/// PAST ///
[Tobiichi Luna POV]
"Luna-chan, Kunomoto Productions wants to know whether or not you want to be the female lead in Summer Again. Would you be interested? It's a really good opportunity…"
I looked up at my agent. I didn't even know what his name was.
Another lead role… I guess it might be worth it since Kunomoto Productions was a pretty big film company. Still, it sounded like another romance show; after my distasteful experience with Grow Against You, I wasn't sure if I really wanted to do this again.
Haa… Why did I first decide to be part of the show industry? It's really not much more interesting than being an idol. Everyone's still the same.
"I guess I'll do it. Who's the male lead?"
"It's Fujimiya Kaito."
I had no idea who he was.
Honestly, it didn't matter who he was; they were all the same anyways.
…
…
Haa, Fujimiya Kaito. I wonder why you hate me so much.
Does your sister mean that much to you?
How cute.
Still, you're boring.
/// Past END ///
• ───────────────── •
"Kizutaka-senpai, are you getting anything?"
I looked down at Akechi.
"I guess not. I don't really have anything I need to get."
"Okay~. I'm just going to pay for these items. Wait for me!"
"I will; don't worry."
…
I waited just outside the convenience store. It wasn't like there were lots of students inside, I just awkwardly made my way outside since I didn't need to buy anything. Akechi seemed to be having some small talk with the cashier—it made me wonder, why do I still struggle to converse 'normally'.
On a completely theoretical level, I understood how human conversations worked. You bring up topics, watch their body language, analyse their words, determine their tone and then choose your words to suit them. That was the formula that I was taught.
Still, it seemed like humans have a sense to notice when a conversation was unnatural.
It was something that I couldn't fake.
I guess the only way to surpass that was to make it… real.
"Kizutaka-senpai, there's still an hour of lunch left. I need to go to my dorm to drop these things off. Can you come with me?"
"I don't mind."
We began making our way over to the girls' dormitory. Whilst the boys and girls were separated, there was no rule forbidding them to go into each others' rooms. It was something that was only lightly enforced socially.
"By the way, Kizutaka-senpai, have you been studying much recently? Shimizu-senpai is always on my back about getting me to do more work."
"Not that much, really."
"Aha, he should be hassling you more then! You don't do any work either~."
We made our way closer to the dormitory building. Like the boys' dormitory, the reception area was carefully designed, with aesthetic decorations and a clean, well-kept seating area. They were almost like hotels in the way they were structured, with even a receptionist inside during most hours of the day.
They greeted us. It seemed that they knew Akechi quite well.
"How are you doing, Hana-chan?"
"I'm good, Hamaguchi! I just bought some more toiletries."
"Ah, that's good. Who's the boy with you?"
She looked at me.
"That's Kizutaka-senpai, we went to the store together."
"Haa, well that's all good. Just don't do anything weird in your room."
"We won't!"
Making our way through, Akechi led the way to the elevator. It seemed that we weren't the only ones as there was another girl waiting by the elevator. I recognised her from the student council, she was Kanao, the student council president's assistant.
…
Akechi waved at her.
"Hey Kanao~!"
"Hi, Akechi."
"What are you doing alone? Where's Sakai?"
"She left something in her room, I'm just grabbing it for her."
I looked around, waiting for the elevator to come down.
It didn't really make sense why Akechi seemed to not have anyone else to hang out with, despite being so sociable. It was almost like she was trying to hide something.
The elevator door opened.
All three of us got inside.
"How's the student council? What do you guys usually do?"
It seemed that the question was directed at both of us.
Kanao answered. Her tone of voice was quiet, like that of a mouse. I already knew that she was quite timid, but I guess even around Akechi, she was the same.
"It's different to what I expected. But it's the perfect system for Sakai-sama."
"How's it different?"
"We have a lot of power. And the teachers don't get involved with what we do when they give us tasks."
"Really? That's pretty wild. What do you guys get to do?"
"Well, Sakai-sama is currently working with Tobiichi to decide what products should be in the first Token Auction."
"Token Auction?!"
"Yeah, the rest of the student council will be voting on it tomorrow."
Looks like we'll be meeting up again.
…
The elevator door opened.
"I'm getting off here. See you later, Akechi."
"See you, Kanao!"
The door closed again.
Akechi made her way over to me.
"You didn't tell me about a Token Auction, Kizutaka-senpai?"
"I wasn't informed about it either. I assume that only the president and vice president are working on it at the moment."
"It's another one of the school's weird challenges… I wonder what the point of all of this is. It's like they're making this all into a game."
"I guess that's part of their goal."
The school was very overt with telling us the value of the Tokens, so I could only assume that this auction was going to be a part of one of their special exams; they wouldn't be able to provide a tangible benefit with normal products. As such, they would likely offer things that would be useful in a special exam.
I guess I should make some preparations. Tobiichi was probably going to use this chance to try to take the offensive on me.
Slowly, we made our way down the hall to Akechi's room.