Chapter 95: Act 16: Scene 4
After all of their classes ended for the day, Kiyotaka was surprised that Haruka didn't approach him to help continue their search for the missing witness in Akito's case. After taking note of her determination to help her friend during the discussion at lunch earlier, he kind of expected her to invite him to go along with her for another search, but she didn't.
That was when he saw her talking to Akito himself as soon as they were free to leave. He must be telling her about what was discussed during lunch earlier, about changing their tactics and asking people if they had seen someone by the bathhouse on the day of the incident.
It honestly seemed like Hasebe was busy talking to Miyake and she wasn't even paying attention to him, so he assumed that she wasn't planning to continue their search today with him.
With that in mind, Kiyotaka was filled with joy and relief, because he would get a rare instance where he'll have a good sleep for the rest of the day. Honestly, ever since Amasawa arrived in this school last week, there hasn't been an instance where he has been able to get a long and peaceful sleep.
While most of it was because of the fact that someone else was living inside his own dorm room, it's also partly due to Kikyo, Kei, and Chiaki's stunt last week when they kissed him in front of everyone. If that's not enough, Akito's case added to the list of problems but unlike the others, this was on a more serious note as it involved their class as a whole if left unattended.
Sadly though, he wouldn't even get the chance to head home in peace as always. Instead, he had been approached by Suzune and Kikyo who 'demanded' him to go with them to the latter's room for some reason.
There goes his date with Bed-chan for the rest of the day... but, he should have expected this.
Plus, it's not all that bad. Kikyo's room was right next to his, since they were neighbors. Once this is over with, he'll head to his room right away and surrender to the comforting embrace of Bed-chan... unless Amasawa is there, waiting for him and all prepared to bother him as much as she can.
But right now, he was walking with two of his heroines out of the school building, with Suzune to his right and Kikyo to his left. Fortunately, they weren't grabbing his wrists or hugging his arms like they usually would, which made things less stressful for him at the very least because that would have gotten them attention from everyone around. However, he was still curious about why they wanted him to accompany them.
"Why are we heading to Kushida's room again?" he asked, wanting to get some context behind their intentions.
"Because we want to discuss our findings yesterday," Suzune answered him in her usual cold tone, sounding more serious than usual.
"But we already did that earlier," Kiyotaka pointed out.
"In more detail. We were not able to talk more because Chabashira-sensei had arrived while we were in the midst of it."
Kiyotaka sighed. "Basically, the same thing that Sudo and Onodera wanted to do earlier during lunch."
He already talked about this with some of his other classmates earlier, and he didn't really want a repeat of that. Maybe he could tell them about the change in strategy that he told Sudo, Onodera, and Miyake earlier, but that's it. He didn't have anything to discuss with them regarding his search with Hasebe yesterday and he was pretty sure that these two didn't have any leads either, because they would have told everyone about it earlier.
"Well, I'll tell you now. I don't have anything else to tell you two. Hasebe already said everything that needs to be said about what happened in our search yesterday,"
"In that case, we'll simply discuss what we know about this case so far and see if we can find another clue," Suzune said bluntly, continuing to walk as if she heard nothing from him.
Kiyotaka raised an eyebrow. "Do we have to? None of us have any leads on who the witness is, anyway. Let's just talk when someone actually discovers something significant that will lead to us resolving this whole case."
A tick mark appeared on Suzune's head as she pulled on his cheek, hard. "That's why I said we'll be discussing what we know so far, idiot."
"Ow," he said after she let go of him. Massaging his cheek, he gave a curious look towards his neighbor. "It feels like you're grumpier than usual today... what's your problem?"
"You," she snapped, giving him a glare. "You're insufferable."
"What's wrong with what I said?" he asked, feeling hurt from those words.
Kikyo chose to speak up this time, turning her head to give the young man a sad look. "Well, it almost seems like you don't want to talk to us about this, Ayanokouji-kun. Are you giving up on helping Miyake-kun?"
"What are you talking about? I simply don't want to waste anyone's time with information that's already known," he replied, throwing a look of confusion at Kushida for that question. Where exactly did she get that notion?
"Any discussion that involves resolving Miyake-kun's incident would be productive, so stop complaining."
Kiyotaka simply sighed and rolled his eyes internally, yielding to his fate at the moment. No matter what he says, these two won't allow him to leave and he was sure the system won't let him either.
If only the system was kind enough to give him a skill that can help him regain his energy and get a whole day worth of sleep just by closing his eyes for a few hours... if that happened, then he could tolerate the amount of mind-breaking moments that this eroge superpower gives him on an almost-regular basis but alas, things didn't work that way.
