Top-Tier Character Ayanokōji Kiyotaka

Chapter 5 - Sneaking Suspicions

The two of us collapsed onto the court. Hinami probably thought that she would have plenty of energy to spare after our match, but she realized her breathing was ragged. She had severely underestimated the opponent in front of her, but you couldn't really blame her. She was sweating profusely, and the fact that I didn't even so much as break a sweat in our match would embarrass her. I couldn't do that to her after she had helped me out this much, right?

That's why I started taking many quick and short breaths to activate my sweat glands. Excessive sweating was biologically inefficient. In theory, it was ideal if all the moisture you secreted evaporated immediately, so that the heat was released as quickly as possible without unnecessary water loss which led to optimal heat dissipation. But excessive sweating in which your hair got wet or water streamed down your back could be annoying and thus didn't actually make sense.

There was a suffocating silence in the aftermath of our match.

But no one could have expected the identity of the first person breaking the ice.

"That was awesome! Nice one, 'Kōji!" Takei charged at me, his energy maxed out. He grabbed my hands and pulled at me, trying to get me to stand up. I complied and got off my butt. As soon as I did, he intertwined his fingers with me and began waving both of our hands with a hum. We looked like a two-person circle.

"Woo-hoo! Yaaaay! Victory! By a landslide!" he cheered.

"Wh-Whoo... thanks," I stammered. It didn't matter how genuine Takei was being—I had no idea how to get excited over this. It was like taking candy from a baby, and I didn't try to be mean by saying that—it really was that easy. Cheerful people are always getting too up close and personal though. Takei is like a male Mimimi, or Mimimi is like a female Takei. Probably the former.

With my hands in his control, Takei spun us around and around in a circle. I got slightly dizzy.

Thankfully, Mimimi and Mizusawa came to my rescue and tore him off of me eventually.

"Ayanokōji-kun, y-you're so cool! You actually won against Aoi-chan! Who would've thought?! I didn't, that's for sure!"

"Huh? I don't think that's what you should say when congratulating someone..." Mizusawa commented. He looked a bit conflicted while watching our match, and when I glanced at his expression his inner turmoil still hadn't subsided. He was clearly distraught about something.

"Ehh, who cares, right?! He beat Aoi! Don't you get it?!" Mimimi jumped up and down, a bit too excited for my taste. It almost felt like she was vicariously relishing in her own victory through mine. Would the same have happened had I won against someone else, say Nakamura? I wonder if Mimimi would react the same.

"A-O-I!" Mimimi had audibly enunciated each letter of Hinami's name. "Seriously?! What. The. HELL?!"

"Ok, ok, I get it... geez, calm down," Mizusawa said, scratching his head. He turned back to me with a serious look. I met his gaze without flinching. "You've had the craziest first day of all time... I seriously fear the amount of marriage proposals you'll get."

"You know, that serious expression of yours does not fit with what you've just said at all," I told him.

Then he burst into laughter. "Sorry, sorry!" He wiped away a few tears of joy. "You did pretty good though. Great job." Mizusawa patted my shoulder a few times.

"Thanks."

When I looked over at Hinami I saw Nakamura and Izumi helping her stand up and bringing her refreshments like a cold bottle of water. She had a smile plastered on her face but seemed to be listless after her unexpected defeat.