The Sequel to The White Room Troubles is finally here! Follow Kiyotaka on his journey for freedom, peace of mind and the protection of the people he considers closest to him. It's All or Nothing for him. It is recommended to read The White Room Trou...
The autumn evening breeze was a force never to be reckoned with. The comfort of the slightly breezy wind combined with the mildness of the low humidity created some sort of a relaxing atmosphere that anyone who wasn't asleep would love to be in.
For Kiyotaka, who really hated the hot weather from earlier today, this type of breeze was a welcome for him. But that still didn't mean he liked the idea of coming outside this late.
He left the 2nd year dorms area and traversed towards the large lake, a very romantic-like spot to be meeting at this time during the evening. However, Kiyotaka was not meeting for romance tonight. Kei was not near him.
As he arrived at the spot, his eyes landed on the white haired senpai he had met with just a couple days ago in this exact same spot. Hearing him approach, Kiryuuin stood up and smirked towards him.
"Making a lady wait is quite the sin, Ayanokouji. Tsk tsk. You should feel ashamed of yourself," Kiryuuin teased, wagging her finger at him.
"Senpai. I don't want to hear that from someone who intentionally showed up 5 minutes late to the original meeting and felt no remorse for it."
Kiryuuin laughed again after hearing Kiyotaka's complaints. However, she sat back down immediately and beckoned Kiyotaka to sit down next to her. Seeing no other option, Kiyotaka sat down on the same bench, but kept his distance from her.
"You wanted information on Tonokawa, right? It wasn't that hard to gather information since I can read her like a book," Kiryuuin started, drinking the costa coffee can she bought from the nearby vending machine. "I'm sure you probably already understood this from the looks she may have given you, but Tonokawa really doesn't like Nagumo. And when I mean 'really', I mean 'immensely'."
Kiyotaka understood the stares Tonokawa had been giving him were very different than those of the rest of the third years. However, it didn't occur to him that said secretary actually hated the very student council president she worked for. It just begged the question why she was even part of the student council if she didn't even like her boss.
"Why is Tonokawa in the student council when she doesn't even like Nagumo? I can see you're wanting to ask that question. The reason is a bit unbelievable, you know. Apparently Nagumo and Tonokawa are actually childhood friends."
That actually surprised him. Even though he only saw Tonokawa with Nagumo on very few occasions which were all student council related, neither of the party gave any sign or indication that they were indeed childhood friends and knew each other before coming to this school. Hearing that single truth would be a shock to anyone, but he wondered where Kiryuuin was going with revealing this little detail.
"Before coming here, Nagumo and Tonokawa attended the same school. They were rarely in the same classes, but they were good friends. It seems her hatred for Nagumo didn't actually start until halfway into her joining the Student Council. I still don't know why she's still in the student council if she harbours that hatred for him, but there is something I can guess that might be related to it. Do you want to hear?"
"Go on. But before you do, I thought you said you could read her like a book?" Kiyotaka beckoned her to continue.
"I'm getting to it. I know what I'm about to say is near 100% accurate anyway. If you talk to her and she says exactly what I'm saying, do you want to come see me and say that to my face again? Anyway, Tonokawa is smarter than you may think. She's actually a little similar to me, so I believe she may be trying to fish for an opportunity to bring Nagumo down a peg. It's what I would do if I were her."
[So she's similar to Asahina-senpai...] Kiyotaka thought to himself.
When Kiryuuin explained it that way, it did make a lot of sense to Kiyotaka. But the true answer would only come once he made contact with Tonokawa. With that information, though it wasn't much, it was enough to give him a general idea what kind of girl she was and whether it would be a good idea to approach her or not.
"Sufficient enough for you? I do have something extra for you if you need it."
"No. I have enough to work with so I don't need to hear anything else from you."
"Ouch. Very harsh of you, Ayanokouji. But fair enough. Now that I've done my end of our little bargain, I want you to remember that you also need to give back to me."
"About making the school interesting? Yes I remember."
She smirked when he reluctantly answered her question. Having finished what she wanted, she stood up from the bench and walked towards him.
"I went through the trouble of getting that information for you, so you better use it to create some sort of super plan. I won't be satisfied unless you do something, even if it's as small as making Nagumo cry like a baby, I'll enjoy something like that."
Patting his shoulder, Kiryuuin let go and walked off, likely heading back to the third year dorms. Kiyotaka sat still on the bench until he couldn't hear his senpai's footsteps anymore. Confident enough that she was gone, Kiyotaka stood up.
However, instead of heading back to the dorms, Kiyotaka walked towards the lake. He leaned on the fence separating himself from the lake and closed his eyes to savour the watery breeze combined with the mild night. Something like this wouldn't have been visible to him in the White Room.
Speaking of which...
"Did you want to speak to me, Sakayanagi?"
Despite the fact that no one was nearby him in view, Kiyotaka called out to the person hiding in the shadows. Unsurprisingly to him, the person exited the shadows and revealed themself to be a petite lilac haired girl holding a cane. It was none other than Sakayanagi Arisu.
"Nothing ever gets past you, huh Ayanokouji-kun?" She giggled as she approached Kiyotaka, stopping just to stand on the railing next to him.
He stayed silent and continued to watch over the streams of the autumn lake in front of him. Sakayanagi leaned on the railing to do the same, and for a little bit of time, the two stayed like this in comfortable silence.
"Looking to find some dirt on President Nagumo so that your election can go smoother?" Sakayanagi asked after about 2 minutes of silence.
"What makes you think so?"
"Your interest in this Tonokawa girl wouldn't spike unless you had a specific reason for it. You said it yourself. You don't exactly care about any of the third years, but you also want to get the student council position so that you're able to fight against your father. Putting Nagumo down would be in your best interest to achieve that."
"I see. Fair point."
It seemed Sakayanagi understood him even more than he thought. Though, the more he thought about it, the more he believed anyone with a brain could probably come to the same conclusion she did. Kiyotaka took that as a sign to be a little more cautious in the future.
"Need any of my help during the candidacy period?"
"...Yes actually. There is something I would like your help on if you are willing to give it."
"Fufufu. This might be the last thing I can help you with, Ayanokouji-kun. I can't play favourites with you too much since we also have a class competition to focus on. And I can't have your Class B overtake my Class A anytime soon. However, you becoming the student council president might actually make this school better, so I'm willing to play a hand in achieving that goal."
Sakayanagi moved away from the railing and walked towards the bench, causing Kiyotaka to follow her tracks. As she sat down on the bench, she traced her eyes to face Kiyotaka with her signature smug smirk.
"So? What's the plan?"
A/N:
Tonokawa may become an indispensable pawn to Kiyotaka. Or will she? And what deal has Kiyotaka made with Sakayanagi? We're only getting to the good part of the Student Council Elections arc. Tune in!