"Hey, Kyo-chan! Hori-chan! Kiyopon!"
Hearing a familiar voice from behind them, the three turned around to see four other students in their class approaching them.
Haruka greeted the three with a big smile on her face while waving her arm happily, with Akito standing beside her while donning a neutral look on his face. However, the boy wasn't alone. Standing on either side of him were Kokoro and Nene, and they also had smiles on their faces like Haruka.
While Kikyo greeted their classmates with a smile on her face in return, Kiyotaka and Suzune had their attention on something else entirely.
The name that Haruka used to call her rang inside Suzune's ears like it was a blaring fire alarm, and she frowned at the bluenette as a result. On the other hand, Kiyotaka was more focused on the sight behind Haruka, which was the sight of Akito with two girls hugging each of his arms as if he was their boyfriend or something...
It kind of reminded him of his own situation, and it piqued his curiosity.
"Is there something you need, Hasebe-san?"
"Can we come along too?" asked Haruka.
Before Kikyo could answer her question, Suzune took over and almost immediately, she sent an icy glare at her blue-haired classmate.
"What did you just call me, Hasebe-san?"
Haruka was slightly taken aback at the cold look that Suzune was giving her, but she managed to give an answer.
"Uh, I called you 'Hori-chan'. Is... something wrong with that?"
"That is not my name," Suzune said coldly.
"Ehehe, it's just a nickname, Horikita-san..." Haruka chuckled nervously as she took a step back.
Kiyotaka quickly noticed Suzune's growing anger and prepared himself to step in if needed, while their other classmates watched on with growing anxiety because this wasn't going to end well.
"Why would you give me a nickname?"
"I was planning to call you 'Su-chan' instead, but I figured I shouldn't because you might be angry that I used your first name."
Suzune's frown deepened. "No. I mean why would you call me in such an intimate manner? We are not friends, nor are we close to one another."
Haruka raised her hands in surrender, wondering what exactly she did to make her classmate angry.
"It's just how I am with the people I'm comfortable with, Horikita-san. And, well... you, Kiyopon, Kei-chin, and Kyo-chan have helped me and Miyacchi a lot ever since we told you about what happened to him."
"Never call me that again. Are we clear?" Suzune asserted her intentions with clear venom in her tone.
"I-I don't mean anything bad by it, Horikita-san..."
"Are. We. Clear?"
Having had enough of Suzune's pointless temper, Kikyo decided to speak up on behalf of Haruka.
She rolled her eyes to herself. Honestly, after weeks of being 'friends' with that bitch, you'd think she had learned about being more tolerant of others by now, but no... Horikita was still as stubborn and stuck-up as ever.
"Uh, Horikita-san... don't you think you're being too rude?" she asked, managing to get Horikita's attention with her question.
Suzune turned around and directed her frown towards Kikyo. "Elaborate it for me then, Kushida-san. How exactly am I being rude when I was simply stating facts? My relationship with Hasebe-san doesn't go past classmates and acquaintances."
"I mean, is being given a nickname the end of the world for you, Horikita-san? Hasebe-san was just trying to show her appreciation for what we've done to help Miyake-kun. Nothing more," she explained.
Suzune continued to frown in displeasure. "And as I said, we are not friends for her to call me in such an intimate manner."
"Hasebe-san wasn't trying to imply that you two were. She just said that she's comfortable being around you, that's why she gave you a nickname. And she didn't even use your given name. If she did, then I can understand why you'd be angry, Horikita-san."
"What is it that you want to happen, Kushida-san?" Suzune folded her arms and rolled her eyes, unable to understand what her friend was trying to say right now.
"If you don't want someone calling you with a nickname, then you can tell Hasebe-san that. But you could have been nicer about it, you know?" Kikyo pointed out. "You don't have to be so angry all the time, Horikita-san..."
That got Horikita to stop talking at the very least, as she began to consider Kushida's explanation. It was very fortunate that those words came from someone whom she considered as a friend, otherwise she wouldn't have listened to anything that was said.
Kiyotaka silently praised Kikyo for her quick and smart response to Suzune's cold words, before shifting his attention to the younger Horikita.
It seemed like she was thinking deeply about what Kushida just said, but how exactly would she respond? Would she listen to Kushida? Or would she continue to act cold towards Hasebe?
"Now, how will Horikita answer?" he thought to himself, curious about what the girl currently had in mind right now.
After a few moments of silence, Suzune shook her head and finally gave her answer.
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone