Archive of Our Own

For much of her high school career at ANHS, Horikita Suzune hadn’t really given Ryuuen Kakeru’s unusual fixation on her class—and evidently herself—too much thought.

It made sense, she rationalized: Ryuuen was leader of a rival class, and, not to boast, but Horikita’s own class was an unexpected and mysterious threat for others in their grade. Though initially unassuming, from the very first Special Test, they proved that they were not to be taken lightly.

Thus, Horikita assumed it was only natural for Ryuuen to be wary of her; his strange, antagonistic behavior was probably his way of sounding her out, as it was true that Horikita had unofficially assumed leadership.

She could tell herself Ryuuen’s underhanded tactics were to secure an advantage, his irritating and mocking jabs meant to get under her skin and mess with her concentration, and his strange obsession with Ayanokouji, who acted as her shadow from the beginning, was…

Kind of off?

Horikita had to admit, there was something strange about the two of them, and sometimes… Horikita suspected that Ryuuen’s interest in their class wasn’t purely that of one competitor to another, and instead something more… special directed towards Ayanokouji alone.

It sounded ludicrous even to herself—Ryuuen-kun and Ayanokouji-kun somehow being… involved?—Horikita could understand and admit that.

It wasn’t as though she had a lot of evidence to support her theory, but…there were some moments she observed that were just too odd to be nothing. No matter how crazy it sounded, her intuition told her that there definitely was something between the two.

And, if this… relationship had the potential to hinder their class, well then, it was only right for Horikita, as the de facto leader, to get involved and investigate. 

Just to ensure that Ayanokouji didn’t get ensnared into any trouble. 

Sure, he never had yet given Horikita any reason to be concerned, but… she had the right to monitor him. For the class’s sake.

(She definitely wasn’t being nosey.)

Piece of Evidence #1: Curious Pet-Names(?) Insults

Horikita’s memory towards the beginning of her first year wasn’t perfect, and she wouldn’t be able to claim to recall every interaction between the two boys word for word, but there was one scene she definitely remembers.

It had been over the summer in their first year, during the time spent aboard a cruise ship. She and Ayanokouji had been meeting, most likely to discuss the Zodiac Exam, but for some reason, Ryuuen interrupted.

Maybe that doesn’t sound too convincing on its own, considering that Ryuuen’s always sticking his nose into some trouble… However, it wasn’t his presence that Horikita thought was off, it was the words he said.

It’s important to note that for all of Horikita’s childhood up till her first year of high school, Horikita didn’t have any friends. That’s pretty well known and shouldn’t be surprising to anyone.

As a certified loner… well. Horikita enjoyed reading. That was also to be expected, right? She was often seen carrying around a book, and sometimes during the break, if she’d finished all her school work, she didn’t mind flipping through a chapter or two.

And, uhm. It’s a little embarrassing to admit, but. As a loner who read books, during middle school, Horikita, well. Back during her middle school years, she dabbled in many different genres of literature. After all, isn’t it important to be knowledgeable about many subjects? 

And… one of those genres may or may not have been the Omega-verse.

Okay, hey, wait. This isn’t the time to be judging Horikita. This fact is only being mentioned to point out the strange behavior of Ryuuen and Ayanokouji. Those are the two that should be facing scrutiny, not Horikita.

So back to the main point: Horikita had been talking with Ayanokouji before Ryuuen strolled up to the both of them. “You having breakfast with this clingy beta male?” he asked Horikita, and though she can’t remember what she said in return, Horikita remembers the genuine confusion she felt in that moment, clear as day.

For a moment there, Horikita was filled with a sense of cold, irrational panic.

Why would he say that? How does Ryuuen know about the ABO-verse? And why is he asking me about it in broad daylight?

Ayanokouji, for his part, didn’t bat an eye at Ryuuen’s question, so he likely didn’t understand what the term beta meant.

But Horikita knew. 

