A/N: Author Notes in the beginning again?
Yeah I know, I don't really like to write them in the beginning, but well I'm curious about something.
So far in this story, which scene did excite you the most while reading?
My personal favorite is in-between the Chairman Sakayanagi chapter and the fighting scene with Ayanokoji.
I tend to say the latter one is my favorite, even.
What is yours?
One of these two, or some other particular scene?
Like the one with Ryūen on the rooftop?
Well... It was something I was curious about, so anyway, here goes the chapter.
--
[Kurushima Pov]
After Friday evening, Saturday, has arrived immediately.
Since we were scheduled on cooking I headed out towards the outdoor kitchen. But my room mates still slept, not much to my surprise.
I wasn't going to wake them up since I was better off alone, cooking. At least I wouldn't need to witness their loud noises during the preparations of cooking.
I slept fairly decent, but I had a nightmare, once again, which brought me to wake up forty minutes sooner than we compromised in our group.
"Haaah..." As I left the room, I stretched my arms in the air.
It took me not long afterwards to arrive at the outdoor kitchen.
Looking at my surroundings, I could see three other first year groups being here so far.
As for the fifth and sixth group, they might as well follow our schedule, too, just waking a hour priorly up.
In any case, when I said an hour would be enough to cook to Kanzaki and my group, I meant it that way.
I was just doing this now because during cooking I could feel some peace in my mind. That was all.
If I hadn't waked up forty minutes sooner I'd have cooked with them, I guess, too.
Seeing that the people in my surroundings were surprised that just one person was being here I could hear them talk among themselves why I was here alone.
Some of those reasons were amusing, as me being 'controlling' or being 'ostracized' but none of these reasons happened to be the case.
I just felt like cooking right now.
To get a bit of peace from my mind.
That's it.
Taking from the refrigerator from my respective outdoor kitchen some of my necessarily cooking ingredients, I started to prepare breakfast for my large group.
People from the other classes started talking, how I 'managed' to do this, and why I was 'faster' than some of them, despite having ten more people, but it was simple.
I just happened to be better.
No one talked to me nor approached me, but as even the two remaining groups arrived, I could tell, this was something that would be talked about, again, throughout the school.
As I was to nearly seventy percent finished I could see now, my group arriving, as last.
Kanzaki and the others were shocked, seemingly thinking I was avoiding it, perhaps, through what I achieved yesterday, of getting us to cook two times less.
Perhaps he felt ashamed of not doing anything against the scam, too, since they were upperclassmen, but of course, I didn't much care about this.
As he was looking at me and trying to say something, I spoke first. "Everything is almost finished. You and the others should be able to handle the rest, right?"
When I said that and they looked at what I already did, he just nodded his head, feeling ashamed that he didn't do more.
We were fifteen people and yet, just one single person had cooked most of this.
"I have just one favor to ask. Make sure to split what I cooked and what you cooked on separate sides. After yesterday, it seems like the 3rd years have lost their appetite for anything I've touched or cooked."
"Wouldn't want them to accidentally savor my cooking. That might be too much for them to handle. So please cook for our dear 3rd years."
Saying that I disappeared, feeling how visible their anger must be once they arrived here for breakfast.
At least breakfast at seven a.m would be a bit more entertaining than I thought due to this.
--
Nothing overly exciting happened other than breakfast today.
The second-years had all liked my cooking, alongside the people in my group, but as for the 3rd years, for whom I had not cooked the breakfast or any other thing they did naturally not.
This was done deliberately of course. I didn't want to cook for them so Kanzaki and the other's did that job for me.
Anyways, it was a bit amusing, I admit.
Aside from that, the day has been nothing more than boring.
Teacher, upperclassmen, school mates, or even my room mates, none of them bothered me.
But I knew how everyone talked behind my back, whispering in hushed tones whenever they thought I wasn't listening.
It didn't bother me much; in fact, I found it somewhat amusing.
If I wasn't right now alone or partaking for the lessons I would usually sit alone at a quiet place in full peace.
Leaning myself against a tree while sitting, I'd listen to the birds chirping above, and enjoy nature.
Something like this, was particularly relaxing.
The only other noticeable thing that happened today was that while I was studying 'morals' in the outdoor school classroom I had seen her—my ex-girlfriend.
The eyes of us two had meet—and for a small moment long I could tell that she wanted to talk with me, her eyes looking at me sadly, but I couldn't hold the guilt in my face longer upright.
I still loved her...
Haaah...
At one certain point I felt blessed and now, everything was a haunting reminder that I'm the very own person who destroyed my happy life, my potentially happy future.
I guess, everything is on me.
Looking up in the sky I pondered in thought, if heaven and hell truly existed, would my family watch me how I was leading my life to a self-destructive path?
I hope not...
I wouldn't want them to see me in a state like this...
Internally laughing about my fate I remained for a decent while like this until I could see how the night was slowly approaching.
"I suppose it should be now bath time, right? Then it's better to head out."
I came here quickly after the cafeteria time was over so I wasn't much aware what time it was. But I could tell that I had spent quite a lot of time here.
Before going to the public bath I went to my room and took everything necessarily with me to the bath.
Once there, I could see how a lot of boys had just arrived.
Immediately, as I entered, the attention was on me, some people stopping talking, presumably talking behind my back, but it didn't bother me and I quickly changed myself.
I just relaxed in the hot bath for a bit of time and before they could drag me into their stupid competition with who had the biggest in our year, I left the bath.
--
[Shiina Hiyori Pov]
As Ryūen-kun was no longer the leader in the class, leaving that spot vacant after a certain day, of what 'occurred' as Albert-kun's and Ishizaki-kun's 'rebellion' against him and his leadership, they took the vacant spots in the class alongside me for the side of the girls.
Of course I could spot the lie right away, but without them telling much further, I had much room to speculate what precisely happened.
But even so, I had a certain feeling of knowing what really happened.
Ryūen-kun left his position after he had lost against this person he was trailing, called 'X'.
That was what I thought at least.
In any case, now that we're again in Class B, we needed his support and leadership, that were essential for this class, back.
Our class had faced much within these past nine months.
At one point we were in Class D, then at C, then slowly we advanced within one single exam to the spot of Class A.
The prior Class A and B had lost in the sports festival, and the consequence of that, was for us to take that position straight away.
It was a happy moment every one of us.
I was just glad... that my... relationship didn't suffer at that time due to this.
Looking back now in time... I wondered if I should have persisted more... for his answers, on that day, when we broke up.
I wasn't sure how... and if he wanted this, too...
But no matter when I see him, I couldn't help but feel like crying and would become sad, seeing what was once, had been gone now.
I... wanted... to talk...
About us... and the things he said about himself...
"The life I planned for me does not allow myself to have a happy future..."
I... still loved him... from the bottom of my heart...
Perhaps...
No...
He told me he can't stay here...
We two, were truly different.
I could never understand truly what was on his mind, recalling back, could I?
If I had done more...
It might have been different... perhaps...
Thoughts like these had been often going through my head, but for the sake of my class, I couldn't let myself be absorbed in them.
That was my resolve, initially.
Yet during this exam, it had gotten considerably harder.
Seeing him in person in the cafeteria—with his so evident change, and then hearing from Mei-san, and from some of the other girls from Class C what he had told them in the bus... it was just hard to believe.
He had become so distant, to everyone, suddenly.
I knew he and his class weren't on the best terms, especially since some of them considered him to be the traitor, but nonetheless... seeing him in a circumstance like that, pained my heart.
Perhaps, that was how Kaor—he was, always.
He tried his hardest that everyone would like him, to become someone he wasn't was, and this was now the point of letting his well-liked facade be.
I had known by long that he put an act to become likable for the public eyes, so I wasn't hardly surprised when I heard about his change.
It was just how he had become...
He was distancing himself from everyone, right now.
Even some of the precious friendships he genuinely had in his class... were now tearing apart.
