Classroom of the Elite:SS Collection

Even if just a moment longer (Shina Hiyori)

"The Simple Art of Murder, huh?"

Ayanokoji-kun read the title of the book I had just handed to him.

"It's a crime fiction by Raymond Chandler. It has a really good mystery element to it as well."

I told him about the book which he now held in his hands.

We had both similar tastes in books and he had liked all the books that I had recommended to him.

In this school, I thought I would never find someone who liked reading books like me.

I had thought so because during my middle school days there was no one who liked reading books like these. So, I had thought that I would be spending my high school in a similar fashion, reading books by myself.

But I was wrong.

And what's more ironic is I felt happy that I was wrong.

I found someone who liked reading books like me, not to mention he had similar tastes to mine.

Yes, we were from different classes. We had fought against each other many times and we will continue to fight in the future as well.

But it didn't matter. It didn't matter when we were reading books together like this. He also didn't seem to mind it much. So, we often read books together like this.

I scanned my surrounding slowly.

We were at the cafe right now.

We were seated opposite each other and faced each other directly.

I looked at him.

He was flipping the pages, probably trying to figure out whether the book was good or not.

Sitting only the two of us like this makes it feel like a date, doesn't it?

No matter how people looked at it, it definitely looked like a date.

My face suddenly felt hotter.

If I kept having those train of thoughts, my face would probably get redder. So, I decided to stop thinking along those lines.

I then remembered something that had bugged me a lot in these two days.

Before agreeing to meet up today, Ayanokoji-kun had turned me down twice saying that he already had some plans with his friends.

I wonder whom he spent these two days with?

What if..

What if he spent those two days with his girlfriend?!

I suddenly felt a chill in my body upon that thought.

Without realizing I had tensed up a bit.

"What's wrong?"

Ayanokoji-kun asked me, probably worried.

He always spoke in his usual taciturn and calm tone, which almost made him feel devoid of emotions.

But for reason, I think I could feel the emotions behind his words, even if it was just a little bit.

"N-Nothing."

I tried to act calm but ended up stammering a little.

He definitely caught that but decided not to pursue it any further.

He seemed considerate of others, almost as if he knew what the other was trying to do. And I think I like the way he is considerate of others.

I inhaled a deep breath trying to calm myself.

I took a sip of the coffee that was placed on the table in front of me.

So what if he has a girlfriend?

It doesn't matter, whether he has a girlfriend or not.

What matters the most is, that right now he is my friend.

He is a friend of mine, who has the same reading habits as me and with whom I could talk about the books I loved freely with.

When he was with me, he wasn't anyone's boyfriend.

He was just my friend, yes 'my' and 'my' only.

I felt happy when I thought like that.

Lately, I have become quite fond of him.

I always looked forward to spending time with him.

Today I had gone over 4 or 5 dresses and finally settled on a blue trench coat with the muffler of the same color before coming here.

When he complimented me that it looked good on me, I felt happy that the trouble I went to for picking this dress paid off.

I again looked at that calm face of his, that had a sort of maturity to it, betraying his age.

Whenever I was with him, I felt comfortable and happy.

I could sense a sort of new feeling, which I couldn't really put into words, developing within me.

Whenever I was with him, I enjoyed my time.

Whenever I was with him, I couldn't help but wish that,

This time for us two lasted, even if just a moment longer.

[Note:

The two days he had turned down to Hiyori was so he could go on a date with Kei.]