What on earth is going on here?

My brain is frozen.

The midterm exams are over, so the study sessions are over too, but I’d gotten into the habit of heading to Kiyotaka’s room, so I went there with the same familiar feeling as usual but…

Well, I won’t comment on Sudō-kun training here. He’d started hanging out with Kiyotaka earlier than I did and in a way, his training here is partly my fault.

Being shirtless is unacceptable, though. Still, I’ve gotten a bit used to it, so I don’t faint like before.

Huh? Before? What was that about? My head kind of hurts…

And then there’s Horikita-san. I’m not convinced about it, but she has a spare key to Kiyotaka’s room and can get in easily and she’s playing chess with Kiyotaka for the sake of thought-training.

Even now, she’s playing chess against Kiyotaka.

This is the only place where you can see Horikita-san with dead eyes just like Kiyotaka’s.

Well, she’s being made to fight that monster endlessly.

Of course her eyes would die.

Lately, I’ve even started feeling a bit sorry for her.

…No no, I’m not that easy!

Horikita-san is a potential enemy, so I shouldn’t be feeling sympathy!

But today, Horikita-san’s eyes are even deader than usual.

And maybe mine were the same.

Because there was an enemy there far clearer than Horikita-san could ever be.

Yes, the one I’d suspected before because of the smell.

Kiyotaka is sitting cross-legged and someone is using his lap as a pillow—

“Kuh—Kushida-san!? What do you think you’re doing to my boyfriend!?!”

“Oh, Karuizawa-san, you’re here. I’m intruding.”

“No, if anything, I’m the one being intruded on.”

“Come on, it’s fine, isn’t it? You said you’d accept all of me, right?”

“Well, I did say that but… this isn’t what I meant.”

He really said that!?

What does that even mean!?

“What is this chaotic space?”

“I’m sorry, Karuizawa. I couldn’t save aniki… please forgive this powerless me…”

I can’t even keep up with the situation!

“Sudō-kun tried to pull Kushida-san off. But then Kushida-san—”

“I just threatened him by saying I’d report him if he touched me. After that, it was up to Kiyotaka-kun to deal with it. He said he’d accept me, so he has to accept me♪”

For some reason, Kushida-san looks incredibly lively, completely different from how she is in the classroom.

And why are you calling him by name!?

“Well, in the end, everyone here is close to Kiyotaka-kun anyway. And I plan to stay by Kiyotaka-kun’s side from now on. Hiding my true nature just got tiring. Besides, except for Karuizawa-san, I don’t really have friends, so it won’t get exposed, right?”

It’s true that Horikita-san and Sudō-kun barely socialize, but what about me!?

“Oh, Karuizawa-san. I’d felt something was off for a while, but I just heard it from Kiyotaka-kun. You’re not actually dating, right? Then that means I can do whatever I want in this space, right?”

That’s not okay!!!

And more importantly…

“What are you telling her, Kiyotakaaaa!”

“She was starting to notice. And for me to trust Kushida, I judged it would be better to tell her about me.”

“You’re such a worrywart, Kiyotaka-kun. Even without being told that, I wouldn’t betray you.”

I don’t get it! Was Kushida-san really this dangerous!?

“Well, if you don’t want your fake boyfriend thing exposed, Karuizawa-san, then don’t get in my way, okay?”

Scary. Who is this person?

“Anyway, if you’ve got that many complaints—why don’t you get a lap pillow too, Karuizawa-san? Somehow, being wrapped by Kiyotaka-kun feels really nice, you know?”

“N-Nice!? I’m not jealous or anything!”

“Oh really? Then I’ll take it.”

Horikita-san, who was just playing chess with Kiyotaka, goes over to get a lap pillow.

Huh!?

“Hey, Horikita. We’re not done yet.”

“No. I can already see checkmate. And today my mood is extremely bad because of some random bitch. And it seems that someone refuses to call me by name. In that case, shouldn’t you accept a small request or two?”

“By the way, who are you calling a random bitch, Horikita-san? Say stupid things like that and I’ll crush you.”

“Oh my, I never said who. If you’re getting angry, doesn’t that mean you’re self-aware? You’re always fawning over the boys in class, so it’s not exactly wrong, is it?”

