"Of course you did."
He turned his attention to the three other girls who were with them, and he wasn't surprised to see them with dumbfounded expressions on their faces. He could already tell that they had a myriad of questions forming in their minds just from seeing Karuizawa act around him in a way that wasn't like how she usually was.
Kiyotaka decided to end this before it even began. The more he dodges the topic or refuses to answer the questions that they may have, then it would only make them even more curious than before.
"All right, get it over with. I know you three have something to say," he told them.
The three remained silent for a few moments, as they had no idea what to say. They glanced at each other several times, as if they were trying to figure out who was going to speak first.
In the end, Suzune was the first to open her mouth to say something.
"I know that you and Karuizawa-san have spent a lot of time together in the past weeks because you were tutoring her, but it also feels like the two of you have become closer for some reason, Ayanokouji-kun."
"You think so?" he asked, neither confirming nor denying her suspicion.
"Well, that's what happens when you're friends, Horikita-san!" Kikyo explained in an attempt to quell her growing anger and jealousy.
She was caught off guard when Karuizawa suddenly came out of nowhere. After her initial shock died down, anger quickly took over her and for a moment, she wanted nothing more than to push the blonde girl away and take her place.
Regardless, Kikyo was shocked at seeing Kei hugging the young man. She didn't think that Kei would be that bold... the blonde bitch did something that she hasn't done yet! Kikyo knew that she'll have to step up her game even more, but it didn't stop her from sending a death glare at Kei for a brief moment.
"Hugging is something that friends also do?" asked Suzune with a look of interest.
Kei and Chiaki stared at her blankly, wondering if she was serious or she was simply joking around despite being who she is. Even Kikyo couldn't help but throw her an 'are you serious' look, ignoring her blonde target for a moment. Of course, she knew that Suzune had little to no knowledge about social interactions, but it was still a disappointing sight to see.
Kiyotaka only sighed. If there was someone who's worse than him in things like this, then it's definitely this girl. It's almost like she was a baby who's stepping out of her crib for the first time.
"Of course it is! You should try it too, Horikita-san, because I still think you're cold sometimes. Hugs are really warm, you know?" Kikyo told the black-haired girl, before turning towards the young man with a curious expression. "Ayanokouji-kun, can I hug you too? Karuizawa-san looked like she enjoyed doing it..."
Kiyotaka thought about saying 'no' at first to save himself from an even deeper grave that he was already heading to, only to remind himself that this girl might go ballistic if she doesn't get what she wants... or she goes ahead and hugs him anyway.
Well, he could at least do this as quickly as possible. That way, nobody else would see him sharing a moment with the most popular girl in class and further ruin his day. Urgh, and it was supposed to be a Friday, the gateway to the weekend! What a way to start it off, right?
"Do what you want," he sighed in defeat and stood up, making it easier for the girl to do what she wants to do, and to also ensure that the hug won't last for more than a few seconds.
"Hehe...!"
With an eager smile on her face, Kikyo lunged and wrapped her arms around him, before burying her face into his chest. From the look of contentment on her face, it was clear that Kikyo was in heaven at the moment. For what seemed like the first time, it was a moment of peace for the girl who had nothing but fake kindness and near-uncontrollable anger in her mind most of the time.
Kei and Chiaki looked on with subtle, but jealous looks on their faces. At that moment, they wanted to be in Kikyo's place... Chiaki, mostly. While Matsushita Chiaki didn't think of herself as someone who could get jealous, it did feel wrong to see her classmates do these things with Kiyotaka while she couldn't do anything.
Meanwhile, Suzune felt a little jealous as well, but that feeling was overshadowed by her curiosity towards the act of hugging itself.
It surprised Kiyotaka when Kikyo let go of him only a few seconds later. He honestly thought he would have to separate himself from her just to make her stop. However, contrary to what he thought, the beige-haired girl didn't separate herself from him. She merely looked up at him with a pout.
"Mou, when you're being hugged by someone, you're supposed to hug them back, Ayanokouji-kun!"
"Should have known she would say that," he thought. Instead of complaining though, he gave in to Kikyo's demand and placed his hands on her shoulders. It was obvious that what he did wasn't even remotely close to being called a 'hug' but nonetheless, it was enough to satisfy the girl.
While her face was hidden from the three other girls behind her, Kikyo took this moment to smile triumphantly. This was all that she needed to do. Prove that whatever these skanks could do to get Ayanokouji's attention, she could do better. In time, he'll realize that she's right and he'll finally be hers.
Heh. A hug was nothing to her and besides, this really did feel nice and she wouldn't mind hugging him even more after this...
After a few seconds of 'hugging' the girl, Kiyotaka removed his hands from her shoulders and looked down. "Okay, you can let me go now."
"Hmm..." Kikyo looked up at him and thought about it for a moment, before sticking out her tongue playfully. "No, I don't want to!"
