Yep.

-Class C students were doing their task and spying on each class D student.

Third Person PoV

" Fwahh~ That exam was so stressful!" Mori leaned on the table, releasing a sigh of relief.

" But we passed! Keisei did taught us well. Kiyopon too!" Haruka said.

Keisei nods before pushing up his glasses. " I'm glad Kiyotaka lightened the load. Things ran so smoothly to the point where I hardly felt any stress." He sighed.

" Thanks, Kiyotaka." Keisei said to Kiyopon who was currently texting on his phone.

Kiyopon looks up from his phone ands nods before texting once more.

" Hey, Kiyotaka, are you still going to eat your cheesecake slice?" Akito asked.

Kiyopon didn't answer. He was unusually focused on his phone.

Akito shrugs and slides Kiyopon's plate towards himself to finish.

" Miyatchii! You can't do that!" Haruka scolded.

" His silence means yes, Haruka." He stated before taking his fork and taking bite, " Besides, he's been so distracted on his phone for the past 15 minutes. I bet he isn't even hungry anymore."

" But Akito-kun! Kiyotaka-kun paid for that!" Airi said.

" Then I'll get him another slice if he's still hungry." Akito chuckles before taking another bite.

" Ehhh? Aki-chan is so mean to our little Kiyopon." Mori laughed.

" Why out of all nicknames....did you choose ' Aki-chan' ? " Akito visibly cringed.

"Indeed, it sounds stupid." Keisei bluntly said and side eyed glanced Akito.

" It's not like I had a choice to decline....these two girls, " Akito points to both Haruka and Mori, " are incredibly stubborn. "

" You're just incredibly weak, Miyatchi~ If you could actually fight back against our remarks, then you might actually shine as a man!" Haruka taunted, jokingly.

" If I said you're beautiful and that I wanted to go out with you for so long. Would THAT count as me shining as a man?" Akito replied.

" Eh?" Haruka paused and took a minute to process what he just said.

" Ooooo~" Mori winked at Haruka and nudged her a bit. " C'mon, say something!"

Airi blushed in embarrassment due to the suddenness of Akito's unexpected reply and the context. Keisei just coughed awkwardly and averted his eyes while a small blush adorned his face as well.

Kiyopon puts away his phone and then realized the silence in their table. He looks at his friends in confusion.

"...Um...What happened?" He asked, softly.

Akito was the first to break the silence. " Nothing. I just told a joke that might have went a little too far." He said.

"....So that was a joke, huh...." Haruka whispered to herself, thinking nobody would catch that but Airi and Mori DEFINITELY caught that.

Mori whispers to Airi, " Hey, did you hear that? She sounded quite disappointed~" She said.

Airi nods before whispering back," Should we help?"

Mori glances at Haruka and Akito for a second before whispering her reply to Airi, " Let's see how this plays out first. Wouldn't it be annoying if we meddle with other people's relationships?"

Airi immediately realizes and covers her mouth and giving out muffled apologies.

" It's okay, Airi. I get it! You've been hanging around the gyaru girls for, like, the past few months? I can totally understand if their mindset rubbed off on you." Mori tried to calm Airi down.

" S-Still....that was rude of me to even suggest..." She moped.

" Nahh, don't worry about it. You had good intentions. No problem there." Mori said.

" What are you two talking about?" Keisei asked, raising a brow in suspicion.

" Nothing! Just girls stuff you wouldn't understand~" Mori played it off nicely,

Keisei sighs and turns to the confused Kiyopon." Do you have any clue?"

Kiyopon responds by nodding his head ' no' .

"...What happened? Why was everyone silent a moment ago?" Kiyopon asked, curiously.

Keisei was prepared to answer. " Well, Akito basically-" But Akito immediately placed a hand on Keisei's mouth, which made the latter jolt in suprise.

"MMPHHMM?!"

" Nothing happened, Kiyotaka!" Akito said.

" Y-Yeah, don't worry about it Kiyopon! It's a joke you'll never understand, anyways, hahaha!" Haruka immediately snapped out of her personal stupor to try and back up Akito.

