Third Person's Point of View

Three Days Later

'THERE WAS A CALM LULL AND NOTHING noteworthy was happening on the expensive cruise ship our school prepared for us. After enrolling in this school, I was yet compelled against my will well not really to diverge from my original route. I or rather We first made the decision to enroll in this school for a very clear purpose. 'Contact with the outside until graduation is forbidden'. Besides, I want to experience being outside with Axel and a certain man is currently contacting us from the outside.' Kiyotaka on his thoughts.

He sighed and looked at the person who was currently sleeping on his chest. He gently touches Axel's cheeks.

"You are the only person I trust." Kiyotaka said to himself. He feels warm when he is with Axel. He really is not comfortable with it but he also does not hate it. It is just, this is the first time he feels this.

He stared at Axel's face, he touched his hair, nose, cheeks and ... he stared at Axel's lips. He uses his finger to touch his lips.

He sighed to himself as Kiyotaka looked away. 'Is Axel really this pretty?' After he said that to himself he looked back again.

Kiyotaka slowly closed the gap or their face and he started again to his lips. When their lips almost touch... Kiyotaka Immediately retreated as he sat up on the bed.

"This is not right, yes. I didn't ask permission. He really will beat me up when he knows it." He said and looked away.

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ.───

HIRATA TITLED HIS HEAD at the two boys.

"Have you been in this room this whole time?" he asked the two boys, Kiyotaka looked at Axel who was beside him.

"There's no reason for me to go out, I don't have anyone to spend time with besides Axel." Kiyotaka replied.

"Oh I've been with Kiyo the whole time, my reason is that I'm too lazy to go outside hehe." Axel said while scratching his cheeks. Hirata didn't like to hear that he was just spending his time with Kiyotaka.

He was clearly jealous if you looked at his expression. But Hirata composed himself.

"Is that so? There's Sudou and Horikita as well. I think Ayanokouji-kun will be able to make more friends if you were a bit more aggressive." Hirata suggestively said.

"Oh and Arison, you should probably exercise yourself you know. By the way, I'm planning to go out with Karuizawa-san at 12:30 to have lunch together. Would you like to tag along with us? I'm sure it'll be fun to have you with us." Hirata said.

Axel smiled hearing Karuizawa's name.

"Also there are 3 other girls that will be with us. Do you dislike that?" Hirata looked a bit hesitant by the answer no.

'If I have to admit the truth, I've wanted to talk a bit with Karuizawa for a while, But I also want to spend time with Axel.' Kiyotaka's thoughts.

"Well I want to talk to Karuizawa but I'm quite sleepy and Kiyo probably doesn't want to." Axel said, making Kiyotaka nod.

Hirata sits down near them, having realized that they did not want to initiate new relationships with people.

"I can understand why you would be reluctant, but I want you two to depend on me."

"Only 10 minutes to go before lunch, I think you should leave us now."

Kiyotaka declined by shaking his head.

"There's no need to hurry, besides I think it's fun being with you like this now. Then how about we have lunch with just the three of us together, will you be happy with that?" Hirata pushed in, no boundaries on giving up.

"We're fine with it, but you need to consider Karuizawa's feelings." Axel said as he put his two arms on the back of his head.

"It's ok, I can eat with Karuizawa-san whenever I want, but with you Ayanokouji-kun, Arison, I have limited opportunities to eat together." Hirata intently stares at the two of them.

"I don't want Karuizawa to hate us later on." Kiyotaka said, making Hirata laugh a little.

"Well I don't really know but she really likes being with Arison." Hirata said while smiling, Kiyotaka sighed.

"So it's just me." Axel put his hand on his mouth so his laugh would not explode. Kiyotaka's expression is really disappointing, which is why Axel wants to laugh so hard.

"It's ok, haha Karuizawa-san isn't the type to be angry at you for something like that." Hirata smiled. Kiyotaka sweatdrop at the polite battle between the two.

"I think I'll cancel the lunch with Karuizawa-san after all." With that, Hirata quickly pulls out his mobile and calls Karuizawa. They tried to stop him but Hirata uses his hands to cover their eyes and stop them.

