Misunderstanding

AYANOKOJI POV

It's our fifth day in the training camp and it's been two days since I've been observing Amasawa's actions towards Kei.

Aside from her always teasing Kei whenever she comes by in my room and keeps on ruining our date, she also took advantage of the sports festival to hurt her physically. And now, Amasawa approached Kei once again and was giving her orders, trying to make a slave out of her. Blackmailing her by saying she will expose our relationship in public. And most of all, she wasn't afraid of doing it infront of me.

To prevent it from getting out of hand, I threatened Amasawa that if she won't stop, I'll expel her.

Fortunately, I have not seen her approaching Kei since then.

Did my threat work?

I actually couldn't tell one hundred percent. Though Amasawa stopped teasing her, it felt like it's only for the meantime.

Her actions were telling me that she wasn't afraid.

Is she not afraid of expulsion? Or, was she telling me that she can defend herself from me?

Or my threat did not fully sink into her mind. The cold atmosphere that I made when I threatened her disappeared in an instant as we saw Utomiya saving Horikita from Housen in a distance enough for them not to notice us who were watching them.

Amasawa took that as an opportunity to get away from me and made it look like nothing happened.

Well, since Amasawa wasn't doing anything bad to Kei anymore, I think I don't have to worry that much.

But there's one more thing that bothers me. After I saw Utomiya take down Housen, I once again thought that he could be the white room enforcer, even more suspicious than Amasawa, who was always making contact with me.

Tsukishiro once said that the enforcer that he sent disobeyed his orders.

Though Utomiya once tried to expel me, he wasn't being serious. In fact, he only talked to me and made Tsubaki instead to partner up with me and that's it. Utomiya then told me that he gave up the bounty already and does not want to be our enemy. And he proved it by helping our class from winning the sports festival.

Moreover, he was trying to get close to Horikita and not to me. He even saved her from Housen.

For an enforcer who perfectly blended in to the students, it described him pretty well as he was just like any other class leader who was trying hard for his class to reach Class A.

Though it seemed like he wasn't doing anything, he could be making a trap all this time.

But since I'm not one hundred percent sure of my speculations, I have to make someone else watch over him as I also have to protect Kei from Amasawa.

It's time for dinner and I was walking on the way to the cafeteria. Walking in front of me, was the person that I'm about to use to watch over Utomiya.

I couldn't tell if he was walking or skipping. He was that happy and excited to go to the cafeteria as if he was about to go on a date once again.

I then walked faster and approached him.

"You look pretty happy huh."

Sudo then turned his head towards me but with a surprised look.

"Man, don't just appear out of nowhere."

"Did I scare you? Sorry."

"I'm not.... wait..."

He looked around as if searching for someone.

"Where are your friends?"

He must be asking about Keisei and the other members of Ayanokoji group who happened to be part of our team.

"I don't know."

"What do you mean you don't know? You always eat together right?"

"For the past days, yeah. But maybe not now cause I can't find them."

Ever since we came here, I always eat with my friends because they always invite me. But tonight, I refused their invitation saying me and Horikita had to meet as I had to report to her about the current situations of our group, which was a lie I made.

"Does that mean you're eating alone?"

"I don't mind eating alone."

Sudo's happy face then disappeared and was looking at me pitifully.

"W-well.... you can join us."

I then looked at him, pretending to be surprised. Ah no... it's actually surprising.

"Ah no. It's okay. I don't want to disturb you."

"What the- ..... I'm inviting you, man. Just accept it."

"Is it really okay with you though?"

"Will I invite you if it's not okay?"

Good.

All throughout this exam, Sudo was eating with Horikita, thus the reason why he's always excited and happy every mealtime. Though Yosuke was Horikita's groupmate, he was always surrounded by girls. Kei also eats with him.

Though Utomiya and Horikita were getting closer, Utomiya also eats with his classmates which resulted to Horikita eating alone.

Sudo then took that opportunity to eat with her which she also didn't mind.

For Sudo to invite me and for Horikita who was okay to eat with him, I kinda want to ask something.

"It seems like you're no longer suspicious of my relationship with Horikita. Did your date go well?"

"Hmmm... It's not like it went well or anything. It wasn't even romantic. It's just... I actually asked her about her relationship with you and Utomiya."

He really asked her huh.

"And? Did her answer satisfy you?"

"Yeah... She denied it completely. She was even confused or should I say a little bit angry of my question."

Finally.

"I'm really sorry if I doubted you, man. You kept on telling me that there's nothing going on about you two but I did not believe you."

