Ayanokouji What If: Popularity Time

V6 Chapter 5: Birthday Bash

POLL! On a scale of 1-10, how freaky do you want KiyoKikyo to be?

                         Kiyotaka Pov

After hanging up on Kikyo, I plopped onto my bed with a resigned sigh. Why was I so fixated on Kikyo's good aspects? While it's normal to say that someone of the opposite or even the same sex is attractive, I still feel oddly hooked on her in ways that go beyond looks.

I'm not sure how to identify these feelings. Love? I doubt it, that's a complex emotion and I haven't even felt true happiness yet. Admiration? It seems a bit inaccurate, but based on my limited knowledge and research, I must conclude.

Admiration...what a silly thought.

My phone dinged and I checked my home screen to a text from Kikyo:

Kikyo: Your birthday is tomorrow, right?

Kiyotaka: Ig so.

The conversation promptly ended. I forgot my birthday, but I will bet everyone else didn't.

Tomorrow is going to be troublesome...

Waking up on time, I checked my phone to see a few Happy Birthday messages in my inbox. I answered them all with 'Thank you!' and 'You're the best!'.

I noticed that none of them came from any of my classmates.

So far, I haven't received any invitations to meet up, which I found odd as well, since usually on everyone else's birthdays we would celebrate in groups.

Oddly, not a single invitation was sent my way. Is it possible...yes, very likely.

Besides those messages, an email from the school was waiting for me. Opening the link, it showed the pairs for the Paper Shuffle.

Horikita and Ken, Kikyo and Ike, and Airi and I were the first pairs I checked for. I scanned the other pairs just for fun I suppose.

Sato and Onodera.
Koenji and Okitane.

I suppose Koenji pairing up with Karuizawa wouldn't make much sense, would it? I prepared for the movie shortly after...

The movie theater was currently crowded with a lot of senpais. It seemed that most of them were couples, consisting of the girl lovingly wrapping herself around the boy's arm.

Too bad for some of them the girl looked at me when I passed by them.

"I got here early," I thought, leaning up against the wall with my phone out.

Keisei claimed he was almost there, with Haruka and Airi in tow. With that in mind, I expected to be alone for a minute more, only to hear a high-pitched voice, "Kiyotaka-Kun!"

Turning to the voice, I saw Kikyo, Sato, and Karuizawa approaching me. Kikyo wore an orange jacket with a pink fleece, Karuizawa wore a gray jacket, and Sato wore a zip-up hoodie that seemed to be extra small on her.

"Good morning Kikyo, Karuizawa, and Sato, how are you all?"

"Fine," said Karuizawa, "you came to see this movie as well?"

"Yeah, with my study group."

Sato giggled, "what a coincidence!"

I eyed Kikyo and she shrugged.

"I'm glad then, we can watch it together!" I said.

No Birthday greetings from them either. That just gives credence to my theory.