Though the omega-verse wasn’t necessarily an explicit genre in theory, in practice, most of its works tended to be rather explicit. So why was Ryuuen describing Ayanokouji with a term related to a genre that is rooted with erotica?

And why is he right on the money when classifying Ayanokouji?

(Because let’s be real here, Ayanokouji would have been a perfect beta. He was literally the dictionary definition of what it meant to be a beta. And back in middle school, Horikita was actually quite fond of Alpha x Beta stories, and Ryuuen could definitely be categorized as the former…)

And finally, the most important thing to know was what would Ryuuen gain by asking this? 

What benefit did he get by revealing that he read gay erotica—Horikita knew she was making assumptions, but she also strongly believed that straight ABO was nonsesenical—and why would he specifically mention Ayanokouji’s name?

He could be trying to figure out if Horikita recognized those words and potentially hold it against her during the inter-class battles… or maybe he was trying to see if Ayanokouji recognized the terminology.

And why would he want to know if Ayanokouji had a history of reading homosexual smut? Because Ryuuen was attracted to Ayanokouji and wanted to see if there was a chance he liked men. 

It all made sense.

(Okay, so many months down the line, Horikita would hear Sudou refer to himself as an “alpha male” and upon much prompting, she’d realize that there were other meanings to the terms Alpha and Beta…

And sure, anyone else would take that information and reassess the way they interpret Ryuuen calling Ayanokouji a beta but…

Horikita was the one who was physically present at the scene, and she knew what was happening. Even if the meaning of the words were slightly different, there was definitely something off about the relationship between the two.)

Piece of Evidence #2: Knows Privates Information (AKA Information About Privates)

Okay. Yikes. This one is  a lot more concrete, but it also made Horikita want to bleach her brain  and scrub it clean every time she remembered. It had been her fault for collecting information in an admittedly immoral way, and as a result, she was still reaping the consequences to this day.

But. When she heard her class being praised, of course she wanted to listen in.

Back in the fall of their first year, during the Mixed Training Camp, Horikita had simply been in the canteen, walking with her dinner in her hands, looking for a place to sit and eat alone.

At the time, Horikita had been feeling pretty tired—maybe it was from the prolonged social interactions, maybe it was from the rigorous exercising and cleaning, she couldn’t recall—and she just wanted to quickly finish her food and go to bed in order to rest.

While navigating through the different tables looking for a clean place to sit, Horikita overheard some students from Class D at the time—meaning Ryuuen’s class—chatting, and though she was hardly one to eavesdrop, a few keywords piqued her interest.

“Class C really is a powerhouse, isn’t it?”

Back then, Horikita was so pleased that her class had been promoted after months and months of hard work and stress, and what else would be better at restoring her energy than listening to others admire her (their) accomplishments? 

So, careful not to let those chatting students notice her, Horikita chose a seat within earshot and quietly listened, eager to hear outside opinions on their strengths.

“I really thought that we had a chance with Yamada, but they had us completely beat.”

Hm? Horikita thought. Did the boys do some kind of athletic competition? She usually would have been informed if a thing like that occurred, and it was strange that the girls didn’t have anything similar.

“I was shocked when Koenji whipped his out, but who would’ve thought that Class C had another student who was packing just as much?”

… Whipped what out? Packing what? With growing confusion, Horikita tried to piece together the puzzle and solve the mystery.

“Yeah, Ayanokouji and Koenji… how is it even possible for their dicks to be that big? At that size, wouldn’t it get in the way of life? It’s a surprise that they can even walk normally.”

Horrified, Horikita’s brain slowly registered those words. Ayanokouji-kun’s and Koenji-kun’s… No. No, no, no. Nope. She wasn’t going to think about it. Horikita was just going to get up, move to another place, try to force down whatever remained of her meal, even if she had completely lost her appetite, and—

“What was a bigger surprise was that it was Ryuuen-san who pointed out that Ayanokouji-kun was hiding his weapon. Usually he never gets involved in these kind of things.”