"It's okay."

Both of us arrived at the cafeteria and got our food.

As Sudo found where Horikita was seated, we then approached her.

"Suzune."

The sitting and already eating Horikita then looked up and saw Sudo. As she noticed me beside him, her expression then turned to a suspicious look.

"What are you doing here Ayanokoji-kun? Do you have any business?"

"Not really."

"You're looking suspicious though."

"I'm here for Sudo, not for you."

As I said that, she then glared at me.

"Did I even ask if you're here for me?"

"Chill. It's a joke. Sudo invited me, that's why."

"Then choose your words carefully."

So harsh. Sudo then sat beside Horikita.

"Should I sit somewhere else?"

I asked that, trying to make her less suspicious.

"I don't really care if you're here or not."

Well, if I'm not here because of something then I really might find another seat.

I sat across Sudo.

We were silent for a while as we were eating seriously. Surprisingly, Horikita wasn't asking me about the situation of our group. Though I somewhat already had a clue why, I had to start a conversation until we reach a certain topic.

"It seems like you're pretty confident that we can handle ourselves as you were not asking anything from me."

"Is that the reason why you're here? I didn't think you would asked some advice from me."

"I already told you that I'm here because Sudo invited me and I'm not here to ask some advice."

"Sounds suspicious to me though... Well, the reason why I'm not asking anything from you was because I know you can handle it. I already left the other group in your care after all."

How bold of her to say that.

"I actually report everything to her everyday Ayanokoji."

Sudo who was listening then spoke. Well, he was eating with her everyday.

"And based on Sudo-kun's report, I kind of confirmed that you were quite involving yourself in this exam. I don't know what happened to you but you were being somewhat cooperative lately."

Well, I had to do that as I have to prove to Chabashira that I'm serious in reaching Class A so that she will do her job properly.

"You know that I have to give my full attention to my team right? So I'm expecting you to do your job also Ayanokoji-kun."

I don't know if I would be glad that she's trusting me more than before or I'd be sad as I'm about to expect more work from her in the future.

Now, it's time to head to another topic.

"Anyway Horikita.... are you okay?"

As I asked that, not just Horikita looked at me, but Sudo also, both were confused by my question.

"... What do you mean?"

"Two days ago, we actually happened to see Housen grabbing your arm in the forest."

Sudo then turned his head towards Horikita, looking worried.

"But we also saw that you were saved by Utomiya."

"Utomiya?"

As Sudo heard Utomiya's name, he immediately turned his attention back to me.

"I know that he's a pretty strong guy as he was a former athlete but I did not know that he's also a good fighter."

"W-What d'ya mean by good fighter? You mean Housen and Utomiya were fighting?"

"Can both of you quiet down?"

Horikita then looked at me seriously.

"Why are you asking that to me now Ayanokoji-kun? You know that it's not good to talk about that in this type of environment right?"

Well, I know. Considering that there were a lot of students around us, someone might overhear us and might report the fight to the teachers.

"I don't think someone is eavesdropping. Every student is having their own conversation."

"But it's still very risky."

"Is it bad that I just want to know if you're okay?"

"I'm very okay. Can't you see?"

Yeah, I can see it. But that's not what I want. I need to get the attention of the person beside you.

"Wait a minute, wait a minute..... you said that Utomiya and Housen had a fight? And Utomiya's a good fighter?"

"Keep your voice low Sudo-kun."

"Ah... Sorry."

Ignoring Horikita, I then answered Sudo.

"It wasn't really a fight. In fact, Utomiya already took down Housen in one kick."

"Wha- ... what?"

"I said keep your voice low."

Horikita then hit Sudo on the shoulder as his voice became louder once again.

Sudo then followed the slightly angry Horikita's order and leaned forward.

"Y-you mean... Utomiya did? In just one kick?"

"Yeah."

Sudo was only staring at me with his mouth hung open. He was silent. He must be looking back at the time when he told me that he once felt Utomiya's strength during the sports festival's four way tug of war and was trying to understand that Utomiya defeating Housen could be possible.

Sudo then moved his body away from the table and sat properly.

"Well... it could be possible but, isn't defeating Housen with just one kick kinda impossible?"

He once fought with Housen and knew that he's just too strong so it's understandable for him to doubt.

"Are you really saying the truth Ayanokoji?"

"There's no reason for me to lie to you."

Sudo turned his head to the person beside him, trying to confirm, as Horikita was present during the incident.

