Chapter 10: The Promised Night

Chapter 10: The Promised Night

Chapter 10:

The Promised Night

N OW, WE GO BACK in time a little bit, from the beginning of April to the end of March. On this day, since I had to spend some time in the morning to take care of something, I started the day’s activities before 7 a.m. Once eight o’clock rolled around, a news program came on the television that was on in the room. With the news playing like background music in my room, I sent a message off to Ichinose.

“I’ll be out until three this afternoon, but I would like you to come to my room any time you want after that.”

The message didn’t contain any specific details. There was a promise that I didn’t mention, because I didn’t need to explain it in detail at this point, after it had been reiterated several times since being made last year. Of course, it was true that the situation had changed significantly before and after the End-of-Year Special Exam. Ichinose apparently got a fever after the exam and entered spring without even making an appearance at the closing ceremony. She hasn’t been seen outside even once since then. This damage I had dealt her was great, and that deep wound was still healing, even now.

The message I sent her didn’t show up as read. Was she sleeping? Or was she awake and pretending not to notice? Or was it something else altogether? I decided to call her to make sure, but the phone didn’t even ring. All I got was a standardized voice message, the kind that played if the phone wasn’t turned on or if it didn’t get any signal.

“Get in touch with me once you see this.”

I decided to send that short message as an addition. Ichinose most definitely understood that today was the day. On top of that, if it seemed like I wouldn’t be hearing from her at all today, then I would probably have to make the decision to end this on my own. Glancing over at the television, I saw that the weather report was on, proclaiming that it would be sunny in the afternoon but that heavy rain was expected to continue through the night and until dawn. While I was busying myself by cleaning my room for a while, I received a phone call. For a moment, I thought that it was Ichinose calling me back, but apparently not.

“Hello?” I began.

“’Sup, Ayanokouji! Hey, come on out now, buddy! Let’s hang!”

Ishizaki spoke in such a loud voice that I couldn’t help but hold my phone away from my ear.

“Right now?” I replied. “It’s still only a little past eight, though?”

“C’mon, dude, who cares what time it is? It’s spring break, man. I got stuff I wanna talk to you ’bout.”

“Well, sure, I guess… I can spare about an hour or so. Where are we going?” I asked.

He pondered my question on the other end of the line for a moment, as if he hadn’t yet decided on where we’d actually be meeting.

“An hour’s fine. As for where, uh, I guess just outside for now. Outside, yeah.”

It was such a sloppy, lackadaisical invitation that I suspected there wasn’t actually any reason for us to meet.

“At least decide an actual location.”

“ Aw, hell, dude. Okay, uh, then, outside the dorm…err, wait, yeah, I got it, man. Let’s meet at Keyaki Mall!”

Keyaki Mall? Well, naturally, it would be closed at this time of day, so no one could enter. However, that would make it a surprisingly appropriate place for students to have a confidential chat, since no one would be there.

“Got it,” I replied.

“Hell yeah! Okay, think I’ll get there in like ten minutes. Later, dude.”

With that, Ishizaki one-sidedly ended the call. He was almost frighteningly excited for how early in the morning it was. Well, I figured I’d learn what this was about once I got there.

10.1

S INCE THERE WASN’T MUCH time until we were supposed to meet, I immediately left the dormitory and headed to Keyaki Mall, as designated by Ishizaki.

“Now then…” I muttered.

Cell phone in hand, I searched the area for Ishizaki, but I couldn’t see anyone yet. Even after another five minutes had passed, there was still no sign of the person who had called me here, and just when I was wondering whether I should try contacting him or continue to wait in silence, my thoughts were interrupted.

“Ayanokouji-kun.”

I was approached by none other than Shiina Hiyori. To my knowledge, the only thing she had in common with Ishizaki was that they belonged to the same class.

“Good morning. This is quite a coincidence,” she said.

“Sure is,” I replied.

Although I answered in agreement to go along with it, I wondered if it really was a coincidence. Running into a classmate of the person who had invited me to meet at Keyaki Mall, at this time of day? I couldn’t imagine something like that was highly probable.

“Um, well, to tell you the truth, I received a call from Ishizaki-kun… I don’t quite understand what is going on, but I was just wondering, did you perhaps get a call from him too, Ayanokouji-kun?”

“Yep,” I replied easily, since it seemed like we were on the same page. “I just got a call from him earlier. He didn’t tell me what this was about though.”

“Yeah, same here,” she brought her palms together, looking pleased, or perhaps relieved. “I wonder what in the world this is all about.”

“I’d like to think it’s nothing bad, but…”

“Whoa! Damn, you guys’re fast!”

While Hiyori and I exchanged looks, Ishizaki approached with that cheery declaration.

“I thought you were the one who said you’d be here in ten minutes,” I replied.

“Yeah, man, it’s like, I went out with just one shirt on, and I was like, wow, damn, it’s pretty cold. So I went back inside, but then, I ran into a buddy o’ mine on the way, and…well…” Ishizaki paused briefly. “Anyway, who cares ’bout all that. No biggie. I’m here, it’s all cool.”