Haruka regained her composure and smiled like nothing happened.

" Anyways! Who were you chatting, Kiyopon? We were also talking about how you've been distracted by your phone for the past 17 minutes." Haruka switched the topic.

" Yes, we're curious about that." Mori said.

" .....I wasn't chatting with anyone?" He said.

"Eh? Then why were you so focused?" They asked.

Kiyopon takes out his phone once more and showed them.

" Corridor rush? Ohhh! That makes sense." Akito nodded.

Corridor rush, a complete copycat of the original game called Subway Surfers. In this game, you run through different corridors ranging from school corridors to spaceship corridors whilst avoiding being caught by the assigned chasers. For example, if your stage is set in a school corridor, then you'll be chased by school staff, but if it's set in a normal office building, then you'll be chased by the ceo and the board. It's a simple game that Kiyopon had been addicted for a week now.

And his highest score was...

" What the hell?" Keisei was shooked.

" E-Eh? " Sakura was also completely taken aback by the score.

" K-Kiyopon....how many hours have you played this game for..." Haruka nervously asked.

" ...80? I think." Even Kiyopon was unsure.

" YOU SPENT 2 DAYS AND A HALF ON THIS GAME TO GET 69696969696969 POINTS?!" Mori exclaimed.

Kiyopon nods.

" Dude, you should take a break once in a while-" But Akito was interrupted.

" BATTLE ME, AYANOKOJI-KUN! FOR I, TOO, HAVE EARNED AROUND THE SAME POINTS!" Mori pulled out her own phone to show Kiyopon.

Her highest score was definitely not too far from his.

" HEY! BAD!" Haruka snatched away Mori's phone.

" H-Hey!" Mori whined and tried to get back her phone but Haruka stood up and held it up in the air.

Mori also stood up and tried to reach for her phone while their chests collides.

Keisei immediately looks away, Akito continues eating his cheesecake while staring at them with a blank face, Sakura was lost on what to do, and Kiyopon was still VERY confused.

" Nene stands no chance against Haruka's well nurtured puppies." Akito says.

" You're suprisingly shameless..." Keisei muttered.

" And you're too much of a prude to enjoy the show that's been given to you. Loosen up a little, Keisei." Akito says before taking another bite. " Ewven Airi dwoesn't seem to mind..." He says while chewing.

" I-I just don't know what to do!" Sakura cried out.

Mori slumps on her shoulders before glaring intensely at Haruka's boobas. " You have an unfair advantage, Haruka-san...." She muttered.

" I don't want you and Kiyopon to spend extra days wasting your life away on this game! " Haruka spoke as if she were their mother.

"Fineee, but please give me my phoneeee..." Mori begged.

Haruka slowly hands back Mori's phone and Mori puts it away for now before sitting back down and facing the others.

" Looks like the show ended." Akito said.

" What show?" Haruka asked.

" Nothing. Absolutely nothing." Keisei immediately answered while Sakura furiously nodded.

" Okaaayy?" Haruka was confused but then she turned to Kiyopon.

" Hey, Kiyopon. I didn't really get to ask you this before since we were all focused on the study sessions, but are you and Horikita-san dating?" Haruka asked.

" Yeah, I'm curious about that too. " Akito said, " You two are awfully close. I thought it was platonic at first but then there were times where you and her acted a little....romantic?"

" Since when?" Keisei asked, completely oblivious to most things besides his own grades.

" Since the first month of school, I think." Mori answered instead.

" Huh? I didn't notice." Keisei said.

" That's because yukimuu always his head in the books! Please look around for once when we're not with you!" Haruka said.

" I noticed that too but Kiyotaka-kun already said they weren't dating....at least to me....back at summer vacation." Sakura said.

" Maybe things have changed since then?" Akito suggests which evoked a feeling of nervousness in Mori and Sakura.

" Horikita is my best friend....she's my very first friend in this school...we're not in a romantic relationship at all." Kiyopon explained.

Sakura sighed softly in relief while Mori chuckled.

" But you do see Horikita-san as girlfriend material, right? I mean, I see you two eat lunch together everyday! Not only that, you're eating the lunch she made for you." Haruka pressed on.

Kiyopon shakes his head in denial.

" I don't see her in that way....nor do I see anyone in that way." Kiyopon admits.

" Hoh? Are you perhaps implying that you've got zero crushes in this school?" Mori asked.

" I've never had a crush, actually. I don't know the feeling of having one." Kiyopon revealed his non existent dating life.

" Eh? Impossible! People like that exist? That's crazy..." Haruka seemed amazed.

" You're kind of lucky there, Kiyotaka. Having a crush is super exhausting...." Akito sneaks a glance at Haruka before averting his gaze once more. " Trust me, I'd know."

" How so...?" Kiyopon asked, curiously.

" Well, you start feeling weird all around them. You feel hot inside but you try to play it off cool so nothing is out of the ordinary. Your heart beats fast and your mind gets clouded with the thoughts of that person....their image gets stuck in your head for the rest of the day...." Akito trails off but then realizes the stares he was getting.

" ANYWAY, there's a lot more to elaborate but that's the gist of it." Akito said.

" I....I can attest to what Akito-kun just said....that's how it feels..." Sakura admitted shyly.

" Well...he's not wrong." Mori chuckles. " In fact, he might just be spot-on."

" Hmm..." Even Haruka seemed to be in agreement.

"...I see....I'll keep it in mind." Kiyopon nodded.

" Don't worry too much about the crush thing, okay? Instead, the thing you should be worried about is the level BEYOND a crush." Akito says.

"Huh? What is it?" Keisei decided to ask.

" Love. When you start realizing that it isn't just some simple crush, it gets worse. Deep down, you might feel sorta desperate, you want to be with them, you don't wanna lose them. And love only amplifies the feelings you have when they were just a simple crush, it maxed em up to the extreme. At least, that's my opinion." Akito stops there.

" Who knew Aki-chan...was really passionate about this subject, hm? Does Aki-chan have a crush?" Mori asked.

" Yeah...but maybe not for long." Akito said.

" Good. The way you described things about crushes, love, and whatnot is honestly not my sort of thing. As students, we should be focusing on our studie-"

" Oh shut up Yukimuu!" Haruka slaps Keisei's back, which made him jolt and then proceeding to argue with Haruka. Sakura and Mori just sighed.

" Akito..." Kiyopon called.

" Hm?"

"....My cheesecake..." Kiyopon frowned.

" O-Oh, right. I'll buy you another one." Akito says before standing up and making his way towards the counter.

' Ugh...these guys are getting on my nerves...' Manabe thought, irritated by the recent plan of Ryuuen.

Manabe was aware of what Ryuuen was doing. And that shocked her just a bit.

After all, the old Manabe would never understand a single bit of Ryuuen's intentions, but right now, she can tell that Ryuuen is searching for the traitor in their own class but in a very discreet way. He sent each Class C student to go around and spy on Class D students, they even have a rotation planned in order to avoid suspicion.

But the only people exempted from this task....were Ryuuen's personal lackeys.

Manabe took note of the way Ibuki, Ishizaki, and Albert have been secretly glancing at her direction every now and then. Sure, it could've been simple paranoia on her part...but they've also been waiting around places where she'd usually hang out with her group.

' Ryuuen.....he must be suspecting me the most.....but how? Why specifically me? There's no way that knows....right?' Manabe thought as she continued looking at the different clothing stands with fake interest.

' There's no way that he could've known. Ryuuen didn't keep an eye on me before and not once did anyone in this school see me interact one on one with Ayanokoji. So it doesn't make sense! ....unless...' Manabe's expression shifted into an uncomfortable look.

'....Did.....Did I get ratted out by Ayanokoji...?' she thought. For some reason, if that were truly the case.....it evoked a pain in her chest.

Manabe didn't want to admit it. But she had fun doing these things for Kiyopon, and they have moments where they did things that had no relation to their contract. She felt that she could call him a close friend, but she's stopping herself from doing so.