Back in the classroom, I found Suzuki asleep at my desk.
I tapped her shoulder lightly, and unlike Mrs. Kobayashi, she grinned as she woke up.
"Suzuki."
"Yes?"
"Why are you smiling?"
"I'm just happy to see my boyfriend waking me up."
I blushed slightly, quickly grabbing my stuff and heading for the door.
"Where are you going?" she asked.
"To my dorm room."
"What about our date?"
"What date?"
"The one we're supposed to have."
"The one you haven't told me about?"
"Yup."
A date. I'd never been on one, but I knew the general idea: two people, potentially interested in each other, going out to have fun and deepen their bond.
"So, are we going now?"
"Yeah, let's."
She stood up, and we walked side by side. I tried to assess her as we went, noting her behavior and mannerisms.
From the direction we were heading, it seemed she was taking me to the mall. As we walked toward the mall, I couldn't shake the thought—why was she so eager to spend time with me? I wasn't exactly boyfriend material, and yet, here we were.
"So, Nakamura what are your hobbies?"
"Oh, you know stuff like... um existing, yeah existing."
I don't actually have a real hobby though what I said isn't exactly a lie. I enjoy just being left alone and just doing nothing.
"Oh, I enjoy baking."
"Oh ok."
We went quiet after I replied her. The reason I acted so dry is because I was still assessing this girl. It didn't make sense that she liked me.
I had been boring and frankly uninteresting, yet she was supposedly in love with me rather infatuated, so I planned to continue to be like this until she showed her true colors, but what if I'm wron—
"Nakamura, do you have any friends?" Suzuki continued abruptly breaking the silence.
"Yeah, I have two."
"Are they in our class?"
"No."
"Are they female?" she asked, her brows slightly furrowed.
There was a hint of malice in her tone. Thankfully, I didn't have any female friends, so her question didn't bother me.
"No."
"Okay, good."
"Why did you—"
Before I could finish, the platinum-haired beast appeared in front of us.
What are the odds I'd run into her twice in one day?
"What an unappealing encounter?" She said glaring at me.
That's my line!!! Why am I in this unfortunate situation? Did I do something wrong... Oh right I happened to bump into her well let's just see what she'll do.
"Suzuki, why are you with this man?"
"He's my boyfriend and also he has a name, it's Nakamura."
As Suzuki said those words, the platinum-haired girl's eyes lit up then she looked at then I saw a grin starting to form at the corners of her mouth.
Why though?
"So, it seems I've met an important man. No matter because in the end, a man is still a man."
It seems this girl has a deep hatred for men, but seems she is more tamed than before maybe because Suzuki is here. I wonder what the cause of her hatred could be.
"Well, we would like to continue our date?" Suzuki rolled her eyes.
Why is Suzuki being hostile? Is there tension between her and this girl? Maybe I was looking too deep into it, I mean we are having a date so that might be the reason for the anger.
"Ok see you too later especially you, Mr. Important Man." The platinum-haired girl left grinning at Suzuki and me—specifically me.
Why is she intrigued by me? I'm sure it leads back to what that lady said on the first day.
"Let's continue our date," Suzuki grinned cheerfully.
We went to the mall without a hitch. I was actually surprised that Suzuki wasn't surrounded by her friends, she was quite the social magnet in class. She was even on par with Kagura who was friends with everyone.
You could say it was bad luck that she was my seatmate. Most of the time that I came back from break; my seat was quite crowded.
At any rate, I had gotten used to it, I mean it was not like I had many friends that would come to visit. Enough with the negative talk, I have four friends, and I even have a girlfriend so that is at least good enough.
We got to the mall, just from outside it looked glamourous but on stepping inside it was something else. The air conditioning was neither too cold nor too warm, it was basically perfect. I expected Suzuki to say something, but she was just quiet.
Even after we entered the mall, Suzuki didn't say where we were going, and unfortunately, the school map didn't explain the inside. It had left me—the reader hanging.
Talk about useless!
Though I wasn't angry, I mean, the mall was five stories, and I was happy to discover it myself. From boutiques to general-purpose stores, I was in awe, as I'd never been to the mall.
Though I had memorized the map, I had only gone to the dorms, the school, and the convenience store.
Is someone following me? It seems Suzuki hasn't noticed, I'll humor them. Let's see what they want. What if it's a stalker?
I mean Suzuki was popular, but I doubt with all the school's cameras that they wouldn't notice, I mean they boasted about safety.
After some time, Suzuki took me to a café on the third floor named Palate.