I heard from Mei-san... what he had done to Sudo-san and Hirata-san, whom he both had considered a bit more as friends than any other person in his class... so I could tell that he was doing his hardest to distance himself from everyone...
I... felt sad thinking about it... and that I was so powerless...
I can't even look into his eyes... despite knowing as perhaps the only person what is with him.
Even though he made it clear... that we shouldn't talk... I couldn't help but let that feeling rest aside and wanted to... talk... with him...
Hopefully, we can get the opportunity to talk...
--
[Kurushima Pov]
Sunday had passed in the blink of an eye.
I strangely enjoyed this particular day.
Seeing the faces of my dear third year students who were tasked on cooking while I woke up so late, far later than any person did in the entire school I assume because it would be too disrespectful to the group, I had appeared with a simple mocking smile.
This is just a smile price to pay for what they can achieve at the end of the exam, due to what I had done in the Sport Festival.
In that sense, they're really lucky.
I helped them, even.
Well... I guess there'll be a really handy surprise at the end of the exam.
Nagumo-senpai surely does not want anyone to ruin this moment so if I asked anything from him, he would end up agreeing to every single one of my demands, ultimately.
That small thing aside, it was now Monday.
Nothing special happened on Sunday, aside from the fact that I was resting, enjoying nature, as well as doing a long hot bath.
Right now for the morning lessons the school tasked us to run 18 kilometers of a distance within four hours.
It was considerably hard for most students present here, but as someone who could do this without trouble anytime I wanted too, I just enjoyed the fresh brink of air and the nature in this particular beautiful place.
I run nearly four times as much, on my first day here, so this much, was not even something mention worthy.
The only difference from back then is, I was running in the complete opposite direction.
I had to go past through the buses and hide myself from some of the teachers on patrol, so it was considerably harder back then.
Running itself had never been much of a problem for me but I had a certain time limit in which I had to arrive so I had to run in an average speed of 23.42 km/h.
But well... everything went fine in the end.
That guy in the electronic store had gotten a bit of pocket money from me, for his quietness about the strange exchange rate and just had to put the necessarily money in the cash register.
I wanted to exchange what I had towards an jeweler, but well... I couldn't really disappear in the middle of the lessons, could I?
Nowhere near was something open till so late, and even on Sunday, I couldn't just end up disappearing for 4 hours long.
Especially not in the middle of the day.
But well, it was something I had to accept.
Anyways, speaking of running, my group was totally bad.
But it was okay, given the fact that we would only need to run on Thursday, at the day when the special exam would commerce, this exact same length, divided by fifteen people.
Right now, we just had to get accommodated for the course of which we would run for this 18 kilometers long distance run, turning halfway away, running back to the outdoor school.
In short, if everyone was healthy, each person would need to run 1.2 kilometers, which as well happened to be the minimal requirement anyone was required to run on Thursday.
For a group of fifteen people, this was perfectly fine.
As for those in smaller groups, like the other two, it'd become considerably harder.
Most people ahead of me were jogging at a steady pace while I was walking, I glanced back at my group, who were also walking and discussing something.
Out of curiosity, I listened in, but it wasn't anything particularly important.
"I'll finish this small run. See you later," I said with a half-hearted wave. But just as I turned to jog away, I felt a tug on my arm.
Only one person from these people here would dare stop me—Kanzaki.
I turned myself around and grabbed his wrist. "What is it?"
"We'll need you for Thursday, when the special exam commerces. Don't try on overexerting yourself. We need you in good shape, so don't be stupid."
"You think 18 kilometers will tire me out? I'm not like you guys. Even if I end up breaking my leg, I would still continue and ace this exam and run the required 1.2 kilometers."
"And just because I decided on treating you guys nicer because we would share a room for one week, don't think you can overstep your position because of that."
"Someone who does not even have the necessarily guts of exposing the wrongdoings of the upperclassmen and feeling fine being used and having to cook two times more because he's scared of possibly offending them, shouldn't give me a dictionary lesson of what I should do."
"So, Kanzaki, one more word about what I should do, and trust me, Nagumo-senpai, whom you feared of offending wouldn't be your class's biggest problem anymore."