'He is so persistent.' Kiyotaka thought.

"Do you have anything to eat in particular?" Hirata asked the two. Kiyotaka didn't know if Hirata is happy because he and Axel will join him or if he will have a chance to eat with Axel.

'I'm the third wheel? Really?

"I want something sweet?" Axel said.

"I'd just like to avoid heavy foods if possible." Kiyotaka followed, making Hirata nod.

Hirata cancels his date with Karuizawa. They couldn't clearly hear Karuizawa's voice through the call but Hirata forcibly shut her down and cancelled the date anyways.

"Let's go to the deck. If it's only snacks it'll be easier to eat out there anyway." Hirata gave a bright smile as he opened the door and pulled them out of it.

"Thank you for cooperating during the island test. I cannot thank you enough, Ayanokouji-kun, Arison."

"It's fine since we also want to help the class to gain some points." Kiyotaka said. Hirata smiled at that and they started to order some food and started eating.

From the elevator in the cruise ship to the deck, students seemed to be enjoying their summer vacation in their favorite dresses. Since there was also an onboard pool nearby both male and female students were boldly wearing swimsuits and swimming in the pool. By the time our trio reached the restaurant, over half the seats had already been filled. The three of them quickly secured the vacant seats that still remained amongst the crowded restaurant.

"To be honest...I have something I'd like to talk to you about." Hirata turned his head to them while eating.

"What is it?"

"I would like you to be the bridge between me and Horikita-san, I think Horikita-san will be an indispensable person to D Class in the future and I would very much like to work together with her."

Once the two boys gave their full acceptance, Hirata continued.

"Even the other day, it was thanks to the three of you, and your efforts that D Class won an unexpected victory. The morale of the class is soaring. I think the number of students who like Horikita-san has also gone up which is a huge change from before."

"But even if you bridge the gap between you and Horikita, it won't go over that easily." Kiyotaka said.

"That's right, Horikita is not a person who is easy to please."

"To be more precise, we've never really given Horikita any opinions before. If we started giving our opinions on matters suddenly it would seem strange." Kiyotaka said, making Hirata sighed.

"But as of right now I don't have any better ideas. Even if I were to talk to Horikita-san about this right now, I don't have the confidence that I'd be able to convince her to work together with us. This is my last resort." Hirata responded.

The two boys just nod their heads and start eating. Kiyotaka enjoys eating his sandwich while Axel really...enjoys eating his ice cream and cake. Hirata smiled at the sight.

He was happy because Axel agreed to eat with him. Kiyotaka stared at Hirata who was still looking at Hirata. He just sighed.

'Being pretty is such a pain.'

On the other hand, some Students were swimming in the pool on the deck while others were eating while still in their swimsuits. The mood amongst the students seemed to be a festive one.

"Yeah, like Ayanokouji-kun and Arison said, my plan may have been a poorly thought-out one. It seems I'll have to rethink my approach. Horikita-san is a very serious type of person. How did you manage to get along with her, Arison, Ayanokouji-kun?" Hirata asked the two boys when they finish eating.

"Let me refute one of your points. It's not like I'm getting along with Horikita well or anything too, it seems like she doesn't even recognize me as a friend, but not on Axel." Kiyotaka's voice still stayed monotone.

"Eh? Well, I'm just talking to her with a normal conversation though..." Axel said.

Hirata smiled at Axel.

After a while Hirata became aware that someone was approaching them and looked at the duo with an embarrassed face.

"Ah...so you were here after all, Hirata-kun." Karuizawa stands in front of Hirata. Karuizawa said that without looking at anybody except Hirata.

"Let's eat lunch together."

"Umm...Karuizawa-san, I'm sure I called you a while ago to tell you about cancelling the lunch, but..." Hirata said and looked at the two boys. Karuizawa looked at the two and her eyes were shining.

"Arison!" Karuizawa said and went to Axel and grabbed his hand. Axel smiled at her. Making the other girls blush. Well his smile is really...charming. Karuizawa smiled at him and looked at Kiyotaka. Kiyotaka nodded and Karuizawa also nodded.