She took me to a seat by the window. Her friends were on the table.
After we sat down, they went to discuss make-up and other feminine subjects, I kept quiet following one of the best principles of life; Do not speak until spoken to.
I may or may not have adopted that principle because of a certain white-haired girl who told me to die.
After a while a friend that was supposedly called Aiko spoke to me.
"You've been really quiet why don't you join? Don't tell us you're scared?"
This is my chance to truly assess Suzuki. If I flirt with her friends, will she react?
"Why won't I be nervous when there are so many beautiful girls in front of me?"
As I said that, Suzuki's two friends blushed momentarily. It was cheesy but should be more than enough for a Japanese adolescent female, at least one that hadn't dated yet.
As I said those words, Suzuki looked at me, keeping her expression neutral as if saying, 'Do your worst.'
I backed down after that but still behaved as sociably as possible. It's not like I can't be sociable; it's just I hate the spotlight.
After that, we all went shopping but I went to use the toilet to finally meet the person tailing me.
They didn't enter the restroom with me, maybe it's a girl. Wait don't tell me...
After I left the restroom, I saw the person waiting outside, it seemed my theory was right, begrudgingly so.
It was the platinum-haired girl, how was I so unlucky?
"Can I help you?"
"Let's have a chat."
"Uhh—" I said contemplating my answer.
"If you say no, I'll have no other choice but to kill you."
So basically, I have no other choice but to hear her out, let's just get this over with.
"Fine."
She led me to an elevator. I was surprised that we were not talking on this floor.
The elevator was quite cramped, and I might had unintentionally inappropriately touched the platinum-haired girl on her butt. It was firm and well defined, like an orange—no it was bigger than that. She squirmed around but she said nothing, I'm guessing because we were in a crowd though she seemed like someone who would always do what they liked regardless of the situation.
We reached the ground we were going to—the fifth floor, the rooftop—it was a garden. It was luscious and held the world's rarest trees—or at least that was what it seemed.
She led me to a bench and sat me down beside her.
"Nakamura, what are your intentions on Suzuki?"
"Nothing."
"Then why are you dating her?"
"She's the one who asked me out."
"But you accepted her confession."
"It was the heat of the moment."
"I see... but Nakamura Eiya, I swear one thing," she stood up to leave.
"If you try to harm Aiya then I, Takamine Hoshiko will take on you, Satou Gotou, and any other man."
It seems she's serious about this but what does Satou Gotou, the school president have to do with all of this? I feel there is something I don't know yet, a crucial detail.
Let's try and get that information, I feel it's important.
"Why did you mention, Satou is he someone important?"
"..." She just averted her gaze and stared at the ground.
"Takamine-senpai, how is Satou involve—"
"Oh Nakamura what's up."
I was interrupted by Kisaragi, he seemed he was with a brown-haired Mexican boy. I turned around toward him and greeted him.
"Uh..." I turned back trying to continue my conversation with Takamine, but she already left.
After I exchanged pleasantries with Kisaragi, I went to meet up with Suzuki. She was angry that I left her and her friends. She led me back to that café.
"I'm sorry I just happened to meet a friend of mine." I said plainly.
"Was that person male?" she narrowed her eyes, focusing it on me—a hint of anger hidden under her voice.
"Yes, I can confirm the person was masculine in gender."
"And all you did was just meet up with that friend?"
"Yes, that was all I did."
Of course, this was a lie but there was no point in telling her until I figured out what's going on.
After our date, I just went back to dorm room. I laid on my bed thinking on what has happened and started to drift to sleep until I received a call—it had no call ID.
In this school, the name of your account will show when you call unless you use another account but that's not possible as it is directly linked to your school ID. Even teaching staff abide by this law.
The call couldn't also be from outside the school as the government as specific cell-towers made for the purpose of this school, moreover the phone only picks up signals from those specific cell-tower.
Therefore, the caller is using a special kind of software, let's hear what they have to say.
"Wow, you picked up so fast what was that, three seconds? Don't tell you're not scared."
This is definitely Kagura's voice. But why isn't she calling me the normal way?
"Why are you calling me?" I replied as plainly as I could to hide my surprise and shock.
"I want you to break up with Suzuki."
"And if I say no—"
"You'll get expelled."
How do those two things correlate? Needless to say, she got my attention.
"Why is that?"
She cut the call. Now I have no answers. Her words echoed in my mind as the line went dead. Break up with Suzuki—or get expelled. What was she playing at? And why was this so important to her?