The Quintessential quintuplets in ANHS

7.2 A sudden announcement

Ayanokoji POV

After my talk with Nino, I saw Ike going towards Kushida.

"Hey, hey, Kushida-chan. Can I talk to you for a minute?" Ike asked.

 "Hmm? What is it?" Ike immediately approached Kushida, who had been looking at the sea. This was obviously a suspicious move. 

"So, it's like this... It's been about four months since we met, right? So...I was wondering if it might be okay for me to call you by your first name now. I mean, it makes me feel like we're strangers when I call you by your last name." 

"Come to think of it, I guess you and Yamauchi have been calling each other by your first names for a while now, huh?" Kushida said. 

"So... I can't, huh? C-call you Kikyou-chan, I mean?" 

In response to Ike's inquiry, Kushida simply smiled. 

"Of course, it's okay for you to call me that. Should I call you Kanji-kun, then?" 

"Whooooaaaaa! Kikyou-chaaaaaaan!" Ike cried out and posed like he was reaching out to heaven, kind of like the guy on the poster for the movie Platoon. Kushida chuckled. 

"First names, huh? Hey, speaking of, I wonder what Horikita's first name is? Huh?" Sudou asked me as if I was the one who'd know. " 

"Tomiko. Horikita Tomiko." 

"Tomiko, huh? That's a cute name. Just like I'd expect. It feels perfect for her." 

"Oh, sorry, I was wrong. It's Suzune." 

"Hey, don't make mistakes like that! Suzune, huh? It feels like Tomiko, but it's 100 times better." 

In the end, even if Horikita's first name were Sadako or Sam or whatever, he probably would have felt it was perfect.

'Oi, Nino. You should stop making that face full of disgust. It's scary.'

"I'm going to call her by her first name during our summer vacation, too. Suzune. Suzune..." 

Well, it seemed the boys wanted to bridge the gap between themselves and the girls. It should be noted that none of the guys called me by my first name, and I didn't call them by theirs. 

"Oh, hey. Let me practice with you, Ayanokouji. Practice saying Suzune's name, I mean." 

"Practice? What do you mean, practice? That's not a normal thing to do." 

It was pointless to practice saying someone's name unless you were saying it to the person in question. Sudou glared at me intently. He wasn't planning to make me his imaginary Horikita, was he? It was probably because he was imagining me as someone of the opposite sex, but the look in his eyes really creeped me out. In my mind, I started breathing heavily. 

"Hey, Horikita, do you have a minute? There's something I want to talk to you about..." Sudou murmured.

"Kiyo's not Horikita, you dumb oaf." Nino blurted. She was glaring swords at Sudo

"O-oi, don't ruin it."

"If you have guts, then confess to her. It seems you don't have the balls to do so, right?"

"Y-you." 

Nino was psychologically abusing Sudo. This skill of hers might come in handy. Sudo was completely embarrassed. 

"I'll hit you next time if you open that filthy mouth." Sudo threatened Nino by raising his fist.

"That would be the end of your so-called- basketball career." countered Nino.