What.

Why would—How did Ryuuen know the size of Ayanokouji’s… instrument? And how did he know it well enough to volunteer it for a measuring contest? And to be correct about its length and win?

Wait. Does that mean that Koenji-kun and Ayanokouji-kun are the largest in the whole grade—?

Enough.

The point was this: clearly Ryuuen was close enough with Ayanokouji to have knowledge of those kinds of details, which no one else knew, even though they’d never had any meaningful interactions in public.

It was possible that Horikita, as a girl, didn’t understand the significance of seeing another man’s parts. It did seem like the whole male portion of their grade was just revealing themselves to one another… But something was definitely suspicious of Ryuuen having knowledge of Ayanokouji’s size beforehand. When would he even have had the chance to see it? And how often—

Piece of Evidence #3: Mysterious Test Results

Horikita didn’t get to witness the two interact much for the rest of her first-year, largely due to Ryuuen suddenly stepping down from his leadership position. Of course, while Horikita was mildly curious about that whole situation, she had her own matters to focus on as the leader of the new Class C, which was no easy job.

It became incredibly more stressful when the In-Class Voting Exam was announced. It seemed that there was no avoiding losing someone, and Horikita knew this, but… a part of her wanted to be completely certain there was no way to save everybody this time around.

It’s largely due to this ridiculous hope for a possible out that Horikita decided to check in on Ryuuen. The man’s expulsion was practically guaranteed; the man who’d once been a cruel tyrant was now merely a social pariah.

By next month, him and all his wicked strategies would just be mere memories, and Horikita knew this, understood it quite well, and she didn’t feel any particular sense of pity for him.

But. If there would be anybody that could weasel a way out of the situation… Horikita believed that if such a person existed, it’d be Ryuuen.

And if he had a way to avoid getting expelled, maybe Horikita would be able to use the same strategy for her class.

Horikita, of course, could just confront Ryuuen herself, but for some reason, she found herself approaching Ayanokouji and dragging him along.

It was quite possible this would be the last time she’d get to watch the two of them interact… Meaning that she’d likely never get a definitive answer as to what their deal was, which was actually a little annoying, considering all the mental effort Horikita had put in thus far.

(Maybe she just wants to give Ayanokouji another chance to approach Ryuuen in public before the latter is gone for good.)

Confronting Ryuuen turned out to be a complete waste of time—he just tried to play mind-games with her, and Ayanokouji hardly even spoke—and Horikita walks away with the knowledge that Ryuuen will allow himself to be expelled.

It’s a little strange, because Horikita thought she was certain before they spoke, but now, she truly felt it. Ryuuen, despite all his bluffs—and Horikita was confident they were bluffs—didn’t have a way to save himself. 

He’d save himself if he did have a way, but Horikita hadn’t felt a single trace of fighting power left in the former leader. The man had simply given up it seemed…

So all that essentially confirmed the dread Horikita had already been feeling: She wouldn’t be able to save all of her classmates. Soon, their class would have 39 students rather than 40. 

Horikita’s feet felt a little heavy as she all but marched out, and she spared a glance to Ayanokouji, who followed behind her with quiet footsteps.

She didn’t know what she’d been expecting, but Horikita was a little shaken seeing the way his gaze seemed to linger in the direction they’d left Ryuuen. 

(And while she didn’t feel bad for Ryuuen, Horikita looked at her classmate and felt a little bit of pity.)

This test was a cruel one after all, and it was already set in stone that Ryuuen would be one of its victims.

..?

Or at least that was how it was supposed to be? No, that was how it was guaranteed to be.

But Horikita, as she descended the stairs to leave the school building, caught sight of Ayanokouji and Ryuuen standing by the test results.

They were standing a fair distance apart, and any other passerby would’ve just assumed that the combination was a mere coincidence, but Horikita wasn’t just anyone after all.