“It’s ‘no biggie,’ huh?” I replied. “Well, I guess you’re right about that, sure.”

Fundamentally speaking, it was usually the person arranging the meeting that would be on time or earlier. Perhaps I was just too accustomed to that idea and was a little overly sensitive to it.

“Right?” said Ishizaki.

Looking at Ishizaki as he nodded with a smile, I suddenly had a thought. Relationships between people may change day by day, but I became increasingly accustomed to them over time… Well, rather, I felt like I had become closer, on more intimate terms. I had experienced similar emotions in the past when dealing with Ishizaki, but what was interesting was that I was surprised to recall the ways our relationship had changed. I didn’t know if that was something that happened to everyone, or if it was something unique to me, as I had never established something that could be called a friendship before now.

“Good morning, Ishizaki-kun,” said Hiyori, giving him a proper greeting after having warmly observed his and my conversation.

“Yeah, yeah, morning!” he exclaimed.

“So, why exactly did you call us here?” I asked.

When I urged him to get on with it, he deliberately paused, holding back his words, and then proceeded to laugh so hard that I recoiled. Then, he clenched his fist tightly and held it out in front of me.

“Now’s the time to become one of us!” he shouted.

His voice reverberated throughout the early morning air around Keyaki Mall. Perhaps it was because his shout was so loud that it created an echo, but one of the birds that had been perched on a nearby tree flew away.

“I’m sorry. I think maybe I don’t understand because I still haven’t quite gotten into the swing of things here yet, but what on earth are you talking about?” I asked.

Without anything even remotely resembling an explanation, Ishizaki’s words and actions remained incomprehensible to me.

“Come on, dude, you gotta know what I mean! When I say become one of us, I mean change classes, dude! Transfer!” replied Ishizaki.

“You wanted to talk about that? This early in the morning, without any warning?” I asked.

“Yeah, man. It’s almost April, so I thought I’d try to ask you again today,” said Ishizaki, crossing his arms and nodding with self-satisfaction.

“I think that it’s wonderful of you to offer, Ishizaki-kun, but Ayanokouji-kun has been promoted to Class A. Unfortunately, I don’t think he would go down to a lower-level class,” said Hiyori, gentry trying to convey the current situation to her classmate.

“But we ain’t that far apart in terms of Class Points, right?” Ishizaki asked, unconvinced. “Ryuuen-san’s gonna rocket us way past ya, at a breakneck pace. ’Sides, if our class and yours swap places in the rankings, then folks won’t think too highly of ya if you move to our class after that, right, Ayanokouji? In that case, it’s better if ya come on over while we’re still below ya.”

Ishizaki was spouting all this off very casually, without much thought, but I could see that he had a point. Normally, the standard thinking would be that a student would transfer to a new class only after that class had gotten a stable position as Class A. However, in terms of timing, this would be a bad choice for your image. In truth, I was planning to transfer to another class—just not Ryuuen’s class.

“’Sides, if I didn’t ask ya right now, you might get snatched up by somebody else, y’know?” said Ishizaki. Perhaps his instincts had somehow picked up on the transfer that I was planning for. “So that’s why I’m askin’ ya to transfer to our class right now, Ayanokouji. I know I said this a bunch o’ times, but, man, if you and Ryuuen-san teamed up, then you two’d be the strongest, y’know? Right? Right?!”

It didn’t really matter no matter how many times Ishizaki said “Right?” But still, the pressure he was putting on was incredible. Hiyori even looked a little impressed, perhaps somewhat convinced by his argument.

“Sorry, but that’s not going to happen. Or rather, there’s no need for it,” I replied.

“Whaddya mean, no need?” he asked.

I was trying to think of the best way to convince him honestly, and I figured that the best method would likely be…

“This time, Ryuuen beat Sakayanagi and moved significantly closer to Class A. Which means that there’s a good chance that you can win even without my help. Besides, like you said yourself, Ryuuen is going to be making great strides from here on out. In that case, there’s no need for you to shore up your class any further, is there? Or are you saying that Ryuuen won’t be able to win without me as an ally?” I asked.

If Ryuuen heard that, he would definitely get angry.

“No, that’s not what I meant, I—!” he protested, easily able to imagine Ryuuen’s fury.

“That’s how this comes off , ” I replied, cutting him off. “You’re someone close to Ryuuen, so don’t doubt him. Just trust in his abilities. Besides, once you brought Katsuragi into the fold, the hole in your class was as good as filled.”

Now, Ishizaki wouldn’t be able to push the issue any further.

“But… But I…” he sputtered.

Ishizaki showed some resistance and choked back his words, but he would probably realize that he couldn’t continue to carelessly solicit me. Since it was unthinkable that Ryuuen would choose to partner up with me in the future, you could even say that Ishizaki’s invitation here was going against his leader’s wishes.

