Warmth Of A Genius | Classroom Of The Elite

Move 11 - Horikita Siblings

"A- Ayanokouji-kun! Here!"

Yamamura came over to me again with a glass of milk, almost tripping as she made her way back to the table. I hurriedly grabbed it and chugged it down, finally feeling a bit of relief as the capsaicin in my mouth was slowly getting washed away.

"Okay, I definitely wasn't expecting that..."

After my first meeting with Yamamura we've been regularly going out for lunch or dinner whenever either of us crave spicy food. That night at the convenience store in April opened my eyes to the world of spice and its glory. It also opened my eyes to the fact that I am atrocious with it since my diet in the white room never had any spice involved.

We were at some small shop at the very back of the campus's shopping district. Apparently it only opened this school year, and was slowly making a name for itself by offering some of the spiciest food you could get on campus. Which I was currently finding out the hard way.

Most of the time I would invite Yamamura to go eat spicy food. She introduced me to it after all, and she really enjoys it as well. Plus, Yamamura's company isn't half bad. She isn't overly invasive or social like Hashimoto, which is definitely appreciated. There've also been times where she recommended me some dishes that ended up being really good.

But right as I was about to start making dinner today, something quite unexpected happened. For the first time, it was Yamamura who invited me to go eat out together. Apparently she heard about this place from a flyer she saw in the halls of the school, and wanted to go try it out. 

Curiosity got the better of me, and I would've felt bad for her if she mustered up the courage to ask me out to dinner only to be rejected. I'm sure that if I did that, she wouldn't have invited me again.

"Even after getting an extra glass of milk we still didn't order enough."

"I- It's my fault for inviting you. Plus, when I took a bite I noticed it was really spicy for me. A- And I know you're not that great with spice yet, so I should've seen it coming and-"

I held up my hand to stop her from rambling on. She was still standing up and she was making herself more anxious the more she continued.

"It's fine, Yamamura. I just overestimated my spice tolerance. It's happened before, right?"

"W- Well yes. But since I invited you, I feel like I should at least take responsibility for it..."

Yamamura looked down at the ground, unsure of what to do now. Her mannerisms are still really interesting in my mind. She only ever makes eye contact when she's caught off guard or panicking. But on very rare occasions she'll look into my eyes when we're just talking about normal things.

Some people in the white room were like that, but those kinds of people didn't last very long. If I remember correctly, the last of them were gone by the time I hit 6 years of age. So being around Yamamura was weirdly entertaining.

"Really, it's okay. Despite the spice, it's really good. Thanks for taking me here."

"O- Of course!"

She kept looking down, but I noticed a small smile creep onto her face before she sat down and continued eating her own food. The dish she ordered was supposedly even hotter than the one I got. If I have to give her credit for one thing, it's that her spice tolerance is no joke.

"Ayanokouji-kun, can I ask you something?"

"Hm? Sure, what is it?"

"Well, I was wondering..."

Yamamura hesitated for a moment, just digging through her food with her chopsticks. Maybe she didn't know how to phrase what she wanted to ask?

"Whose faction will you be joining?"