By the time she got close enough to make out the list of those being expelled, the pair had both left, neither of them even glancing at the other, but still, the growing sense that there was something off filled Horikita.

From what she’d seen, Ryuuen had seemed extremely composed, which made sense, seeing as everyone knew that he’d get the most Criticism Votes, but…

Horikita stared at the results incredulously. Rather than Ryuuen’s name, she saw some other girl she’d never even heard of.

How could this be possible? When she’d spoken to Ryuuen, Horikita had been entirely sure that he’d lost the will to fight, but how else could these results be possible without Ryuuen’s own interference?

Who else at this school would fight to save him and had the brains to do so? There was no one like that…

…

It was impossible, and Horikita had no reason, no proof, nothing whatsoever to think Ayanokouji had any ties to this. Her brain knew this, and though she kept repeating this to herself…

Somewhere in Horikita’s heart, it was accepted that Ayanokouji must have helped Ryuuen as a fact.

Piece of Evidence #4: Unrelated Name Drops

Ayanokouji Kiyotaka was a mystery, even to Horikita, who’d been accompanying him from the very beginning of their high school career. His thought process was impossible to predict, his abilities were essentially unfathomable, and on the whole, he was untouchable: very little could move his heart and truly arouse his interest.

It was precisely because Horikita understood this distance that Ayanokouji kept between himself and others that she was shocked to notice the boy’s fondness for Ryuuen.

Yes, with the previous pieces of evidence, Horikita wasn’t able to pin any responsibility on Ayanokouji with anything other than her suspicion, but there were many other instances where he did bring up Ryuuen in a flattering manner. 

(And Horikita truly believed only love fondness could be powerful enough to delude someone into finding anything positive in Ryuuen.)

Ayanokouji was very sparse in his compliments towards anything, which Horikita supposed made sense considering his own abilities, but for some “unknown” reason, Ryuuen was the exception to this rule.

And he’d do it in circumstances that didn’t even make sense—not that Horikita thought there were any situations where it would make sense to compliment Ryuuen.

“Ryuuen’s pretty cute,” Horikita heard Ayanokouji say quietly under his breath, likely to himself because there was no way he thought Horikita would be receptive to his thoughts.

Incredulous, she squinted at the sight before her: In the middle of the hallway was Ryuuen, kicking some first-year who had just appeared, named Housen, who happened to be strangling Ibuki.

Horikita looked back at Ayanokouji, whose eyes were glued to the same commotion that she had been watching.

“Ayanokouji-kun… what?” Horikita couldn’t hide the disbelief from seeping into her voice. Certainly there were more important things to note, like the crazy first-year who suddenly started attacking other students, but no. Apparently all of that didn’t matter to Ayanokouji.

What even was cute about Ryuuen repeatedly kicking this underclassman and still not doing much damage?

Perhaps Ayanokouji was in a good mood today, as he explained his thoughts to Horikita without much pressure on her part. (Though, Horikita hadn’t been intending to press him on this matter.) “Ryuuen always pretends that he doesn’t care about his classmates, but look at him getting all defensive for their sake... Isn’t that sweet?”

Not really?

“What about Housen-kun?” Horikita tried.

“What about him?”

“You don’t have anything to say about him?” 

“Hmm... Oh. It seems like the first-years are interesting this year. I wasn’t expecting any underclassmen from Ryuuen’s hometown. That’s quite the coincidence... Maybe it’d be nice to chat with him a little bit."

“...”

Like that was abnormal, right? Horikita definitely wasn’t imagining things—something was clearly affecting Ayanokouji’s perception, and Horikita suspected that "something was" affection.

And please do not assume that had been a one-off moment, perhaps slip of the tongue. 

Because when Horikita said this occurred often, at extremely bizarre moments, she truly, truly, meant it. 

Only a few weeks after their first encounter with Housen, who Horikita must emphasize is a threat that warrants full attention, Ayanokouji is stabbed by the underclassman. 