Kiyotaka already had a feeling that this would happen, and knew that he would have to get her off him on his own. But before he could think of doing anything, Kikyo began to hug him tighter. Her hold on him became stronger with every second that it reached the point where he was having a slight difficulty in breathing properly.
While Kei and Chiaki still looked jealous of the beige-haired girl, Suzune was able to notice the growing distress in his eyes and immediately acted.
Surprisingly, she didn't come over and separated the two in one swift motion like what most people would assume. Instead, she only sent a serious look towards Kushida and began to speak.
"Kushida-san, let go of him already."
"I don't want to," she refused.
"Kushida-san, if you keep on hugging him like that, you won't like what's going to happen."
"Oh, you'd like me to do that, won't you? So you can have Ayanokouji-kun to yourself," the girl said in her mind with venom in her every word.
Horikita wanted her to let go of Ayanokouji? Well, Kushida wasn't going to pass up on the opportunity to flaunt her superiority over that bitch. This was a rare moment, and she was going to take advantage of it!
"And? What are you going to do about it, Horikita-san?" Kikyo smiled innocently, which was actually hiding malice underneath.
She hugged Kiyotaka tighter, clearly having no intention of letting him go. It's almost as if she was daring Horikita to do something to make her let go of him.
The two girls stared at each other for a few moments, having no clue what the other was thinking despite making their intentions clear. Kikyo expected her 'friend' to do something, but Suzune remained firmly in her place and just stared on.
"Nothing. Just look at him. Ayanokouji-kun looks like he's struggling to breathe," she answered calmly, beckoning her friend to see what she was doing to the young man.
Kikyo blinked a few times, before she looked at Kiyotaka himself.
His face was beginning to turn purple from the hug that Kushida was giving him, even though the expression on his face hasn't changed at all.
Her eyes widened out of panic and quickly let him go out of panic. "Oh my gosh! I'm so sorry, Ayanokouji-kun! I didn't mean to hug you so tightly!" she apologized.
Kiyotaka took a step back and coughed a few times to regulate his breathing.
"I'm fine," he insisted. "Still getting used to this..."
Truth be told, he could have pushed her off him or even break free of her hold, but Kiyotaka simply let the girl do what she wanted... even if it involved being hugged tightly to the point that he was losing air.
He was fairly impressed with Kikyo's strength, though. The things that rage and anger could do to a person...
"So what were you guys talking about?" asked Kei, wanting to shift the topic elsewhere. Seeing Kikyo hug the young man whom she had just embraced earlier felt weird, and she didn't want to think about it anymore. "I think you were talking about a bathhouse before I interrupted all of a sudden. Sorry about that, by the way."
"Oh, we were talking about a bathhouse within the school and if we'd go there," Kikyo answered.
"Wait, there's a bathhouse here?! How did I know about this just now? Actually, never mind, just tell me where!" the blonde exclaimed, forgetting that she was even feeling jealous in the first place.
"No, no! I worded it wrong. I meant, we were talking about the possibility of a bathhouse opening within the school premises," Kikyo clarified.
"Jeez, way to make me hope for nothing," Kei said flatly. All her hopes were dashed away so quickly. "Okay, so there's no bathhouse around here... why talk about it in the first place?"
It was Chiaki who then spoke up. "It was Kushida-san who brought it up, actually. Since she's one of the tutors who volunteered to help our classmates, she felt really tired from all the studying and teaching she did and imagined if there was a bathhouse inside the campus. One with an onsen, so she could have a long soak and relax after everything that happened these past week."
"Well, that and the fact that I've never tried out any public baths before, hehe..." Kushida added.
Kei nodded a few times in agreement as she listened to them. "That's actually a good idea, and I'd love to join you for that. Too bad there are no public baths around here even if you check out the whole campus."
"That's true. As much as we want to go on a little trip to a bathhouse, there's no such thing within the premises," Chiaki nodded as well. "But I have a feeling that that might change, though."
"What do you mean, Matsushita-san?" asked Horikita, who had remained quiet up until now. She saw no point in joining the conversation since it involved something purely hypothetical, until she heard Matsushita's last statement.
The brunette hummed to herself. "Hmm, call it a matter of instinct, I suppose. It's just a sudden feeling that I've got."
From the sidelines, Kiyotaka watched the four girls continue to talk about bathhouses and hot springs. It was quite interesting how it started from a little talk between Chiaki and Kikyo, who eventually involved Suzune and Kei into their conversation.
These four... they weren't friends. Except for Kikyo and Suzune (a questionable relationship, honestly), these four girls were only classmates, to say the least. At most, they would be acquaintances. And yet, here they were talking like they were already familiar with one another.
"I wonder where all this talk of bathhouses and onsens came from... feels too out of nowhere."
He just hoped that the system had nothing to do with this sudden development...