“But that…that’s not the only reason, dude!” he wailed, with a pained look on his face that showed he wasn’t going to let this go so easily. “It’s just that I like you, man! But in the future, we’re gonna be fightin’ each other from different classes, right? And on top of that, it’s gonna be, like, close competition, yeah? Which means we’re gonna totally be enemies, dude. Doesn’t it? That’ll mean that we’ll have zero chance to hook up. On the other hand, if we do this right now, then we got Ryuuen-san, we got you, Ayanokouji, and we got Albert, and we got Shiina…we can all be friends, is what I’m sayin’. And I want all of us to have fun times together, y’know? Dude, if you just nod your head yes for me, I’m even prepared to let Ryuuen-san punch me real good!”

Despite supporting Ryuuen more than anyone else, Ishizaki was saying that, in his heart of hearts, my skills weren’t the only reason he continued to invite me even at the risk of being reprimanded.

“The fact that you’re saying all that, well, it’s not a bad feeling,” I replied. “For my part, it’s not as though I dislike spending time with you and Hiyori. Actually, the truth is that in some ways, I feel more at ease with you two than I do with Horikita’s class.”

“Y-ya mean it?!” exclaimed Ishizaki with sparkling eyes.

However, I couldn’t just keep getting his hopes up forever.

“It’s just that, it’s not like you can transfer classes just because of friendships,” I continued “Besides, the hurdle of coming up with the Private Point cost associated with transferring is a high bar to clear, and there’s the question of whether your classmates other than Ryuuen would accept it. There would naturally be opposition to it. For example, Ibuki would definitely be against it, wouldn’t she?”

“Hey, man, if it’s just Ibuki, I’ll shut ’er up!” shouted Ishizaki.

“Ibuki was just one example. Moreover, a transfer just suddenly happening out of the blue like this is going to attract suspicion. If things went wrong, some of your classmates might think that I’m an assassin sent from Horikita’s class to destroy your class from the inside once I’d transferred over,” I explained.

It was precisely because of how close they were to becoming Class A that they’d likely react very strongly to something like that.

“Also, just like Hiyori said at the start of this conversation, Horikita’s class has now been promoted to Class A. I would have strong reservations about going down to a lower class, since that would mean taking on a lot of big risks,” I added.

“That’s… O-okay, then! We’ll do it this way!” shouted Ishizaki.

“Do what which way now?” I asked in return.

I had been trying to steer him toward giving up, but apparently, he was still persisting. I didn’t know what kind of idea he had come up with, but whatever it was, it would be pointless. That was because I had no plans to transfer to Ryuuen’s class at all, even aside from any number of concerns I might have.

“If you come to our class, you can date Shiina! How ’bout that?!” asked Ishizaki as he grabbed both my hand and Hiyori’s hand and forcefully brought them together.

“H-huh?!” sputtered Hiyori.

Even Hiyori, who had been smiling warmly as she watched Ishizaki make his thoughtless pitch, was shocked by the surprise change in tactics, as one would expect.

“What kind of proposal is that?” I asked.

The fact that Ishizaki hadn’t considered for a second the feelings of the two people actually involved was the very definition of audacity.

“What you don’t got in your class, you got in ours! Get it?” said Ishizaki.

“You do know I have a girlfriend, right?” I asked.

“Ah hell, dude,” said Ishizaki. “Ya just gotta break up with Karuizawa then, when ya change classes, right?”

“That’s nonsensical,” I replied.

“So, you don’t like Shiina?” he asked.

“I don’t dislike her, no,” I replied, figuring that I would give a firm answer on the points where I could.

“Then there ain’t no problem now, is there?” asked Ishizaki. “I mean, Shiina, you like Ayanokouji, dontcha?”

“Huh?!” blinked Hiyori.

“You shouldn’t say things that make people uncomfortable, Ishizaki,” I told him.

“Nah, dude, I ain’t tryin’ to make anyone uncomfortable,” he said. “Y’know, it’s like, they say it’s better to be honest, and just come out and say things straight, with stuff like this. When it comes to these things, it’s only good if you both love each other, right? It’s one of those win-win situations, or whatever they call it.”

That was an imposed interpretation, and no matter how you looked at it, this was a matter that Ishizaki should not be sticking his nose into.

“I don’t think you should make Ayanokouji-kun uncomfortable,” said Hiyori in an attempt to get Ishizaki to settle down, even while our hands were still forcibly linked together.

“It’s cause I’m the kinda guy who, when I like a girl, I just go for it, with everythin’ I got! Come on, dudes! Let’s friggin’ go!!” exclaimed Ishizaki.

“No, because…” Hiyori paused. “Ayanokouji-kun has a lovely girlfriend.”

“Then what about if he broke up with Karuizawa, huh? What then, Shiina?” asked Ishizaki.

“Huh?!”

“Ain’t that what this is all about? Yer sayin’ that you won’t make a move ’cause he’s got a girlfriend, right?”

“I think it’s about time you knock it off, Ishizaki,” I chided. “You shouldn’t embarrass Hiyori. It’s awful to make her say whether she likes someone when she’s right in front of them. Only a small handful of people would be able to say that they dislike someone to that person’s face.”