Summer vacation was soon approaching, and it was now July 6th. The entire group, apart from Akito, who went to his club, gathered by my seat near the classroom door. This was because we had agreed to go to Keisei's room together afterwards.
"Ayanokouji-kun, can I talk to you for a second?"
As we were leaving the classroom, Kushida called after me.
"What's up?"
Since the number of times Kushida had come to talk to me had decreased lately, this sudden call was a bit of a surprise.
Even though I had to give her my points monthly based on our contract, it was merely a monetary exchange. Since everyone in the class receives the same amount of private points, there was no need for her to double check.
"Actually, a 1st year student told me that they wanted to meet you, Ayanokouji-kun... Is this a bad time?"
After a sorry look at Haruka and the others in the group, Kushida continued.
"They asked me to arrange a meeting with you. I think it'll probably take about an hour. "
"What, what?? Kiyopon, don't tell me a kouhai girl's confessing?"
Airi panicked upon hearing Haruka's joke.
"Eh-ehhh!? I-is that true?!"
"If that's the case, I don't think we can allow them to meet."
She's the one who brought the topic up arbitrarily, but now she's also promptly deciding that I wasn't allowed to go.
"... Is that the case?"
Just in case, I decided to check with Kushida first.
"Eh? Ah, that... It's actually a boy that wants to meet you... Sorry."
Kushida apologized with a troubled expression.
No, she didn't need to apologize for that at all.
Although I didn't think it was something like that to begin with, I still felt relieved.
"Isn't that great? It's good to communicate with the 1st years, right?"
"Right. After all, our group isn't particularly good at interpersonal relationships, so it wouldn't be a bad thing if Kiyotaka could gain some acquaintances in the 1st year."
Putting the objective of the first year student aside for now, both of them felt that I should show up to the meeting. Airi also grew relieved after hearing that it wasn't a confession, and was sending me off happily, so I had no particular reason to refuse.
"Okay. What should I do?"
"Thanks! Well, let me tell him you said yes."
Kushida took out her phone and gave him a call.
"Then we'll go now. See you later."
After a brief talk, the members of the Ayanokouji group went back to the dormitory.
"Sorry about this."
It seems like he hasn't picked up the phone yet, Kushida apologized to me again as she held her phone to her ear.
"It's not a big deal. Nobody in the group will complain about it."
The 1st year boy picked up the phone shortly after.
"Ah, hello? Ayanokouji-kun said that you could meet him now. Uh-huh, ah, is that so? Then we'll wait here."
Kushida hung up in less than ten seconds.
"He seems to be heading this way already, so let's just wait here, so that we don't miss him, okay?"
The 1st year student who wanted to meet me seemed to be already on his way over.
"So, it seems like you're already on good terms with the 1st years?"
"Ehhh? It's July already, it's been a long time..."
"... That's true."
It's been over three months since the 1st years joined the school. If you look out the hallway window, you could see the highly raised sun burning the ground.
It will soon be time for the cicadas to begin singing their cantatas.
To me, who was socially awkward, it was merely three months, but to Kushida, that was more than enough time.
"Ayanokouji-kun, you too have already made friends with some of the first years, right?"
From Kushida's perspective, that should be a matter of course, but that wasn't the case for me.
"There's still no one I can call a friend."
"I-I see... Well... There's no need to rush. It's just the beginning of the year."
Kushida replied with considerate and caring words, but they sounded hollow. Although I've indeed spoken to a few first years, my relationship with them hasn't reached the point where we would privately contact each other.
The conversation came to a halt as the atmosphere became awkward.
As I was thinking about what topic to bring up next with Kushida, the 1st year appeared in the corridor where people come and go.
"Kushida-senpai."
Appearing from the corner was Takuya Yagami, who had graduated from the same junior high school as Horikita and Kushida. Seeing Yagami's appearance as a chance to dissipate the awkward atmosphere, Kushida let out a smile.
"Yagami-kun is the one who wanted to meet you, Ayanokouji-kun."
"Nice to meet you, Ayanokouji-senpai. Thank you very much for taking your time to see me today."
Because it was a 1st year who connected with me through Kushida, I had a rough idea of who he was.
"I believe you're in... Class 1-B, right?"
"Yes. I'm Takuya Yagami of Class 1-B."
As one of the bystanders at the turmoil that had happened with the first years, I've seen Yagami then, but I've never spoken with him till now. We're finally having our first conversation before summer comes.
I've heard that he had gradually become known as the leader of Class 1-B, but exactly how far did his influence reach? With his good first impression and his likeable look, along with his high academic ability, he seemed to be pretty popular.
"Standing is sort of... for the place, what about we go to my room to talk? The rare black tea I had ordered happened to arrive already. Although it takes some time to steep, it's very delicious!"
Yagami suggested that— if that's ok with me, please have a try.
Since I didn't usually drink black tea, I was slightly interested.
But then we may not be able to keep the meeting within an hour.
"Ah, sorry Yagami-kun, but actually, Ayanokouji-kun has plans to meet up with his friends after this, so can we try to keep this within an hour?"
Kushida noticed that it might take some time, so she quickly rejected Yagami's proposal for me.
"I see, that's fine. Let's talk at the cafe in Keyaki mall then."
Although a bit disappointed, Yagami readily agreed after understanding my situation.
"Then, let's go Ayanokouji-kun."
I slightly nodded, and decided to go to Keyaki mall with Kushida and Yagami.
"Oh, by the way, the special exam on the uninhabited island is about to start. I heard that you guys had the same special exam last year."
"Yeah. It was a pretty tough time."
"Could you tell me about the rules and what happened? Since we haven't experienced the exam as 1st years, we want to at least gather some information beforehand."
"That's fine... But I don't know if it'll be of any help. It seems like the rules this year are completely different from last year's."
"I know. The uninhabited island exam that the 3rd year senpais took at the time also seemed to be different from the exam you took, Kushida-senpai."
"Oh right, now that you mention it, the 3rd years also took the uninhabited island exam."
"Like you guys, it seems like they also took it in the 1st year. In the past, it seems that the uninhabited island exam was only conducted once during one's time at the school— Is this year an exception, or has that rule changed?"
It seemed like Yagami had much more information than we did.
"Are you surprised? That I have information about the 3rd years."
Yagami asked me, who had been listening quietly all this time.
"It's because I joined the student council. I took the opportunity to ask President Nagumo about the uninhabited island survival exam held two years ago, and he kindly told me. At that time, they were divided into groups of four within the class, and a total of 12 groups competed."
The rules of their special exam were different from the rules we had been given last year.
We can say that, apart from a few exceptions, there basically won't be special exams that are exactly the same.
"How did the 2nd years spend their time on the uninhabited island? I might be able to learn from that."
Even if Kushida and I had kept Yagami in the dark, someone else could still tell him, so there was no need to deliberately hide it from him. Also, Kushida would definitely tell him anyway.
As expected, Kushida started to explain to him in detail about the uninhabited island exam last year.
I listened in silence as I followed them.