Chapter 6

I let out a sigh and sipped my coke. The conversation with president Horikita went smoothly and all was good. Still, I was a bit annoyed by the fact that he called me second to Ayanokouji. I looked up at the sky from the bench and begun to think a bit, when

"Oh... Tatsumaki-san."

A familiar voice called out. I craned my neck to see the source and my stomach turned upset.

"Ayanokouji-kun... what a coincidence."

"Indeed. You mind if I sit here?"

He asked.

"Not at all. Feel free."

I shifted and allowed him to sit next to me.

"Where are you coming from?"

"I just met up with somebody."

"Oh? A date?"

I tried for a tease, but he was no fun and blocked it without a second thought.

"No. Somebody from Class 1 B."

"Hmm, I didn't take you for the social type."

"Oh? Why is that?"

"Well, Ayanokouji-kun is always by himself in the class, no? Wait, you do talk to Horikita-san and those three."

"Sudou, Ike and Yamauchi?"

"Yes. Those three."

"I could say the same of you."

"What do you mean?"

"Although you talk to several people in our class and are really popular amongst the first years, you barely smile. And even when you do, it feels fake. It's almost like talking to all of them is stressful for you."

'What? How did he... His observational skills are better than I thought.'

"Oh, really."

I looked away, the feeling of discomfort finally overflowing. I took out my phone and looked at my messages. Ayanokouji was probably also overwhelmed, so he took out his phone as well. I stole a glance and he was looking at the number of points he had left. Barely 10,000 points in his possession. He must have lost most of it paying for Sudou's points. That thing really did cost a lot.

I heard crying coming from a distance, so I cocked my head to see the source, when I saw a girl running away in tears. Although I was curious, I wasn't going to run after her to find out why.

Then there were footsteps from behind. I turned my neck and took a glance at the figure. I recognized her as Ichinose. I had been seeing her around, but hadn't really inquired about her.

"Oh Ayanokouji-kun."

"I guess you talked it out, huh?"

"Yeah."

'Hmm? Since when were these two close? Ayanokouji-kun must have friends in the other classes. So while I was busy conquering class D, he had already set his sights on other classes? In that case should I copy him?'

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"Hey. Open up, it's me. Shiro."

I said as I pressed on the door bell repetitively. I stopped as soon as I heard footsteps and shuffling coming from inside the room. I stood back when the sounds of clicks flew off the door, probably her unlocking it. She opened it a bit and brought her eye through, which was weird if she wanted to get a peek at me which she could have done though the eyehole.

"What do you want?"

She said with a tiny bit of hostility in her voice. Now I was really wondering about what had happened and a few things came to mind.

"To talk."

"About?"

'Why do you keep making this harder?'

"We need to talk about private matters. Can I come in?"

She looked around and sighed, before opening the door wide enough for me to enter.

Her room was more or less what I expected it to be. Books to my right arranged in a short cabinent, some sprawled all on the ground in a messy way, and one open on her bed, meaning she was still reading it. Simply put, her room was a library.

"Wow, you weren't kidding when you said you like books."

I said to lighten the mood, but she went to take a seat and I followed after.

"What did you want to talk about?"

She asked.

'Straight to the point, huh? Nice.'

"Well to be blunt, are you angry with me?"

She picked up her book and kept on reading with dead eyes.

"No way. I couldn't possibly get angry with you."

Well, so she was angry with me. That explained the last time I saw her and the attitude she showed me. Now to clear that up and ensure she wouldn't stray from me or spread unnecessarily bad rumors about me.

"What happened?"

"Nothing."

"Come on, speak to me."

"I am. Can't you hear me?"

"I can but we aren't communicating on the same wavelength."

"Really? Cause I thought we were?"

This was going nowhere. I needed to breakthrough to her right now. To be honest, I knew virtually nothing about her other than her love for books, so I didn't know how to deal with her. It was for that reason I chose the most illogical and childish decision that came into my mind. You never knew what would happen.

