Another Like Me - Part I (CoTE x OC) ✔

Chapter 13 - Speranza

Two weeks of summer vacation, in the vast expanse of the ocean, aboard the luxury cruise liner, Speranza.

It sounded too good to be true. There must be a catch.

Since Midterms were over, the school was going into summer break, and had decided to give its first year students a rather overkill summer trip aboard the Speranza, the school's personal luxury cruise liner. Chabashira-sensei came into homeroom and had announced that all classes in the first year will be taken on a completely school-sponsored trip, which meant that no Private Points would be required for using the facilities aboard the ship. This had come as a lifesaver for most of the students of Class 1-D, who had spent their entire budget in the first month itself. I had quite a few points left over when I last checked, at around 73,000.

The salty ocean wind hit me on the face as I pushed these thoughts away. The deck on the cruise liner was my favorite way to spend time. The ocean air was refreshing, and the sun was beating down on my back. The weather was truly splendid.

Out of the corner of my eye, I could see 2 girls chattering among themselves excitedly, while glancing in my direction every now and then. I caught one of them looking at me, and she immediately was taken aback. Nevertheless, they meekly approached me and joined me on the deck.

 "Ano, Takeyama-kun? We were hoping if you could j-join us at the bar on the South Side now? If you're fr-free, of course! No pressure!"

I was free, and I didn't really have anything to do on the deck. I casually agreed to join them, and they jumped in joy at my confirmation.

Wait, is this what they call a double date? No, if I remember correctly, a double date means 2 couples, but here there's one guy and 2 females. What does this even come under?

From our back and forth conversation, I learnt that both these girls were from Class A, Nishi Haruka and Ryoko Nishikawa. I wasn't sure whether there was an ulterior motive in inviting me to the bar, perhaps to gain information about Class D. But I did not sense any malicious intent from either of the 2 girls. Maybe I was overthinking. I should enjoy my time on the cruise while it lasts, I guess.

I took this as an opportunity to learn more about the inner workings of Class A. Out of all the classes in our year, Class A and Class C were the ones I had least information on. I at least knew that Class C had some sort of dictator ruler at its helm. My suspicions were confirmed during my time with Ishizaki from Class C, when he said, 'but he'll screw us all'. This led me to conclude that Sudo's incident was in fact instigated by someone behind the scenes, and this person was mostly the dictator of the class. To have such absolute control over the class within just 2 months of school was surprising, but also very interesting. I wonder how this person managed to do it.

From the time I spent with the 2 girls, I had come to learn that there was some sort of civil war going on within Class A, and this piqued my interest. Apparently, the class was split into 2 factions — the Katsuragi Faction and the Sakayanagi Faction. While Katsuragi believed in solid defensive strategies with low risks, the Sakayanagi Faction was more open, and incorporated many methods into their strategies, underhanded methods included. Sakayanagi had a weak physical constitution, so she is unable to take part in any physical activities.

I could not gather any more information from them, since me poking around anymore would spark suspicion among the 2 girls, and they would find out that I only accepted their invitation to spy on Class A. I could not allow that to happen. I had to maintain my good image among the girls. Believe it or not, they're the best sources of information.

I walked both the girls and to their respective rooms, and 'promised' them I would definitely hang out with them again.

After this ordeal, I headed back to the deck to mesmerize and immerse myself in the fresh air once again, but I was rudely pulled back behind the stairwell of the ship by Ike. He had a livid look in his eyes, and was accompanied by Yamauchi, Sudo and Ayanokoji.