The other girls also smiled at the duo. Well Kiyotaka didn't expect this, is this the progress of him participating in class? It looks like class D starts recognizing Kiyotaka as a valuable asset too.

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ.───

KIYOTAKA IS CURRENTLY NEARBY THE guide board on which the map of the ship was illustrated. On the other hand, Axel is in Kiyotaka's room. Well Axel said to Kiyotaka to roam around, because he will cook a dinner for the both of them.

He sighed.

As he listlessly walked through the corridors, he met some girl. Kushida beamed as she ran towards him.

"Oh. It's Ayanokouji-kun, what are you doing here?" Kiyotaka didn't seem a bit pleased by her encounterance.

"Just walking around. Anyways, I haven't talked to you ever since getting back to the ship, Kushida. You were out with quite a lot of friends after all. I even thought I saw you with Axel."

At the mention of Axel's name, Kushida sweat, but tried to hide it. Her posture is stiff. Kiyotaka noticed this,

"I'm going out with Class C today, do you want to come with me, Ayanokouji-kun?"

"Can I join?" Kiyotaka asked, making Kushida look at him with slight surprise.

"You're coming?"

"I'm joking, you know I'm not the type to hang out like that."

"I was surprised for a bit, Ayanokouji-kun you're very funny."

"Really?" Kiyotaka went silent a bit.

'I don't think those were her real thoughts, her true thoughts would definitely be a lot scarier than that.'

"Then I'll be off." Kushaida said. Just as she said that, both Kushida's and Kiyotaka's phones vibrated at the same time.

At the same time, an announcement started over the ship's speakers.

"This is an announcement to all students; you have received mail to your phones earlier. Check the contents of the mail and follow those instructions closely. If you have not received the mail, please contact your nearest available faculty member. This is a very important announcement so please make sure to not miss it."

The following was written on the mail in Kiyotaka's phone:

"A special examination will be starting soon. Gather at the designated time in the designated rooms. Students who are more than 10 minutes late for the meeting will receive a penalty. Go to room 204 on the second floor by 18:00 today. Since there is only 20 minutes left until then, please wash your hands and keep your phone in silent mode or turn it off entirely."

"Can I see your mail?" Kushida asked and spoke a little bit to his screen.

He showed it to her. She showed him her message too, but despite the basic structure being the same, the gathering point for her was two rooms down from his and the gathering time was 20:40 instead of 18:00.

"I wonder why they'd give us such strange instructions."

".No clue."

Kiyotaka sighed and he quickly sent a message via mail to Horikita and she replied to him almost instantly.

Horikita Suzune | Message

Ayanokouji Kiyotaka: Did you receive an email from the school just now?

Horikita Suzune: I did.

Ayanokōji Kiyotaka: I was appointed to meet at 18:00. What about you?

Horikita Suzune: Mine's at 20:40. It looks like our gathering times are assigned differently.

Ayanokōji Kiyotaka: I see. At 20:40, huh?

'The same meeting time as Kushida.' Kiyotaka's thoughts as he looked over to Kushida who was still clueless.

Horikita Suzune: I'm curious about this difference in starting times, this could give rise to a feeling of unfairness between the students of different groups.

Ayanokōji Kiyotaka: I can't say for sure at this point.

Horikita Suzune: How about Axel?

Kiyotaka tiled his head. Then he started typing again. He was sure that they had the same time...he is not sure but..it's just a feeling.

Ayanokōji Kiyotaka: I will ask him later, we are not in the same place right now.

Horikita Suzune: That's quite surprising you two are not together.

Ayanokōji Kiyotaka: Yeah, I'm kinda lonely.

Horikita Suzune: I– nevermind.

Horikita Suzune: Anyways, There are things I'd like to discuss further but there's no time it seems. Since your gathering time is earlier. Please make sure to report back to me.

Ayanokōji Kiyotaka: Got it.

Kiyotaka then shut his cell phone off, he sighed and looked at Kushida. Kushida waved her hand and started walking away.

"I'm hungry." he murmured to himself as he went back to his room to eat.