Ayanokouji What If: Popularity Time

V4 Chapter 2: Enjoyment of the Speranza

Kiyotaka Pov

The night the exam ended was filled with three things: Relief, excitement, and exhaustion.  The stress induced from the exam halted all of those emotions, however as soon as the first years stepped onto the cruise ship they were almost blown over by those feelings.

The constant wariness exhibited was not healthy for their sleep schedules, leaving many fatigued.  But at least they have their beds.  After, of course, a 3 hour celebration with your friends. 

I wanted to sleep but as leader of the class and social monarch butterfly it was an unspoken rule that I must be included at any class-wide gathering.

I sighed, "if I wasn't I'd be spam called by everyone in the class until my phone lit on fire."

I and my roommates lethargically dragged ourselves back to our room from the dining hall as I recounted the events of the night to myself.

When I had finished talking to Horikita-Senpai, I returned to the party to continue celebrating.  Most everyone was having a good time, however one person stood out to me as acting odd: Kikyo.

She smiled and laughed as normal however I noticed her tossing looks at Horikita and I every so often.  Kikyo is normally a good actor, enough to fool me, but tonight I could tell something was off about her.  She seemed to be sadder than usual, sometimes her eyes glancing down at the floor before she would blink rapidly, a common way to stop tears.

To what she was sad about, I have no idea, but if it cracked her composure I must be sure everything is ok with her considering how important she is to me.

As a pawn in my game I must maintain her status.

"Dude I'm gonna straight collapse," whined Ken uncharacteristically. 

"That's odd," started Akito, "you never complain about your body."

"Yeah but my legs feel like shit bro," retorted Ken with a glum expression.  During the celebration, Shinohara started playing music.  The one who danced the most was Ken, although partially to the side.

"Ken how were you so good at dancing?  I saw your dancing, and it was really good," I said while casting a glance over at him.  I was positioned to his right, with Hirata and Akito on our other sides.

"I just picked it up from other people in my junior high.  The people there had the best parties lemme tell you."

"They invited you to parties?"  asked Akito with a mischievous smirk plastered on his face.

"Huh?  Yeah of course, I was the best on the team of course they did."

Akito shook his head and just let it be.  I think that's for the best to be honest.

No one wanted to set off Ken right now, after all we were all tired.

"I'm so happy that the party went well," started Hirata, "part of me was worried drama could have started."

"Yeah some people in this class have a problem keeping things to themselves," I said while my mind immediately flashed to Yamauchi and Ike.

"Shinohara and Ike are going to kill each other one day," said Ken.

"To be honest I'm surprised they haven't already," I said while faking a laugh.

We arrived at our door, and Hirata stepped forward, swiping his keycard.  The card reader beeped and the door clicked.

I opened it and Ken squeezed past me, making for his bed.  Before anyone else was even in the room, Ken collapsed face first onto his bed with his shoes still on.