Classroom of the Elite:SS Collection

Beyond Love (Sakayanagi Arisu)

"This is?"

Taking the small packet from his hand, I asked.

"A gift for you."

Ayanokoji-kun nonchalantly answered my question.

"Heh. But why give me a present? I don't remember asking you for it."

"Yeah. You haven't. I am giving you this gift as a way of showing my gratefulness to you for your help that you have given me all these times."

"Is that so."

Although I did maintain my calm and composed look, my heart was beating like crazy. Those strong beatings in my chest felt pleasant to me. I looked at the gift he had handed me and then looked at his disappearing figure, and my whole body felt as hot as if not wanting to let him go away.

Every time I talked with him, I wanted the moment to last longer, even if by a second. The fact that he doesn't seem to share the same sentiment hurts me a little. But whatever, that's just how he is after all.

Fufu, just like a maiden in love, isn't it?

I unwrapped the gift. It was a phone strap with the design of a cute cat. I immediately took out my phone and put the strap on it.

Did he actually know that I liked cats?

While I was thinking that, the figure who had been tailing me decided to appear before me.

"Hey, what is your relationship with Ayanokoji-kun?"

After Ayanokoji-kun was completely out of sight Kamuro approached me and posed that question to me. She must have been observing this whole event unfold.

"What do you mean?"

Amused, I tried playing with her a bit.

"Don't play dumb. Ever since I have met you and known you, you don't care about anyone else. But for some reason, you always try to look out for him and I could tell you were feeling excited and happy all while talking to him. And not just today, every time you talk to him you feel ecstatic, don't you?"

"Fufu. Is that so?"

She seemed hesitant to speak for a while but she finally asked me what she had wanted now for a long time.

"Do you, by any chance, love him?"

"Love?"

When I parroted her words back to her as a question, she tilted her head, as if confused.

"Don't refer to my feelings that I have for him with as insubstantial as love. Love is a word far more insatiable to me. What I feel for him is not love, it's beyond love, it transcends love. I want him all for myself. I want to play with him forever. I want him to play with me forever. I want him to look just at me and me alone."

My face was getting hotter by the moment and while speaking those words I was weirdly excited. Never in my life before had I felt the pleasure of this level.

"Hey, what if he already has a girlfriend?"

After I calmed down a bit, Kamuro asked me again.

Did she ask this just out of curiosity or does she actually know about that?

But regardless of what she thought, my answer wouldn't change.

"It doesn't matter. After all, in the end, he will definitely be mine and mine alone."

Note: 

Happy birthday to one of the most interesting and loved characters in Yomi, Sakayanagi Arisu!! I would love to see many more future developments between her and Kiyotaka!