"Speaking of boundaries, I'll clarify this too. Since I took the task of cooking almost everything alone on Saturday, I have no intention of participating cooking breakfast tomorrow."
I freed his wrist and pushed him slightly aside. "I'm off to finish my run."
Having decided on running to my fullest extent, I overtook person after person. I run in a consistent speed, not caring anymore whether I'm revealing my capabilities or not.
I had done this by now really often.
The Sports Festival, and far more occasions. Back then it was in order for my facade, but now, all I want is a hot bath for me, alone.
It was particularly relaxing to be in a hot bath alone.
On Thursday, I had the opportunity of bathing alone after I came back, but after that day, I was pretty unfortunate to meet some boys from my year.
It was so loud...
But on Thursday, late in the evening there was no noise, no people arguing, no stupid competitions, it was just me alone where I could take my time off and relax.
Having focused my mind on achieving this, I sprinted further without looking back at anyone at all.
Pretty soon, I arrived at the turnaround point of the 18 kilometer long run, where I was required to do a roll call from my homeroom teacher before turning myself around and running back.
It would definitely be amusing seeing the reactions of every single boy in this school. While they were running to the turnaround point I was running back.
Unfortunately however, the path for returning was a complete different one so I wouldn't end up meeting my school year while running back.
Shaking off the somewhat amusing thought, I slowly ran toward the halfway turnaround point with an eager smile.
I noticed the teachers ahead, waiting for their students to arrive for the roll call. But the only one who appeared was me.
Immediately, all of their attention fell on me.
Their faces looked beyond shocked since no one expected anyone here.
They were just there, having to laze around, waiting for their students to arrive so they could confirm the roll call.
But now, all of their faces couldn't hide their shocked expressions anymore that were so vividly to look at.
I couldn't help but feel a slight smile twitching from the corners of my mouth as I had arrived, stopping in front of my homeroom teacher.
"Someone is already here? It just has been around thirty minutes, hasn't it, Sae-chan?" Hoshinomiya-sensei, one of the teachers waiting here, exclaimed in shock.
"... Correct. 38 minutes have passed since the run. Kurushima, you know that there's nothing to be graded here, right? It's not the best choice on wasting your sta—"
"Sensei, I'm well aware of how much my body can handle. In fact, the school would need for me alone three times as much of a distance if you want me to catch a break. So don't think I'm as pathetic as your other students."
"I just intend to enjoy my long break when I'm back. That's all."
She looked at me a bit conflicted, not knowing what to say. It wasn't just her but the other teachers here, too.
Not wasting any time further here I decided to end this little chat.
"Kurushima Kaoru, Class 1-C."
But as I intended to leave I heard my homeroom teacher speaking again. "You don't even have a water bottle with you, Kurushima. Are you sure you'll be fine? I can give you mine if you need it."
I looked at her, wondering why she was so persistent.
Did she think that without me Class A would never be attainable again and tried on making me cooperate with the class or was this simply her caring about me?
I felt like both cases applied, however whether she cared about me or not was something particularly stupid from her to do.
Her tone above everything, sounded like she was worried about me.
But I didn't need anyone to worry about me.
I was alright, with every decision I made...
"Kurushima-kun, don't you want to take mine, rather? I'm sure mine is better and tastes better than Sae-chan's," Hoshinomiya, the teacher of the current Class D, asked, interrupting me out of my thoughts.
I looked at her deep in the eyes and could tell there was more onto her relationship with my homeroom teacher than she portrayed.
I didn't care obviously, but Hoshinomiya, didn't particular seem to like her despite her behavior saying otherwise.
Well, it wasn't any of my business what happened between these two, so I didn't intend to take any single offer from them at all.
"Not interested," Saying that I headed back for the outdoor school, which was 9 kilometers away from here.
From here onwards now, it was just running downhill on a road, so I would be there pretty fast.
I was a bit disappointed that I couldn't run the same route back, but of course, this would lead to an organized disaster if above 50-100 boys run back while the other half just arrives to the 9 kilometers halfway point.