Like what? It was actually crazy, it was insane—the knife went all the way through Ayanokouji-kun’s hand!

Horikita herself could hardly comprehend what’s happening, and was essentially in shock just from witnessing her classmate get stabbed, so Ayanokouji himself should have been, at the very least, a little shaken. 

At the minimum, his mind should've be occupied with what was currently happening, should've been busy assessing the full threat that Housen clearly posed, yet—

“I don’t know how things were back when you were in junior high,” Ayanokouji said to Housen, his voice completely steady. “But all that talk about how you’re a match for Ryuuen will end up being just that—talk.”

Why, for the love of everything that has ever made sense, is Ryuuen being mentioned right now?

And apparently Ayanokouji wasn't even finished.

“And based on what I’ve seen from Ryuuen over the past year, you can’t even begin to compare to him as you are now. He’s strong.”

Most of Horikita’s mental processes were admittedly occupied with trying not to completely freak out over Ayanokouji’s bloody hand—which was stabbed!!—but later, after (mostly) calming down, Horikita wondered, Why would Ayanokouji-kun take that moment to brag about Ryuuen?

Just genuinely, the relationship between the two made no sense to her. Ayanokouji made no sense to her. The whole scene made no sense to her.

But all that was definitely suspicious, right? 

Piece of Evidence #5: Focused Attention

No matter what shenanigans were going on with the two, Horikita still had reaching Class A as her top priority, and she could begrudgingly still admit that she still valued Ayanokouji’s opinions, especially when it came to inter-class relations. Hence, when she planned a meeting with Ryuuen and Katsuragi over a potential truce between their classes, Horikita also brought Ayanokouji along with her.

(If she was trying to make use of whatever ties there might be, it was well within her rights as leader to make proper use of all her classmates.)

At the very least, Horikita hoped for the possibility of Ryuuen being more amenable to discussion with Ayanokouji around.

And like usual, the pair completely wrecked the little expectations she had of them.

“It’s natural to try and make things work out in your favor when you’ve got the edge,” Ryuuen told her. 

Up till this point, negotiations had been going fine, with Horikita having to lead talks while Ayanokouji simply sat next to her and observed Ryuuen.

It wasn’t necessarily easy, but Horikita had been expecting Ryuuen to require a little breaking in. It wouldn’t be like him, with all his pride, to back down without a fight.

“You’re talking better game than before,” he continued. “But the only reason that’s workin’ for you is ‘cause got Ayanokouji there next to you.”

Registering the words, Horikita’s brain gets a little sidetracked. Is that the first time I’ve heard Ryuuen-kun directly praise Ayanokouji-kun? That was praise, right? Horikita absentmindedly wondered. It can be concluded that Ryuuen-kun had a favorable opinion, then, right?

All it took was that brief moment for Ryuuen to pick up his glass of orange juice. Horikita didn’t even realize what he was trying to do until the spot next to her was doused in the sticky drink.

Her first thought was , at least it’s not a knife this time, then she noticed that Ayanokouji—who had been previously sitting right beside her—had evaded Ryuuen’s childish attack completely unscathed. 

For his part, Ryuuen just looked vaguely exasperated, with a tinge of amusement. “Come on now. I’m sure you’ve noticed how freakin’ weird this dude is, right? Could you have dodged that?” 

For some reason, the word weird sounded a little affectionate coming from Ryuuen’s mouth.

Horikita looked at Ayanokouji, who didn’t seem at all ruffled by Ryuuen’s actions. “I… probably couldn’t have, no,” she admitted.

“A normal person would’ve gotten soaked before they could even react.” Ryuuen complained. “But this guy got outta the way with that blank look on his pretty little face like it was no big deal.” 

Horikita could concede that it was impressive—Wait, what was that about Ayanokouji’s face? Did Horikita mishear or something? She glanced at Ayanokouji—who had no reaction, as usual—and Katsuragi, who simply looked stern.