"It's true."

Horikita, who just finished chewing her food, answered as she noticed Sudo's gaze.

"For real? Wow... that's impressive."

Sudo muttered.

I was staring at Sudo, who was staring at Horikita and was still looking like he still couldn't believe it.

After a moment, his eyes moved slightly and was looking far away. I followed his line of sight and saw Utomiya, who was done eating and was waiting for his classmates to finish.

Shortly after, Utomiya and his classmates stood up.

As Sudo noticed that Utomiya was walking near our table, he then raised his hand and called him.

Utomiya, who heard Sudo then excused himself from his classmates and walked towards us, still holding his empty tray.

"What is it Sudo senpai?"

"Sit, sit."

Confused, Utomiya sat beside me.

Sudo cleared his throat and said.

"I actually heard that you defeated Housen in a fight, and with a single kick, is it true?"

Upon hearing it, Utomiya immediately looked at Horikita, thinking it was her who told Sudo.

"It wasn't me who told Sudo-kun."

It seemed like Utomiya realized that it's me as he turned his face towards me.

"I saw the whole incident. I was in the forest at that time, collecting some dry branches."

It seemed like he wasn't afraid that I saw them. Well, Ryuen also saw them.

"I only kicked him hard enough on his lower legs for him not to be able to stand up that quickly. It would be bad if I gave him a chance to fight back. Housen is a very stubborn guy after all."

What a good judgement.

"Have you studied martial arts before?"

As expected of someone who had once studied martial arts. It seemed like Horikita noticed it too.

"No. I was busy playing baseball. I don't have time learning it. Well.... I've always been a fan of action movies. Maybe I picked that move as it was a very common move that you could see in most action movies."

Hmm. Before we could ask him where he learned it, he immediately gave his reason.

"Wha-... so you learned to fight just by watching a lot of action movies?"

"Fighting? Just some defensive moves though. Maybe."

Sudo still couldn't believe it.

"Anyway, I still haven't properly said my thanks so..... thank you for saving me that time Utomiya-kun."

Horikita, who finished her meal then lowered her head slightly to Utomiya.

"It's fine. It's something that should be done anyway."

I think it's time for me to mention it. I actually don't like mentioning it as it could affect Sudo's performance in this exam but, I don't have a choice. I think it's also time for me to test Sudo's maturity.

"Then why don't you treat him a meal again, Horikita?"

The three of them then stared at me.

"I mean, you once cooked food for Utomiya right?"

Sudo and Horikita were surprised upon hearing what I asked. But Sudo's expression was something you can't draw.

"Wh-what d'ya mean Ayanokoji? W-what cooked food?"

"I ran into Utomiya in the lobby during Christmas and he told me that Horikita invited him for dinner."

Sudo then looked at Utomiya and Horikita back and forth and was very shocked that he couldn't utter a word anymore.

"That's-"

"Why are you suddenly saying this Ayanokoji-kun?"

Before Utomiya could defend himself, Horikita asked me and was confused by my behavior.

"I mean, you once told me that treating a meal is a sort of saying thank you right?"

"Ah. So it was Ayanokoji-senpai who got a treat from Horikita-senpai first. Did she cook miso for you also?"

"How did you know?"

"Based on Sudo senpai's expression, it was definitely not him."

Well, Sudo was definitely looking like he was so lost and still couldn't find his words. No, even if he couldn't say it, his expression was definitely saying 'Horikita cooked food for you guys? And you're doing this behind my back?'.

"But mine wasn't a thank you though, it was a trap."

"..... Ayanokoji-senpai, are you perhaps jealous?"

What the- . I'm not.

It seemed like Utomiya realized what I'm trying to do. His face was saying like 'If you're gonna create a misunderstanding between Horikita and me, I'll drag you along.'

I then looked at Sudo, and yeah, he was being suspicious of me again. So my plan backfired huh.

After a moment, Horikita stood up and was holding her empty tray.

"I'll go ahead since you're talking nonsense already."

She stopped walking behind Sudo and said.

"Sudo-kun, just finish your meal and don't listen to Ayanokoji."

"Ah... O-oh."

Upon hearing Sudo's answer, Horikita left.

Sudo might be confused for now but after hearing everything, he would be feeling some extreme jealousy towards Utomiya.

From now on, be more cautious of Utomiya and watch over his actions for me in the future.

Authors Note:This one is too short as I was too excited and was busy reading the spoilers of the recently released volume.

Thank you for reading and hope you like it.