In any case leaving this somewhat of an amusing thought aside 'if this was not the case' I quickened up the process and my legs ended up sprinting there even faster.
It didn't take long until I caught sight of the outdoor school and ran the last remaining steps up.
There I could see multiple teachers standing, confirming whether students ended up finishing the race within the said four hours and not a minute longer or not.
Due to that, they of course had timers.
It didn't matter much for my or any other persons grade if I ended up finishing it within an hour, as long as I met the required time of four hours, which I obviously did.
I approached them slowly, my gaze heading to the teachers present here.
One of them was the person who tried to hit me with the flat wooden stick for the so-called 'discipline' but it was just his ego, that couldn't stand my arrogant behavior.
"Kurushima Kaoru, Class 1-C, finished the small warm-up run."
I exclaimed loudly to all of the teachers here, but my eyes were on this certain individual. He alongside everyone were shocked of my so soon arrival, but his face was in particular different from the others.
It was written with some anger, but for his position as a teacher he didn't try to show any of that possibly.
"Small run..." One of them muttered quietly, his voice full of shock, but I wasn't lying.
I felt genuinely like that. Of course for them it was a huge deal, but not for me, really.
I was unhappy, because these stupid conversations on my way in the beginning made me not achieve my set goal.
"1 hour 2 minutes and 7 seconds..." I muttered quietly.
I wanted to run under an hour at least but I guess that's the price for conversing and listening to some irrelevant people.
Well, anyway, next time I run I'll be sooner there.
"Am I allowed to leave now?" Asking this single question as no one of the teachers moved their heads, I could see a bit of doubt of some of them arriving.
None of them answered temporarily, until they began to check the pad devices on their hands.
Especially, given my attitude, the one person there was more than anyone else curious whether I ended up being present on the roll call or simply tried to cheat perhaps, by heading out to the roads while running.
Since the teachers likely did a file for everyone from the boys, they must have quickly noticed the only name present in the file of all male students currently—my name from Class 1-C.
But after checking their faces they were unbelievable shocked. Considering all the rumors about me in these past few days lingering around they naturally doubted if I ended up participating at all.
"... Right. We've confirmed that you didn't cheat, so you're allowed to leave."
One of the teachers said to which I simply nodded my head in gratitude. His eyes quickly went to that of the other teacher with an expression wondering what to do.
Given my time, it would be logical for the school to record this, but he looked at his other teachers at first.
All of them, even the one who didn't like me, nodded.
"For the record, I arrived in 1 hour 2 minutes and 7 seconds here. We've wasted around 21 seconds with this conversation. Since my time seems like a huge deal there you go with more accurate information. Information is everything, after all."
For a moment I considered why, but it might be important for Nagumo-senpai's new system that he plans to implant.
This is still a special exam, meaning, that while I'm not graded here in this outdoor school confirmed by the teachers the school might be a different matter again.
In any case I simply walked past the teachers here, looking to the left side of me. There I could see numerous girls looking at me from their classroom's where they practice Zazen like us.
But I paid no heed and headed towards my room. I didn't want to turn around to the other side and possibly meet her eyes.
It would end up being quite... painful...
Anyways, I enjoyed bath time alone.
It was relaxing.
--
A/N: And this concludes the chapter.
I hope you liked it.
It was a bit boring, I know, but the future chapters won't be.
I'm planning on finishing this arc within the next chapter, so the next ones will be okay, but after that, I probably can go start writing contents which will be more enjoyable.
Anyways, do you happen to have any suggestions so far?
Something you would like to particularly see?
And what do you expect of the challenges?
Give me some of your predictions and thoughts, please.
It would be really appreciated.
Also, what do you think will happen all in the next chapter?
Well anyway, this is all.
Updates have been more frequently, so I hope I can continue like this.
That is all.
Have a great day.
(Nearly forgot, but once this chapter is released, this fanfic might hit 1 Million Reads, so is there anything special I should do for this milestone?)
(Also, here is a AI picture of Hiyori in her jersey.)
.