A Monster's Influence: Route B

Volume 1 - Chapter 6

Ayanokouji's POV

Recently, the class was struck by a sense of unease. It seemed coincidental, but students from other classes have been following several of us. As said by the titular Latvian villain from Goldfinger; Once is happenstance. Twice is coincidental. The third time is enemy action. From the information I collected from Hirata via a classmate of his, it seemed to be comprised solely of members of Class C.

One of the girls seemed to be unnecessarily provoked by something Amikura apparently had done and had taken action that resulted in a verbal beatdown which left Amikura in tears. Minamikata had taken offense to that, and what followed was a shouting match between her group and the Class C girls' clique. The commotion had been seen by some employees who had to escort both groups out for disrupting the peace.

Another unusual event was the excessive shoving and elbowing at a recreational basketball court in a basketball pickup game between a group of five Class C boys against Kanzaki, Hamaguchi, Beppu, another Class B student, and a Class D student. Their constant provocations had gotten on Kanzaki's nerves and he retaliated in kind. A fight had almost broken out between the two groups, but some upperclassmen like Student Council President Horikita forcefully separated the two from each other. Despite Kanzaki being stoic and calm for the most part, it seemed he had an especially hot temper when he and our friends are being wronged.

I definitely have to take note of that in the future after the stimulus that will inevitably attack Ichinose, taking advantage of her pacifistic demeanor. Kanzaki will herald the shift in the class' nature to act more aggressively out of righteousness. I have to be cautious, however. It wouldn't do for Kanzaki to usurp control from Ichinose because of his hot temper. I have to create and maintain a careful balance between Ichinose and Kanzaki in order for them to cover each others' weaknesses.

I digress. The third incident I have known seemed to be playing out right here and right now. A group of three boys had been following Himeno and me around since we hung out with Hirata and Karuizawa. We had split off from them halfway because Karuizawa wanted to visit one of the many perfume shops, while Himeno and I decided to get some gelati at an ice cream parlor. Poor Hirata, may your nose rest in peace after you experience nasal hell. Speaking of the gelati, it surprisingly differed from the ice cream I had the other day. The tiramisu gelato I ate was way creamier and flavorful than plain old ice cream. I also found out Himeno had such a girly taste palette I couldn't help but tease her for. Apparently, she liked craft soda flavors such as "Frozen Rose", "Rainbow Unicorn", and "Strawberry Kiss". ...I had a girly taste palette. I let her indulge in some of my gelato while I got to taste her soda, which was absolutely delicious. She didn't hide her laughter when I shut up real quick. I digressed again.

"...Ayanokouji-kun, they're still following us," Himeno whispered towards me as we took a stroll in the park. We didn't ever look behind us, but we occasionally noticed the three students during a few turns while we acted oblivious to the situation.

"Agh, my legs are hurting, let's take a seat here for a bit," I said, pointing towards a bench. We swept leaves off of it and we decided to relax. I then pulled out my phone and decided to call the campus police hotline. The three stalkers were a far enough distance to not notice what I was doing or what we were saying. The phone rang a few times before it was picked up.

{Hello, this is campus police, how may I help you?}

"Hello. My friend and I have been followed by three boys and we feel nervous about the situation. They had their hands down their pants for some reason, and my friend and I are feeling uncomfortable. We are at the park on campus. What should we do?" I asked. I didn't need the burden of proof. The campus police can be expected to take action against possible threats towards students. This accusation wasn't one of a serious nature, so no investigation would be necessary.