Third Person PoV

Three boys sat around the table in Kiyopon's room.

Akito

Keisei

And Kiyopon himself.

Kiyopon called out for his closest homies to gather in his room, for he had something he wished to inquire. That strange feeling whenever he sees Suzune. Although Akito most likely had the answer, he thought hearing a second opinion from someone like Keisei would clear a few details out.

Well, he's already told them how he's feeling.

It's time for the two boys' verdict on the matter.

Akito and Keisei both looked serious. The former, crossing his arms and sighing. The answer was obvious for someone who's been in the battlefield for quite a while.

" Before I say anything, I'd like to repeat the list of the things you told us just now." Keisei speaks up first.

Akito glances to him and Kiyopon nods slowly.

" So....your heart has recently begun beating erratically for the past few weeks...?"

Kiyopon nods.

" And you also said that you've begun feeling warmer inside?"

Kiyopon nods again.

" And you sometimes lose focus or get lost in your thoughts? And that you feel these weird things happening in your stomach...?"

Kiyopon nods.

Akito chuckles. It's obvious. Akito knew exactly what Kiyopon is feeling.

Keisei releases a hum. " I see, well don't you think it's obvious, Kiyotaka? These symptoms...it all leads to one possible conclusion." He says.

" Oh? I didn't expect you to understand so quickly, Keisei? Seeing as that you've never had such experiences if I recall..?" Akito was genuinely suprised.

Keisei glares at him, clearly offended. " What? I don't need to experience it in order to know. I've seen tons of people go through this once in a while, and besides, these symptoms have been listed down on websites as well. So anyone could identify this without having to go through it."

" Well...I guess you do have a point." Akito scratches his head, " I sorta underestimated you. Sorry about that." He says. Guess Akito shouldn't have expected less from someone as sharp as Keisei.

Keisei waves his hand dismissively before turning to Kiyotaka with the same serious expression.

" Anyways, unless you really don't know what I mean. This is a serious condition, Kiyotaka." He warns.

Condition? That's...one way of putting it... Akito nods along. Keisei wasn't exactly wrong, being in love is a serious condition depending on how severe your feelings are.

" Do you still not get it?" Keisei asks and Kiyopon shakes his head no.

" Just tell him, Keisei." Akito chuckles, " He's never experienced it before and he's a unexpectedly dense. Just make it easy for him." He says.

Keisei sighs, shaking his head. " It seems I really do have to spell it out for you, Kiyotaka."

" So listen up."

Kiyopon does just that.

" Those erratic heart beats, that growing warmth, and those weird feelings in your stomach. Those symptoms all lead to severe heart palpitation that might lead to possible cardiac arrest or heart disease." Keisei says, fixing his glasses.

Akito nods confidently, " Yep, that's exactly-..." He pauses before slowly turning to Keisei with a confused look. " Wait what?"

Kiyopon's eyes were widened in suprise. Cardiac Arrest? Heart disease?!

" Calm down." Keisei raises a hand. " The cardiac arrest or heart disease is just a possibility. I only said that these symptoms COULD lead to it." He tries to assure the nervous Kiyopon.

"W-Wait, hold on. Keisei, I don't think you--" Akito tries to stop his friend but was interrupted by Keisei speaking.

" That's why, we need to get you checked out by a doctor immediately! Quick, let's go the clinic and tell the nurse so that they'll call for a doctor!" Keisei gets up from his seat and goes to Kiyopon's side.

" Come, I'll assist you." Keisei places Kiyopon's arm on his shoulder and he begins assisting Kiyopon to the direction of the clinic within the school building.

Kiyopon quickly nods and follows Keisei's leads.

" Kiyotaka, you'd better start praying that the doctor's diagnosis isn't going to be bad, all right?!" Keisei yells to his friend.

Kiyopon quickly nods and begins praying...

POW!

POW!

Keisei and Kiyotaka fall to the ground, rubbing their heads in pain, muttering a bunch of ' ows' and ' ouch that hurt! '

Keisei was the first to voice out his disbelief. " What'd you do that for, Akito? Are you dumb? Do you really want our friend, Kiyotaka, to potentially die?!"

" Idiot." Akito bonks Keisei's head again. " Kiyotaka ain't dying! "

Kiyopon writes in his notebook..

it said.

" Kiyotaka, buddy, what you're feeling right now isn't some disease or fever or any illness whatsoever!" Akito facepalms. Why did Akito believe in Keisei? Of course the bespectacled boy wouldn't understand any of this.

