A Sincere Dream

Checkmate

After dealing with Amasawa, I was able to accelerate the plan to gain Nanase's trust. 

All of the pieces have fallen into place—now, all that remains is to wait.

Sudo has obtained a partner, so we do not need to worry about him now. However, we do need to worry about the remainder of our classmates.

There is two days left before the exam starts, and roughly a quarter of Class 2-D has not found a partner yet. With the time running out, our options dwindle.

As it stands, we currently have three options. The first is to accept Housen's offer, at the cost of a large portion of our Private Points. 

The second option is to gamble our luck, and have our classmates randomly paired. However, this is a major risk as there is the possibility of being paired with a low academic-rank student, and the penalty of 5%.

The third option, is to make an offer with Housen.

As a last resort, Horikita and Nanase have came to the conclusion that if it ever comes to it, they will try to initiate a deal behind Housen's back.

That is why we are meeting today, in the case that both parties cannot come to an agreement.

We were once again meeting in the library. I picked out a book called Siddhartha by Hermann Hesse, that tells a tale about the titular protagonist, and deals with the spiritual journey of the self.

I walked back to the table that Horikita was sitting at.

"Good afternoon, Ayanokouji-kun."

"Good afternoon to you as well, Horikita."

I sat down at the table and opened the book.

"What book are you reading?"

"Siddhartha by Hermann Hesse."

"Hm... Interesting choice. Would you also perhaps be on a spiritual journey? For freedom, that is." She joked.

"You can say that, I guess." I replied.

"Ayanokouji-kun, I don't mean to be rude, but I'd like your participation in this meeting as well. If it goes wrong, we will have to end up spending two million private points."

"Don't worry about it Horikita. Even if it goes wrong, I have a backup plan." I looked up, and stared into her eyes.

"... I see. I presume you won't tell me what it is?" She asked.

"Correct." I replied.

"Well that doesn't matter. As long as we keep cooperating... a-and being friends, it doesn't matter to me."

"Glad to hear that. I might consider telling you afterwards, then."

I kept reading my book as we waited for Nanase to arrive. There was still a bit of time left before the meeting time.

Reading the book, a question appeared in my head.

What does it mean to be truly happy?

Are you truly happy just by living life? Are you truly happy by possessing materialistic objects?

Or is true happiness something different all together? 

Would true happiness be obtained when you obtain your most truest and sincerest dream?

To a man who has never had a true dream of his own, only dreaming to dream—to be free—I wouldn't know what would bring me true happiness.

"Good afternoon, senpai." I closed the book and turned my head towards her voice.