The White Room Troubles

Horikita Suzune SS: The Faraway Friend

Eyes of astonishment were present in the people around me. There was astonishment even in my own eyes.

Currently, Ayanokouji-kun, Karuizawa-san, Miyake-kun, Satou-san, Hasebe-san, Matsushita-san, Sakura-san, and Mori-san were performing our class's act for the Talent Show. The idea they had was singing and playing as a band.

It was an amazing idea from Karuizawa-san. I had to admit that.

But what I didn't expect was for the performance to be this exceptional. They only had 4 days to practice and were somehow able to bring something like this to the table.

I never got to see their practice sessions since I was also helping guard the area from non-class C students. So this was really refreshing and amazing to see.

But I had my eyes set on one specific person in that group. That was Ayanokouji-kun.

He was elegantly playing the piano with closed eyes and a calm but happy expression on his face. Even though on the outside it didn't change, I was sure he looked happier when Karuizawa-san hugged him while singing.

Seeing this sight reminded me of something the other day.

After one of the practice sessions Ayanokouji-kun had with his band, when he returned to the dorms with Karuizawa-san, I confronted him because I wanted to ask him a few questions regarding everything that happened on Monday.

He definitely looked a little annoyed but he agreed and took me to his room to talk after saying goodbye to Karuizawa-san.

Of course, the first thing I questioned him about was his relationship with Karuizawa-san. I don't know why that was, but I guess I was annoyed that he trusted Karuizawa-san so much that he was dating her.

As per usual, he gave vague responses to my questions about his relationship with Karuizawa-san. I couldn't seem to get him to answer with some details or wholeheartedly, so I moved on.

I tried to ask him about the bounty and the people targeting him for his expulsion, but, again, Ayanokouji-kun only gave me vague answers and said that he would handle it while I should focus on leading the class. I didn't mention that I was investigating with Ibuki-san to find out who wrote that note on the island and handed it to me, and it was probably best that I didn't from how he kept answering me.

I sighed. Lately, Ayanokouji-kun and I have grown really distant from each other. I would say before we started our second year... no, before the mixed training camp special exam in our first year, we were pretty close.

At least that is what I would like to think, but it seems as though how I define close and maybe how it is actually defined is very different.

"Horikita-san?"

I heard my name called by the person next to me. It was Hirata-kun.

"Are you okay, Horikita-san?"

He asked me with a slightly worried expression.

Was I showing something concerning to him? I can't see my face but I was sure I perhaps wasn't portraying any form of emotion that would warrant a worried expression.

...Ah who am I kidding? Sometimes I can't even convince myself.

I very well knew that I was showing an expression that would be concerning to anyone. I had been staring at Ayanokouji-kun with, what I would say, a little bit of sadness.

"...Yeah. I'm fine Hirata-kun. Just... reflecting..."

Hirata-kun's worried expression didn't depart from his face, but it did soften just a tiny bit. He turned his gaze to glance at the person I was staring at before turning back to me.