" hah? Then what else could it be if not a potential life-threatening condition???" Keisei asks for himself and Kiyopon.

"Tch." Akito rolls his eyes, before placing his hands on Kiyopon's shoulders. " Tell me, do these symptoms only occur when you're near Suzune?"

Kiyopon raises his brow in suprise. He slowly nods and Akito releases another sigh.

" Then it's simple; You have a crush on her. You like her, or perhaps you love her."

.

.

.

.

".....Oh, right. That does sound more plausible now that I think about it-" Keisei gets bonked again.

" You're an idiot, Keisei." Akito was blunt.

Meanwhile, Kiyopon sat there on the snowy ground. Love? That....actually makes sense now.

What?

You expected some monologue to express Kiyopon's confusion in romantic love? No, it doesn't need to be explained to him. He was just confused if it was really love or not, but now there's no doubt it.

He accepts the fact that he loves his best friend, Horikita Suzune. Anticlimatic, I know. But it's honest and that's just how life is.

"....." Thump. Thump. Thump.

He places his hand on where his heart is. Unaware that his face is turning slightly red and his temperature is rising, he registered this feeling inside his mind cabinet. This is a feeling he doesn't want to forget. Love. What a strange thing.

" Hey, are you okay?" Keisei asks after he and Akito stopped fighting.

" Your face is turning red, you sure it's not actually not a fever-"

" Keisei, don't even finish that sentence or else I'm going to shove snow down your throat."

" R-Right..." Keisei shuts up now.

Kiyopon writes in his notebook.

it said.

Akito raises a brow. " ' Like' ? Why not just say love?" He teases, smirking while he's at it.

But Kiyopon wasn't phased in the slightest. Instead, he shoots a reply that stuns both Akito and Keisei.

" If I tell you guys that I love Suzune...it won't mean anything." He turns away.

" I want Suzune, herself, to hear it first-hand."

"...." Akito and Keisei were speechless.

Kiyopon feels his heart again. It was now beating at a comfortable pace, he figured his heart must be satisfied for admitting to his own feeling at the least.

" Kiyotaka.....if I were a girl right now, my panties would be totally soaked after that line." Akito confesses with zero shame.

Keisei turns away, not exactly denying it either. " Same." he mutters.

Kiyopon smiles a bit. The two of them may not be showing their support verbally, but they're showing it in more roundabout way. That's just how boys are, he thinks to himself. If they're true friends then they'll always have your back and support you in unorthodox methods.

He's glad to have found some bros he can count on.

It was 7:00 in the morning. Few students would be awake at this time, since this IS during winter break. And one of those students is Ryuen Kakeru, the tyrannical leader of his respective class.

Well, he WAS leader.

Ever since that event on the rooftop, he resigned his position and left it to his group. He was beaten after all, through and through. After having lost to Kiyopon, someone like him could never take up the mantle of leader like nothing had happened. Much to the dismay of Ishizaki, Ibuki, Albert who constantly try to convince him to reconsider this decision but Ryuen didn't feel like budging on it.

Anyways, his class matters aside, Ryuen arrives to the bench where Kiyopon had told him to go. On one side of the bench, lied a huge pile of snow.

Ryuen ignores it soon after and sits on the clear side of the bench and begins waiting.

' That bastard Ayanokoji...calling me up to meet here and he's the one who ends up being late.' He thinks to himself.

.

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.

.

The pile of snow suddenly begins rustling a bit.

Ryuen glances to it.

"...." He narrows his eyes at the snow pile.

' Could it be....? No. Nah, that's ridiculous.' Ryuen sighs. He's not going to believe that this random pile of snow just-

" Fuck this, I'm out." Ryuen gets up and immediately begins walking away....

But he walks back to the bench anyway, this time with a more cautious and wary approach. His pride wouldn't let him run.

" Relax, it's not a ghost. Ghosts aren't real." He reassures himself. Oh what? I made Ryuen scared of ghosts in this fic?

Oh well. Why not?

Ryuen has developed a hidden fear of ghosts ever since he was a young child. To the outside world, he deemed himself fearless against anything and that he possesses guts nobody else has. And that WOULD'VE been true had he not actually possessed a deep fear of ghosts in any kind....

This was his kryptonite. A pathetic fear but he couldn't help himself but be suspicious of things like these. Moving pile of snow? That seems like ghostly activity.

However, his rational side is desperately trying to convince him that it might've been just some small animal or something that's rustling in that snow pile. I mean, why would a ghost possess a pile of snow? That sounds so ridiculous....

It begins rustling again and Ryuen jumps back.

" Yeah, no." Maybe he should really just go back to his dorm and pretend this never happened. Yeah that sounds good.

"......ugh, fucking hell." But he facepalms himself. His mind wants to run but his pride ain't letting him. He has to get over this stupid fear at some point. And maybe, perhaps, this was a sign that now's the time to do just that.

He approaches the snow pile with a stone face, showing no expression of fear. This is his moment. To overcome the fear that shouldn't be even setting him back as a fearless human being. This will prove his dominance against the living and the undead.

He clenches one fist and uses one hand to sweep away the snow....

"...."

Golden brown eyes meet purple ones.

It was Kiyopon.

"....Ohayo." he greets.

BAM!

---------------------------------------------------------

Kiyopon rubs his new black eye ( courtesy of Ryuen ) in pain.

" Bastard, the hell were you thinking letting snow pile on you? Dumbass." Ryuen says through gritted teeth.

Kiyopon frowns. Just when his wounds were healing nicely, Ryuen really had to just give him a new black eye.

Suzune is going to kill him.

He writes in his notebook.

it said.

" Even if it wasn't. I have no regrets in doing so." Ryuen replies.

Kiyopon writes in his notebook.

it said.

Ryuen chuckles before turning towards the ocean view.

" Speaking of which," He speaks in a more serious tone. "Suzune held the power to get me expelled after our little battle." He glances to the silent boy with a suspicious gaze. " But she didn't expell me. Was that your doing?"

Kiyopon looks at him and does nothing but nod. After that, he grabs a generous amount of snow and uses it for his black eye, to act as an ice bag.

Ryuen grins. " Figures. It had to be your doing. I just couldn't imagine Suzune NOT taking the chance to expell me right then and there unless some...' otherwordly' force stops her from doing so." he chuckles.

Kiyopon was flattered to have been titled in such a way. At least, he assumes that Ryuen is referring to him.

But it wasn't just Ryuen who had questions to ask. Kiyopon had a few of his own as well.

He writes in his notebook...

it said.

Ryuen sighs, finding it hard to keep up his usual grin.

" Once a tyrant's power has been defeated. They'll lose everything, and that includes leadership. People under a tyrant's rule, will only follow until that same tyrant begins to show failure and lead to defeat. That's how the world works." He answers.

Kiyopon nods, understanding his reason. But he knows there was something more personal to it, maybe it was just a decision made by Ryuen himself instead of being taken out of power by the people under him. Seeing as how Ryuen took all the blame for the rooftop incident and endured suspension by himself...

Taking himself out of power and stepping down sounds plausible too.

He sits there silently until he began writing in his notebook...

it said.

"....Pft-" Ryuen suddenly starts laughing. " Pfft! As if, Ayanokoji." A fire was lit in his eyes.

" I'm simply taking a break to figure out how to beat you next time. I admit, losing to you was absolutely humiliating. Especially that ' rocket punch' of yours. It pisses me off." He says.

Kiyopon chuckles.

" I'll kick your ass once the next special exam comes. You can bet on it." Ryuen says, sounding confident.

Kiyopon writes in his notebook...

it said.

Kiyopon didn't mean anything by it. It was simply curiosity as to how Ryuen would respond to this type of provocation.

And Ryuen didn't disappoint.

" Indeed, grudges are for losers." Ryuen nods. " Seems fitting, considering I'm the loser for now. So yeah, I'm holding this grudge until I beat you and make you beg for mercy. So be prepared to give it your all again when the time comes, Ayanokoji." He says.

Kiyopon nods, completely interested in that scenario. Someone like Ryuen will definitely keep to his word.

Kiyopon had written.

" Doesn't sound too bad of a goal." Ryuen shrugs, his grin showing absolute excitement.

Kiyopon silently agrees. Having a rival doesn't sound too bad to him either. Initially, he just wanted to stop Ryuen from targeting his class, but now the endgame has changed. He decided to save him from expulsion at the very last minute in order to see if Ryuen's spirit had broken...

And it hadn't. Not one piece is missing from his spirit. That impressed Kiyopon, for someone to recover from a loss that quickly....that's quite admirable indeed.

Kiyopon writes.

Ryuen laughs in good fun after that response.

The two of them are....rivals. Not friends, but not quite enemies either. Who knows what may come their way? The only thing they're both aware of, is that there are definitely boundaries set between them.

If Kiyopon attacks Ryuen's class. Then the latter will fight back.

If Ryuen attacks Kiyopon's friends. Then the monster will arise once more.