I grabbed her by the shoulders and she looked up at me, confused. I then wrestled her down on her bed.

"W-wait. What's happening?"

"You know, you have such nice pale skin. Soft and milky, like the moon. I wonder if you were princess Kaguya herself. Let's see."

"S-Shiro-san? You're saying weird things."

I looked at her trembling eyes and grinned.

"Ara ara~ That expression of yours. So cute."

Her face flushed and she begun to squirm in my grip, but resistance was futile.

"I'm sorry. You gave me no other choice."

I then drove my fingers into her clothes from the bottom, touching her belly. It was soft and warm. Her moan was cute.

"S-Shiro-san. I-I think I like men!"

She screamed.

'Huh? What is this girl talking about? Whatever, I'll just continue.'

I then proceeded to wriggle my fingers across her belly and she then burst into laughter. By chance I had found her tickle spot. She couldn't help herself, squirming even more on the bed.

"P-please stop! Hahaha! I-I can't- Ha- I can't take this!"

I stopped after she said this.

"Am I forgiven or shall I proceed?"

She nodded her head violently.

"You're forgiven! You're forgiven! Just please stop."

"I'm forgiven ei? In that case, as punishment for putting me through that stress you get 5 minutes of torture."

A GRUESOME NINE MINUTES LATER

"So why were you angry at me?"

"It's quite stupid."

"No, no. Go on."

She reached out for her back and started scavenging through.

"Well, remember the book you borrowed from me?"

"Yes?"

She brought out a book. This had its cover torn out leaving it with just the soft paper on the inside. The spine was bent and there were tons of writings on it. This is what I assumed happened when a four year got hold of a book with no colour pages.

"Well, this is it."

"Oh..."

That meant one of my theories was confirmed and at that point, I had a suspect in mind.

"Oh, I am so sorry. I didn't do this, but I-"

"Don't worry about it. There's no need to apologise."

"Eh? Really?"

"Yeah, I think I already know who did it."

'I think I do too.'

"It's just, I thought you two were friends and it was probably a planned something just to get at me, but that look in your eyes says it wasn't you."

"Look in my eyes?"

"Yep. They say the eyes are the window to your soul. Shiro, your soul looks clean."

She said, and I just stared at her.

"Shiro? Is there anything wrong?"

"No. I just realized that you dropped the honorifics again."

"Eh. Is that a bad thing? Maybe I shouldn't."

"No. It's fine. I think I sort of like it."

She let out a relieved sigh.

"Hey, I know this might not be the best time to ask for a favour since we just made up and all, but can I ask for one?"

"Of course. What are friends for?"

"I'm certain that you are aware of the incident between my class and yours?"

She nodded her head, her expression turning serious.

"No offence, but I still refuse to believe that Sudo started the entire incident, but neither do I think the guys from your class would just up and do that."

"You mean Ichizaki and co? Yeah, you're probably right about that. But that doesn't mean there isn't somebody else who could have instigated this entire scenario?"

'Somebody else? Who would cause such a thing? The possibilities are practically endless. Almost everyone in D class has a reason to do such a thing, whether childish or not. Then there are those in the basketball teams and the other classes. That is, without taking into consideration the second and third years. Sudo did disrespect a few of them earlier on according to Ayanokouji. Then wait, what about the C students. What could they have done for the seniors to put them into such a situation? Situation? Now that I think about it again, what would C class stand to lose from this? They'd just be ridden the D class of a pest. So the instigator has to be from Class C from the most logical point of view. There are still so many unknowns, but right now, the most likely is a member from class C other than those boys. But who could it be? Who would just want to mess with Sudo out of the blue-'

"His name is Kakeru Ryueen."

"Eh?"

"The C class leader. His name is Kakeru Ryueen. He's a ruthless tyrant that rules the class with an iron fist. He asserted his dominance the very first day he came. He said he liked to reign over the stronger and bully the weak. If anyone from my class would bother your class, it would be him."

