seriously suck at introducing myself.

"Can I have your contact information? I've made it my goal to be friends with everyone at this school you see," she asked.

That was quite the ambitious goal. But, if I had to say one person who I think could do it, it would be Kushida.

"Sure," I said, handing her my phone.

She entered my contact information into her phone and then gave it back to me.

"Well, I promised some of my classmates that I'd join them for lunch so I'd better get going." I lied.

Matters could get even more annoying than they already are if I stick around here. Class B won't stay inside their classroom forever and if I'm seen with who I presume is one of the most popular girls in the school here misunderstandings could arise. I turned my back to Kushida and began to walk away, but-

"--!"

Kushida grabbed my hand as I tried to leave. This definitely wasn't something most people would do the first time they meet someone, especially someone of the opposite sex.

"Say, Ayanokōji-kun..." she began in a more timid voice than usual.

"What is it?"

"You said you were friends with Horikita-san right? Could you maybe help me get her contact? She looks really lonely during class and she never speaks to anyone. She's rejected my attempts to befriend her so far but you've already become her friend. Will you help me, Ayanokōji-kun?"

Kushida wholeheartedly asked me while holding my hand and looking at me with pleading eyes. I really didn't want to get mixed up in even more trouble than I already was by even mentioning Horikita, but... There probably isn't a man alive with the willpower to reject this cute girl's plea for help. I sighed internally.

"Alright. I'll help you befriend Horikita."

"Thank you, Ayanokōji-kun!" she exclaimed, grabbing hold of my arm.

I became acutely aware of Kushida's... generous assets as she hugged my arm. This girl was very trusting, to act this intimate with someone of the opposite sex that she'd just met a few minutes ago. This wasn't a good situation to be in. If some of the other boys, especially the ones in Class D, saw me right now, I'd probably get lynched.

"Hey, uh, Kushida, could you let go?" I asked uncertainly.

"Aha, sorry if I made you uncomfortable."

"It's not that it's just... People could misunderstand if they saw us."

"But we could just tell them otherwise and then it would be cleared up, right?"

No, Kushida. You're way too trusting of people.

"I guess..." Was all I could say.

Wow. I really need to work on my conversation skills.

"I'll text you when I need your help, Ayanokōji-kun! Sorry for holding you up." She said with a sweet smile. This girl was dangerously cute.

"Don't worry about it."

With that, I was finally able to leave. It seems that I'd narrowly avoided trouble somehow. At least until Horikita learns that I dropped her name and 'friend,' in the same sentence. I felt mentally exhausted just thinking about that interaction.

After lunch I made my way back to Class E and half-paid attention to what we were being taught. Before long, the end of the school day rolled around and we were dismissed.

"We might as well just meet at the club fair at five, that'll give us plenty of time to get a rough outline of the situations in each class and it's much more convenient than arranging a meeting later." Kururugi said as we stood from our desks.

"That's true. Is anyone thinking of joining a club?" Light asked.

Somehow I doubted that anyone in Class E was the type to voluntarily increase their workload. That was just my conjecture though, perhaps I would be proven wrong. If anyone was going to join a club, I think the most likely one would be Kururugi joining some athletics-based club.

Personally I had no interest in joining a club. It seemed like an unnecessary burden and would just end up being another thing causing me to stand out, which wasn't what I wanted.

"Who would do something so pointless? Isn't it just a waste of time?" Lelouch asked somewhat mockingly.

"Ordinarily, I'd agree," Ryuzaki said as he was about to leave the room, "but there's always a chance this school has some kind of rule like 'Club members receive an additional sum of points each month,' or something like that."

It was a reasonable assumption, given everything we've learned about this school thus far. I weighed up the risks and rewards in my mind. If we didn't join any clubs now and it turned out that being in a club came with useful class bonuses, then it would become much harder to join since it was likely most clubs - especially the competitive ones like basketball for example - were doing trials for the first-years around this time.

On the other hand, if we do all join clubs and it turns out they're actually just optional passtimes, then we will end up wasting a lot of valuable time. Of course we could always just drop out, but that in itself could cause some unwanted attention.

"Well, no point thinking about it now. I have some class espionage to commit, so Shiro and I are heading out. See you all at five." Sora said as he left, holding Shiro's hand.

I felt like I already gathered some useful information during lunch - in fact, I don't really know how much more I could learn about Class B. At this stage, the end of the second school day, one person being the popular centre of attention was probably the extent of their class hierarchy. For that reason, I decided to just return to my dorm until the club fair started.