Ayanokouji What If: Popularity Time

V4 Chapter 8: For A Brighter Future

Kiyotakta Pov

I left the 4th meeting, not at all surprised by how this meeting went. Another dead lock on information, however, Ichinose managed to convince the majority of us to play cards.

I suspect it was to further see our mannerisms and behaviors.

Maybe Ichinose was going to make some sort of move on every party privately? It would be more effective than trying to target the group as a whole.

The girl's plans moving forwards were certainly not the most important task I had to deal with as of now.

Karuizawa failed to show up to the meeting I had arranged for her and Manabe, making matters between the two even worse I would imagine.

I took a look down the hall, expecting to see some sort of argument, but I only saw an empty hall, not at all filled with organic life.

Again, a strange situation unfolding despite it not supposed to be unfolding this way.

Did I make a mistake when planning? Impossible, there's no way I could have botched it considering the amount of information I had with me at the time.

Someone must have stopped Karuizawa from going or somehow leaked the information...but why would Manabe and her friends do that? They seemed to be looking forward to beating her, except for Rika.

I quickly had a eureka moment. It must have been Rika.

She was relieved when Karuizawa hadn't shown up, and from the beginning, seemed to be very against whatever they had planned for the Gyaru.

But if that's the case, what will that mean for Karuizawa and Hirata's fake relationship? Based off everything Karuizawa knows at this moment, she would be able to assume Hirata set her up for Manabe to attack.

If the gyaru blames Hirata, he can claim innocence, but she'll lose trust in him, which would be good for me normally, but her asking me to protect her from Manabe could cause complications at a later date.

Her distrust in Hirata may also lead to her being more wary of me, which would make the original plan even harder, even if she asks for protection.

I decided to talk to Hirata about it to make sure nothing bad happens during our meeting with her at 2:00am.

Currently, he was talking to Kikyo and Ichinose back in the conference room.

I doubled back and waited outside, not intending on speaking to Ichinose or Kikyo. They would just be wasting my time right now, and having to deal with whatever Ichinose is cooking could have a negative outcome on my sleep schedule.

Sleep means everything.

My comfortable dorm bed is back at school with my soft comforter, cold pillows, and even better: a TV.

I missed not having to sleep in a room with someone who lets out snores on par with a hippopotamus.

Waiting outside for a minute more, Hirata left, leaving the two girls on their own together.

"Oh, Ayanokouji-Kun? Were you waiting for me?"

I nodded, "yeah."

"Sorry about that then. What did you need?" asked Hirata with an apologetic smile.

"I was meaning to talk to you about Karuizawa's meeting with me," I started.

Hirata implored me, "yes? What happened?"

"She didn't show up."

"Oh really? I'm so sorry you were left hanging there, do you want me to talk to her?"