A vein nearly popped when she indirectly referred to D class as weak. D class including me.

"So it was him?"

"Don't get me wrong. I said if anyone would do it, it would be him. I didn't say that he did it."

'Interesting.'

"Can I ask for the favour?"

"Sure."

"Can you investigate more for me?"

"Investigate? I'm not really good at that."

"Don't worry. You'll be like one of those secret spies from the books you always read. In and out. Simple as that."

"I really don't want to, but sure. I'll do it.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Shiro's Memory of a Distant Past, Four Years Ago

I walked down the large staircase carefully, making sure not to trip in my dress. In the white room, we had been made to wear simple robes, so movement was easy, but ever since we had been made to leave the white room, the woman who had taken me in had always provided me with different clothes every single day. I still wasn't accustomed to them though, and they were usually a bit smaller than I actually was.

"Shiro-chan, come over here."

"Yes Ms. Tatsumaki."

I responded and moved quickly to her side. On the sofas in the hall, she sat drinking a cup of something I presumed to be tea. She was still in her night gown, which surprised me since she it was six in the morning. She glanced at me with her steely blue eyes and usual grin. There was someone else sitting on the sofa though.

"I told you to call me mother, remember?"

She said. It hadn't been a complete week since Professor Ayanokouji introduced me to this woman as my mother. Truth be told, until the moment he told me about her, I hadn't thought about who my parents were.

"Come meet your father."

'Father? I also have one of those?'

I saw a man white hair as white as mine. He had dull golden eyes and was about six feet tall. Skin nearly as pale as mine and the physique of an athlete. He wore a V-neck long sleeve shirt with shorts and sandals. Essentially making himself out like a jobless bum.

"Hello there Mr. Tatsumaki."

I curtsied as I had been told to earlier on.

"Oh, hi there little fella."

He reached out to shake my wind, but I didn't know how to react to it. Was I supposed to shake it back? Was I supposed to ignore it? Would doing so be inappropriate? But ignoring his handshake might be rude. Will Ms. Tatsumaki get angry with me?

While lost in my thought, it seem I made him feel awkward and he retracted his hand, then began whispering to Ms. Tatsumaki. Maybe I should change her title to Mrs. Tatsumaki since she was a married woman.

"Heh... well kiddo, my name's Yuuji. Call me dad from now on, ok?"

I still didn't know how to act around him, but then he came closer and went on one knee, coming to my eye level. I wanted to walk back but I looked at Mrs. Tatsumaki again. She had the ever confident grin on her face, while looking at us.

"... My name is Shiro. Pleasure to meet you."

"Shiro-chan, huh? Let's get along."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"-ro-chan? Shiro-chan?"

A voice kept on calling out to me, pulling me from my day dream. I looked up and saw Kushida sitting in front of me, reminding me of my situation. Last night I received a phone call from Airi-chan saying that Kushida offered to help her fix the camera. She said she wasn't comfortable going with Kushida alone so she wanted me to tag along. I wanted to suggest not bringing Kushida at all, but I figured she wouldn't back down since she caused this entire situation, so I just needed to suck it up. What I didn't expect was that Kushida would bring someone else along. Ok, that was a bit expected since she would have had a problem communicating with Airi alone, but of all the people, why him? Why Ayanokouji Kiyotaka?

"What is happening?"

I responded to get her to calm down.

"Sorry, it's just you looked out of it."

"Yeah, sorry about that. I had a late night."

"Really? Doing what?"

"Hehe, nothing special."

'Telling them I was reading a novel and lost track of time might make me seem weird.'

"You're going to the electronics store in the mall to fix your digital camera. I understand that much, but did you really need me?"

Ayanokouji asked.

"Actually..."

I glanced at Airi.

'There was something bothering her and she didn't tell me? So I really haven't gotten any closer to her like I thought I had.'