Chapter 22: Chapter 22
Just like that, summer vacation arrived. The time of youth.
Little do they know. Youth is a lie. It is evil.
All of these people walking around wearing fake smiles and fake faces are deluded. Changing themselves to fit in with their friends. Everyone must fit into their preconstructed mold. To them, lies, secrets, sins, and failures are but seeds of spice in their youth.
Supposing such failures were an indication of youth, then one who has failed to make friends must also be at the height of his youth. But then, they dare to disagree and say that friends are a requirement.
Make me want to puke.
On the first day of summer vacation, I stayed in my dorm room the entire day. Yes, I know I'm a degenerate, but you can't blame me. I had instant ramen, a console system, and some books. What more is necessary?
I woke up the next day, and it was already the afternoon, so when I looked outside, I saw groups of students leaving the dorm in groups of people. I looked around my messy room and slumped down against my bed. Checking my phone, I began playing some music and picked up my book.
This is the life.
I reached for another bowl of instant ramen to eat for breakfast, but much to my surprise, nothing was there. Since the week before finals, I had been surviving on only instant ramen. I had the money to spend on good food, but I wasn't gonna go eat in public after the restaurant experience earlier. That was terrifying.
I was gonna have to leave the room sooner or later, so I showered and changed into my uniform as it was the pair of clothing I had. I put in my earbuds and walked to the elevator. After clicking the down button, I saw that the elevator was coming downwards. Great, some girl was gonna be on it.
The elevator arrived, and I stepped in and saw that it was empty except for one person. Sitting in the right corner of the elevator was a girl with a disgusted expression, Manabu's little sister. I entered, and we both completely ignored each other as I continued listening to my music while she stared at the wall. As the elevator doors opened once again, I saw the bright scene of students chatting together in swimsuits. I was very out of place with my school uniform.
I walked through the lobby, received some weird glances, and exited the hotel. Upon my exit, I saw Ichinose along with some other classmates waiting to the right. Ah, I forgot to pray to the god of luck after the restaurant encounter, didn't I?
I turned my face to the side to avoid them seeing me, but it seemed like I was too late. From my backside, I could hear Ichinose practically screaming.
"OVER HERE HIKIGAYA!"
What could she possibly want? To my left, I could see Manabu's little sister joining a group of Class D students, and in front of me, multiple students were giving me jealous glares that said. "You're not worth Ichinose's time"
There really was no escape. I sighed and headed towards the group of Class B students. Unlike me in my uniform, the students were dressed in fashionable summer clothes, and they had all bags which I assumed contained swimsuits. They can't possibly think I'd go swimming with them when I'm in my uniform.
I awkwardly approached Ichinose and asked.
"Hey, what's up?"
"What do you mean Hikigaya? Didn't you come out now go to swimming with our class? I'm happy you took the time to check the class group chat to see our plans"
"..."
If I were to deny her, I would be admitting that I ignored the class group chat in front of the rest of the class, but at the same time, I couldn't possibly become any more lonely. If I agree, I would have to waste this perfect summer day at the pool with a bunch of strangers. After thinking it over, I decided that denying her, and telling her I was out for a different reason would be better. Knowing Ichinose, she would probably accept it if I said I was feeling sick, and that I had been staying in my room for the past 2 days for that reason. The other students in the class might think differently, but I honestly didn't care.
I was about to decline Ichinose when my phone buzzed.
"Sorry Ichinose, could you give me a moment?"
I ignored the glares from the other students and checked my phone. The student council president was calling me? We had only exchanged numbers when he handed me the 10 million points, and we didn't have a close enough relationship to call each other. If I ignored his call, he would definitely give me a shit ton of paperwork after a break, so I reluctantly picked up.
"What do you need a president?"
"Are you heading to the pool today?"
"No, I wasn't planning to"
"Well, you need to go."
"... why?"
"I heard that some students were planning to set up cameras in the girl's lockerroom, and it's your job as general affairs officer to resolve this"
"we're on the break from the council, so I'm n-"
"do it or I'm going to drown you in paperwork"
"... hey if you know about it, why don't y-"
That son of bitch hung up. I take back everything I said about him being a good person for protecting his sister. There was a week left for summer vacation, one day can't ruin it that much, I guess.
After sending a strongly worded text to the president, telling him that next time, I would not be complying. Who am I kidding? He can force me to do anything he wants as student council president. Sighing, I put down my phone and rejoined the group of Class B students.
The students beside Ichinose were getting impatient as they had to wait for my phone call, so I greeted Ichinose and walked with them to the pool. All of the students except Kanzaki and I were in groups, so I walked in silence next to him. After a bit of walking, Kazanki asked.
"... why exactly are you wearing our uniform to the pool"
"uhh I wasn't planning to swim, just watch from one of the poolside chairs"
That was true, even if I was going to pool, I was just going to investigate the perverts trying to record in the girl's locker room and head home. I assumed that these perverts would be in Class D as I doubt any Class C students would do anything with Ryuen watching, Class B was too pure and Class A was Class A.
"... you didn't check the group chat did you"
There was no getting past this Kanzaki guy.
"Yeah, I met you guys out of coincidence and didn't want to decline in front of everyone"
I looked behind the group of Class B students and saw the Class D students from earlier. The group contained Manabu's little sister, Ayanokoji, Kushida, Sudo, and 3 other students I didn't know. One of the unknown Class D students, instead of carrying a lightweight bag with their swimsuit, was a dark black duffel bag.
Were they even trying to hide it? Obviously, there's no goddamn swimsuit in that gigantic bag. I was pissed now. If it weren't for those idiots, I would already be back in my dorm room with a bowl of instant ramen and a book open.
I was considering directly calling them out and searching their bag for evidence, but knowing those guys, they would still attempt to deny it and cause a scene.
There was also a more time-efficient way for me to do it. Since I already knew Ayanokoji, I would just need to message him and let him know what his classmates were going to do. This was, of course, assuming Ayanokoji wasn't involved with the cameras. If he was, I would have to act against them.
As we neared the locker rooms, Kanzaki sighed and handed me a pair of shorts. Did this guy know I would forget about the plans? Anyway, I thanked him and headed into the locker room. If I headed into the pool area with the school uniform on, I would definitely be on the receiving end of many laughs, so Kanzaki saved me from some trouble.
In front of the girl's locker room, I could see Ichinose and Kushida talking. This was good as I could probably keep a good eye on the Class D students if our classes stuck together.
The Class B and D boy students along with me entered our locker room. After changing into Kanzaki's shorts, I could see Sudo along with the 3 unknowns stuffing the black duffel bag into one of the lockers. These guys didn't think about their plan at all. It was a miracle that only I noticed them this far.
I tried to look for Ayanokoji to tell him about his classmates, but it seemed he was already out of the locker room, so I exited as well.
[A/N: Short Chapter as I'm currently working on another book. Don't worry 2 chapters / day is starting again tomorrow]
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone