[A/N: Remember, Heylel does not have future knowledge or any knowledge he hasn't scrounged up for himself.
Also, let's talk about Horikita, she is an ice princess with a superiority complex(towards everyone else) and an inferiority complex(toward her brother).
She is a complete bitch, but she is also able to admit her faults. So the whole chapter kind of plays on the last point, confronting her with her mistakes and using them to twist an opening into her heart.]
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Soon enough Heylel and Horikita found themselves somewhere he would not have expected, in a karaoke room. It was close enough, cheap and with privacy, something he wanted.
"So, shoot," He said as he sat beside her.
Her bag hunched over beside her she crossed her arms and took a deep breath, "Why did you defend them?"
"The trio? Simple, it was the most straightforward way for you to reach your goal." He said. She raised her brow, though the walk she had managed to cool herself off if only a little. So she demanded clearly, "Explain."
"Say even if you got your point across they would have just run away, you saw how eager they were, and since they wouldn't be joining Hirata's group…they would fail midterms which is contrary to your goals isn't it?"
"Why should I care? Why not get rid of dead weight like Sudou and his ilk? It would harm us in the short term but what about the long term," She said, there was a certain coldness in her tone, as if she were eyeing an enemy, but it was not directed at him. She did not think him an enemy.
Well, Ike and Yama-something were dead weight but still, "Sudou I would argue is not, moreover right now, we need even short-term advantages."
Her eyes turned to him, confusion evident, but before she could open her small mouth, he started, "Look, remember what our Chiyabashira-sensei said?"
"That they were picked not just for academics? Yes. But it is irrelevant—"
"You don't understand at all do you?" He cut in, "Sudou is practically walking, taking points in sports events, he is unmatched in the whole year in sports. And yes I am insulating that we get points for sports events. Like we will if we do well in this exam."
His declaration left her momentarily taken aback, "What?"
With a sigh, he leaned back into the couch, "Look, just connect the dots, even class A lost points. The perfect could not keep up. And our seniors in class 2-D and 3-D have points to spend, think of it this way, could they have made those initial 100k points last for two years? Three years? And, not to mention, the purpose of a school is not to make fun of or shit on students. It is to improve them. And guess what is the motivation?"
"Class points and…private points?"
"Yes. Thank you. You don't hang around any seniors but in the second year, the difference in points between 2-A and 2-D is monumental. If we don't start working towards it now, we will have lost before we even start our second year," He stopped.
"That is interesting information…" Her hands went to her chin. She was thinking, "I think we need to share with the class."
There it was, "No," he flatly denied her and the expected question came, "Why?"
"Which reason do you want to hear, the pragmatic one or the personal one."
She hesitated for a moment, "Both."
"Well for the personal one, I don't want to. I don't want the spotlight, I don't want to be in the crosshairs of anyone. What I mean to say is, Chiyabashira-sensei was right, I don't care if I am in D or A," He looked at her, her expression a little confused but she accepted it, not much of a fuss.
"As for the pragmatic one, simple, it might just break the class' spirit," He said and that was it.
This one left her perplexed, "Would the pressure not force them to do better?"
"You saw what happened earlier when you applied pressure on the trio. They cracked. Think of how many others will." A second later she nodded, "You are correct in that. I think we are—"
"No, no, let's talk about your idiocy now," That earned him a death glare, "Watch your words."
"Not gonna. Anyway, you held this group in the library, in full view of everyone."
"And?"
"Class A, B and C are kind of our completion, you know? And what did you show them?"
"Just how pathetic we are," She groaned. That was fuck up numero uno.
"Now, second, Chiyabashira-sensei had basically told us point black in the guidance room that we want athletic students and you wanted to get the best student in the year, who I might remind you is in our class expelled. Removing dead weight as it were. You were not looking at the bigger picture, not at all. You are just prioritising short-term stability for long-term loss."
That was two. He had more but he could see she was biting her lips, she could cry and that was not his goal. His goal now was to turn Horikita towards him. He had initially not wanted to even be involved but circumstances dictated that he had to, so now he was going to take full advantage.
"I…see," She also leaned into the couch.
Finally, she turned to him, "Sorry."
"What?" He was stunned, "Did you just admit guilt?"
She huffed and in an instant she was back, "Well I was going to thank you for what you did with stopping Sudou as unnecessary as it was."
He rolled his eyes, "Not cute. Not cute at all."
She scoffed, "If you want cute go chase that girl you came into the library with."
"Aw, is someone—"
"Thank you for coming after me."
His expression broke into a smile, a smile of a demon, but one that he nonetheless quickly put away and stood up. "Don't tell anyone we had this conversation, okay?"
She followed him and pulled herself up as well, "I will not."
He turned to her, his eyes fully reflecting hers, "Promise?"
She shook her head, "What are we, children?"
He laughed, "Last I checked? Yes," and as if to prove his point he pulled up his pinky finger.
She rolled her eyes and tried to circumvent him but he moved to block her. Realising that he meant it she raised her hand "This is so stupid," and crossed her pinky with his.
"Promise."
As they walked out of the room, Horikita noticed he didn't have his bag with him, "So, where are you headed?" She asked.
He picked up his phone, there was a text that had come, he showed it to her.
[Ayanokoji: I have your bag. I will return it to you later.]
"Let's go and rest," He said. She nodded but as they got down to the second floor she told him, "You do know that I can't keep all you have told to myself right? It would hamper our chances to get into A."
"Keep it with you till midterms, and after that, just keep my name out of it, heck everything will be too obvious for anyone not to notice."
"I suppose I can, we did make a pinky promise right?" She smiled at him, "So stupid."
Heylel shrugged. Then she punched him in the stomach. "Ouch!" He jumped back, "What was that for?"
"I don't like being touched."
Bitch!
While these two people had taken the steps to form a friendship, another was about to dissolve. Or perhaps it was about to become a 'true' friendship.
On the rooftops of the school Ayanokoji had followed a certain someone out of a desire to converse but…
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