She decided to let it slide for the moment, not wanting to get side-tracked. Especially since now Ryuuen was going against her expectations and trying to use Ayanokouji’s presence as evidence that Horikita was trying to strong-arm his class into a cooperative relationship.

Horikita was getting a headache from these two…

Still, partly because she was feeling petty and because she wanted to test her suspicions, Horikita later points out, “There seems to be some kind of a secret relationship between you and him that no one else knows about.” 

She squinted as she watched Ryuuen’s reaction, but he simply gave her a slight smirk, as if mocking her. Ugh. How irritating.

When the Katsuragi and Ryuuen have both left, Horikita finally directly confronts Ayanokouji. “Be honest, what’s going on with you and Ryuuen-kun?”

“What do you mean?”

“Don’t try to play coy; something’s off about the two of you. Why’d he toss his juice at you?”

Ayanokouji shot Horikita a nonplussed look. “Why does Ryuuen do anything? I don’t know either.”

“If you don’t know, then how’d you dodge so fast? Is this some kind of bizarre flirting ritual or what?”

Ayanokouji mumbled something under his breath which Horikita couldn’t make out. “What did you say?” she pressed, annoyed.

“...I just thought it was unexpected for him to get orange juice, so I kept an eye on him.”

“What? You want me to believe you were watching Ryuuen-kun that intently because you were suspicious of his choice of drink?”

“I was… I only wanted to see if he’d actually drink it,” Ayanokouji admitted, and Horikita just sighed.

“I don’t care about what you two do,” she told him. “Just make sure not to cause any damage to our class.”

+  1 Final Confirmation

Horikita sat in the lobby, frowning as she checked her phone. She and Ayanokouji had planned to meet to reconvene and share information. It was the middle of their grades trip to Hokkaido, and since she and Ayanokouji had been placed in separate groups, it wasn’t easy to see one another.

Typically, Ayanokouji tended to arrive at their meeting location a little bit early, while Horikita came on the dot. Yet here she was alone, with 10 minutes having passed since their agreed time.

Horikita called his number, but no one picked up.

It was highly unlikely that he was trying to play mind-games with Horikita, so it was possible he was just running late. Yet, as another 15 minutes ticked by, there was still no sign of him.

More than a little annoyed, Horikita considered just leaving and heading back to her room. As she stood up, she noticed another student sitting in the lobby, killing time on his phone.

Watanabe Norihito-kun from Ichinose-san’s class, her mind supplied. He was in Ayanokouji’s group and thus was one of his roommates.

Horikita approached him, deciding that since he was already present, there was no harm in checking. “Watanabe-kun,” she called to him. “Do you know where Ayanokouji-kun is?”

His head shot up, and he stammered. “H-Horikita-san. He’s—uh—Do you need him for something?”

“We were supposed to meet here 25 minutes ago, but he never showed up. So? Do you know where he is?”

“He’s… in our room right now…” he said, averting his eyes.

“Is that so?” So it seemed that Ayanokouji had been relaxing in his room, forgetting entirely about their appointment, all the while she patiently waited like a fool. Horikita felt a vein in her temple twitch. “Can you go and get him for me?”

“Uh…” Watanabe appeared to start sweating from the look on Horikita’s face. “I don’t really think now’s a good time—” he tried.

“You can’t? Why not?” 

“It’s just that… well—”

Horikita held out her hand to him. “Give me your room card; I’ll do it myself.”

Watanabe tried to dissuade her, but he fell silent at Horikita’s glare and reluctantly passed it to her.

Now in a foul mood, Horikita marched to the boys’ room, stopping at the room number Watanabe had specified.

She pressed the card against the scanner and as soon as the door unlocked, she slammed it open, uncaring of manners. After all, if Ayanokouji wanted her to be respectful, then he should’ve respected her time first.

