Sumr vacation was soon approaching, and it was now July 6th. The entire group, apart from Akito, who went to his club, gathered by my seat near the classroom door. This was because we had agreed to go to Keisei's room together afterwards.
"Ayanokouji-kun, can I talk to you for a second?"
As we were leaving the classroom, Kushida called after .
"What's up?"
Since the number of tis Kushida had co to talk to had decreased lately, this sudden call was a bit of a surprise.
Even though I had to give her my points monthly based on our contract, it was rely a monetary exchange. Since everyone in the class receives the sa amount of private points, there was no need for her to double check.
"Actually, a 1st year student told that they wanted to et you, Ayanokouji-kun... Is this a bad ti?"
After a sorry look at Haruka and the others in the group, Kushida continued.
"They asked to arrange a eting with you. I think it'll probably take about an hour. "
"What, what?? Kiyopon, don't tell a kouhai girl's confessing?"
Airi panicked upon hearing Haruka's joke.
"Eh-ehhh!? I-is that true?!"
"If that's the case, I don't think we can allow them to et."
She's the one who brought the topic up arbitrarily, but now she's also promptly deciding that I wasn't allowed to go.
"... Is that the case?"
Just in case, I decided to check with Kushida first.
"Eh? Ah, that... It's actually a boy that wants to et you... Sorry."
Kushida apologized with a troubled expression.
No, she didn't need to apologize for that at all.
Although I didn't think it was sothing like that to begin with, I still felt relieved.
"Isn't that great? It's good to communicate with the 1st years, right?"
"Right. After all, our group isn't particularly good at interpersonal relationships, so it wouldn't be a bad thing if Kiyotaka could gain so acquaintances in the 1st year."
Putting the objective of the first year student aside for now, both of them felt that I should show up to the eting. Airi also grew relieved after hearing that it wasn't a confession, and was sending off happily, so I had no particular reason to refuse.
"Okay. What should I do?"
"Thanks! Well, let tell him you said yes."
Kushida took out her phone and gave him a call.
"Then we'll go now. See you later."
After a brief talk, the mbers of the Ayanokouji group went back to the dormitory.
"Sorry about this."
It seems like he hasn't picked up the phone yet, Kushida apologized to again as she held her phone to her ear.
"It's not a big deal. Nobody in the group will complain about it."
The 1st year boy picked up the phone shortly after.
"Ah, hello? Ayanokouji-kun said that you could et him now. Uh-huh, ah, is that so? Then we'll wait here."
Kushida hung up in less than ten seconds.
"He seems to be heading this way already, so let's just wait here, so that we don't miss him, okay?"
The 1st year student who wanted to et seed to be already on his way over.
"So, it seems like you're already on good terms with the 1st years?"
"Ehhh? It's July already, it's been a long ti..."
"... That's true."
It's been over three months since the 1st years joined the school. If you look out the hallway window, you could see the highly raised sun burning the ground.
It will soon be ti for the cicadas to begin singing their cantatas.
To , who was socially awkward, it was rely three months, but to Kushida, that was more than enough ti.
"Ayanokouji-kun, you too have already made friends with so of the first years, right?"
From Kushida's perspective, that should be a matter of course, but that wasn't the case for .
"There's still no one I can call a friend."
"I-I see... Well... There's no need to rush. It's just the beginning of the year."
Kushida replied with considerate and caring words, but they sounded hollow. Although I've indeed spoken to a few first years, my relationship with them hasn't reached the point where we would privately contact each other.
The conversation ca to a halt as the atmosphere beca awkward.
As I was thinking about what topic to bring up next with Kushida, the 1st year appeared in the corridor where people co and go.
"Kushida-senpai."
Appearing from the corner was Takuya Yagami, who had graduated from the sa junior high school as Horikita and Kushida. Seeing Yagami's appearance as a chance to dissipate the awkward atmosphere, Kushida let out a smile.
"Yagami-kun is the one who wanted to et you, Ayanokouji-kun."
"Nice to et you, Ayanokouji-senpai. Thank you very much for taking your ti to see today."
Because it was a 1st year who connected with through Kushida, I had a rough idea of who he was.
"I believe you're in... Class 1-B, right?"
"Yes. I'm Takuya Yagami of Class 1-B."
As one of the bystanders at the turmoil that had happened with the first years, I've seen Yagami then, but I've never spoken with him till now. We're finally having our first conversation before sumr cos.
I've heard that he had gradually beco known as the leader of Class 1-B, but exactly how far did his influence reach? With his good first impression and his likeable look, along with his high academic ability, he seed to be pretty popular.
"Standing is sort of... for the place, what about we go to my room to talk? The rare black tea I had ordered happened to arrive already. Although it takes so ti to steep, it's very delicious!"
Yagami suggested that— if that's ok with , please have a try.
Since I didn't usually drink black tea, I was slightly interested.
But then we may not be able to keep the eting within an hour.
"Ah, sorry Yagami-kun, but actually, Ayanokouji-kun has plans to et up with his friends after this, so can we try to keep this within an hour?"
Kushida noticed that it might take so ti, so she quickly rejected Yagami's proposal for .
"I see, that's fine. Let's talk at the cafe in Keyaki mall then."
Although a bit disappointed, Yagami readily agreed after understanding my situation.
"Then, let's go Ayanokouji-kun."
I slightly nodded, and decided to go to Keyaki mall with Kushida and Yagami.
"Oh, by the way, the special exam on the uninhabited island is about to start. I heard that you guys had the sa special exam last year."
"Yeah. It was a pretty tough ti."
"Could you tell about the rules and what happened? Since we haven't experienced the exam as 1st years, we want to at least gather so information beforehand."
"That's fine... But I don't know if it'll be of any help. It seems like the rules this year are completely different from last year's."
"I know. The uninhabited island exam that the 3rd year senpais took at the ti also seed to be different from the exam you took, Kushida-senpai."
"Oh right, now that you ntion it, the 3rd years also took the uninhabited island exam."
"Like you guys, it seems like they also took it in the 1st year. In the past, it seems that the uninhabited island exam was only conducted once during one's ti at the school— Is this year an exception, or has that rule changed?"
It seed like Yagami had much more information than we did.
"Are you surprised? That I have information about the 3rd years."
Yagami asked , who had been listening quietly all this ti.
"It's because I joined the student council. I took the opportunity to ask President Nagumo about the uninhabited island survival exam held two years ago, and he kindly told . At that ti, they were divided into groups of four within the class, and a total of 12 groups competed."
The rules of their special exam were different from the rules we had been given last year.
We can say that, apart from a few exceptions, there basically won't be special exams that are exactly the sa.
"How did the 2nd years spend their ti on the uninhabited island? I might be able to learn from that."
Even if Kushida and I had kept Yagami in the dark, soone else could still tell him, so there was no need to deliberately hide it from him. Also, Kushida would definitely tell him anyway.
As expected, Kushida started to explain to him in detail about the uninhabited island exam last year.
I listened in silence as I followed them.
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