Each of them has their head on a different leg, hurling insults upward at each other.

They really do have a bad relationship…

“…Well, I don’t mind as long as it’s only here. But stop it in the classroom. I’m supposed to be dating Kei and Kushida being this familiar is obviously going to be a problem.”

“Which is why I’ll hold back in the classroom, so let me do what I want here!”

Kushida-san, who’d been getting a lap pillow, sits up and clings to Kiyotaka’s left arm.

My brain has completely stopped.

“See, Karuizawa-san. The left knee is free. Lie down. It feels good~”

As Kushida-san tells me, I place my head on Kiyotaka’s knee and just like that, my consciousness sinks.

* * *

“Hah! A dream!?”

I jolt awake, but I’m in my own room.

It feels like I had a terrible dream…

“However—surprise! This is reality…”

“Excuse me for intruding, Karuizawa-san.”

Even though this is supposed to be my room, the two of them are here.

“W-Why are you two here…”

“There are some things I want to talk to you about, Karuizawa-san.”

“This time it’s a serious talk. We went a bit too far with the joking earlier.”

No, you were the ones messing around.

“…This is about Ayanokōji-kun. You understand he’s different from normal people, right? I mean, he already admitted himself that he was raised in a special environment. At first I didn’t believe it at all~ but after that swimming class and the quiz, my values just got completely shattered. I mean, after seeing that, there’s no choice but to believe it, right?”

“…I was convinced after seeing his fight with Sudō-kun and immediately approached Kiyotaka. So what about it?”

I throw out a small warning.

I think it’s already obvious to everyone that Kiyotaka is abnormal.

“He clearly has the ability to reach Class A—no, even an individual S Class wouldn’t be strange. So why is he in Class D? It’s too unnatural. And if he chose Class D on purpose, then he must have some kind of goal. That’s what I want to know.”

“Well, there are guys like Kōenji and Horikita who get shoved into Class D because of their personalities. So the chance that Kiyotaka-kun got put in D for that reason isn’t zero. But even then, that means he has something that gets him put in D. And you’d want to fix that too, wouldn’t you, Karuizawa-san?”

Both of them make sense.

Horikita-san wants to know Kiyotaka’s goal and fears what happens after it’s achieved.

Kushida-san wants to heal Kiyotaka’s darkness.

“I get what both of you are saying. I am curious about Kiyotaka’s goal and I do want to heal his dark side. …But what are you planning to do about it?”

“He’s an outlier. There’s a high chance you won’t be able to handle him alone. So at the very least, those of us closest to him should cooperate. …Though honestly, I wanted to avoid Kushida-san.”

“Hah. I don’t want to work with Horikita either. But we don’t have a choice, do we? In the end, the people closest to Kiyotaka-kun are the ones here. It’s better for Kiyotaka-kun if we’re on the same page, so I’ll go along with it.”

You’re already at each other’s throats. Are you really aligned?

“Getting along perfectly is probably impossible, but this is more about confirming intent. Even if Karuizawa-san becomes his real girlfriend, I don’t plan on leaving Kiyotaka-kun. Keep that in mind. If I’m told I’m not needed, that’s that. But until then, I intend to stay by his side. I wanted to make that clear.”

In the end, we’re all birds of a feather.

We’re all captivated by the overwhelming presence that is Ayanokōji Kiyotaka.

I still see them as enemies in some ways, but in reality, they’re comrades who go beyond just being classmates.

“…There’s a lot to think about, but for now, can we agree that this group will cooperate as the ‘victims of Kiyotaka alliance’?”

“That’s a fitting description. I agree.”

“He really is a dense womanizer. We’ve got to stop more victims from appearing~”

“Kiyotaka really is—”

And so, despite having completely different directions and personalities, we somehow came together to deal with our common enemy '?'

* * *

Shiver

* * *

Bonus Scene

'…Karuizawa-san calls him by name mutually. Kushida-san can’t do it in class, but calls him Kiyotaka-kun. I tried to get him to call me by name, but failed. But in the first place, I don’t care how I’m seen in class. Even if I change a bit, it probably won’t have much impact. In other words, there’s no problem with me calling Ayanokōji-kun by name!'

And yet, embarrassed, Horikita continued to call him Ayanokōji-kun for a while.