“Ayanokouji-kun, do you—” She started, ready to dish out a verbal lashing, but stopped short, her eyes bulging at the sight before her.

Ayanokouji was sprawled across one of the hotel’s futons with Ryuuen leaning over him, pinning him down. Ayanokouji’s arms were linked over Ryuuen’s neck, and—

“What are you two doing?!” Horikita squawked indignantly, completely shocked.

Ryuuen looked up at the intruder, unimpressed. “No one ever taught you any manners, huh, Suzune? What’re you doin’, trompin’ through the guys’ quarter? You that eager to join in?” He thankfully got off Ayanokouji though, as Horikita seemed to have disrupted whatever was going on.

She stared at them in horror, valiantly trying to grasp at words. “You—! What are you two thinking? We are on a school trip! You share this room with other people—is this why Watanabe-kun refused to come here? What will you do if he complains to the school and we lose Class Points?! And what is all this stuff scattered over the floor?!”

“There was a pillow fight,” Ayanokouji said plainly, and Ryuuen snorted.

“A pillow fight?!” she repeated incredulously. 

“Well,” Ryuuen stood up, brushing himself off. “I’m gonna let you handle this,” he told Ayanokouji and passed Horikita out the doorway, leaving the two of them behind.

“Well?” Horikita crossed her arms. “Do you have anything to say for yourself?”

Apparently he didn’t, as Ayanokouji simply watched her in silence, still seated on the futon. 

(Horikita noticed that his hair was a bit ruffled. She’d never seen his hair look messy before; it made the boy look a little more human.)

“You aren’t gonna apologize for standing me up?” she pressed him again.

“Oh. I forgot about that. Sorry,” he replied, tone flat as always.

“That’s it? You don’t have anything else to say?”

Ayanokouji’s eyes observed her face carefully.“... I thought you said that you didn’t care what we did.” 

His voice was quieter than his typical volume. Horikita recognized in the back of her mind that he almost looked guarded, and suddenly, her anger seemed to melt away.

“I don’t mean—I don’t have any issue with you and Ryuuen-kun… y’know. But Ayanokouji-kun, there’s such a thing as time and place.”

“We are at a hotel. It is evening. If anything, this is an ideal time and place for these sorts of activities.”

“You are on a school trip!” She emphasized her earlier points. “You share this room with other people! You could get in serious trouble for fooling around here! Do that kind of stuff back in the privacy of your dorm, where I can’t walk in on you two.”

“Sorry.”

Horikita sighed as she rolled her eyes, but she couldn’t stop the exasperated smile from forming on her face. 

Giving up on her pretense of scolding Ayanokouji, she sat down beside him on the futon. After all, they had originally planned to use this time to share information, and now, Horikita had information she wanted to know.

“So. You and Ryuuen-kun. Are you two going out?” The words felt awkward on her tongue, as Horikita had never been one to take interest in other people’s love lives, but… she was Ayanokouji’s friend. It was her responsibility to have these conversations with him.

“I’d like to be,” Ayanokouji informed her. “I brought it up to him earlier, but then… we got a little sidetracked.”

“Oh. Well… he seems to like you.” 

Horikita watched Ayanokouji, and though he didn’t outright smile, his face relaxed the way it did when he was especially pleased. “I’m glad to hear that.”

“And you?” Horikita questioned. “Do you like him too?”

“Is it even necessary to ask me that? I’m rather sure you already know the answer.”

“I just want to hear it from you directly. I’ve dealt with you two for more than a year; I deserve that much, don’t I?”

“...Yes. I like Ryuuen in a romantic fashion.”

Horikita smiled, but she was unsure of what to do in this sort of situation. She leaned back on her hands, as she decided on the best course of action… teasing.

After all, Horikita was many things: class leader, fellow student, and friend to Ayanokouji Kiyotaka. Just as it was her responsibility to make sure her classmates stayed out of trouble, it was her duty to give her friend a hard time.