Impressively, Sudou was quite prepared for that, since he already folded that tent and attached it to his backpack, now they would only need to leave.

Alya however, wasn't that prepared. She was sitting on a dry rock, staring at the ground between her feet.

And I could only repeat myself, she looks perfect in the gym uniform.

¤Bonds and Betrayals¤

With that, Sudou and Matsushita waved us goodbye and left, however, both of them had troubled faces, probably scared that we might run into a conflict again.

But, this time I want to push her development further in a quick tempo.

"Suou-kun... I didn't think you had this well-developed orientation."

"Back to last name basis, huh?"

"Well...Can you blame me?" She said in an incredibly soft voice. It was cute to hear, and it fit her expression well.

She wasn't blushing, she looked a little...down?

"No, sorry for that again. Besides, do you want to attend that event? I don't mind losing a few points. But gaining would be a lot more fun."

"Yeah, we really should do that...Also, can we talk a little?"

It wasn't annoying me. Her tone was the same before we got closer. Back then I was glad to have her talk with me politely...after adapting Horikita's trash-talk on me.

But this time, it was just... weird to hear her speak like that after what felt like decades.

"Sigh...You don't need to be so polite and ask when you want to talk. You can just go ahead and do that without permission."

"S-Sorry. Well, could we talk about what you want to rank in this exam?"

"Rank? You mean in the leaderboards right? Well, I think that everyone wants to be first place, am I wrong?"

But that is not the case within myself. I never wanted to rank first. My goal is, to let this class win class points. Means at least second place overall. With that, I won't face expulsion due to the deal.

But deep down, my desire to come out as the winner in the end, is beating me once again, and I have taken the most complicated route on purpose, to have a little hindrances while winning.

But everyone feels the same in the end.

"Yes. You are wrong here for the first time in a while. Everyone wants. But trust me, in the past few weeks and months, I came to learn, that you are unpredictable. So what do you want?"

"..."

I am surprised. No. Shocked at this point.

Nobody ever did something like she did now, except my sister. But my sister has known me for 15 years.

Alya barely knew me for 16 weeks...

"You don't need to answer me out loud. If you find an answer deep inside, that's okay for me. But if you have one, tell me that you do, Suou-kun, you don't need to tell me what the answer is though."

"Originally I planned on neither winning nor losing. But lately, my goals have changed drastically. I think... I want to remain unnoticed throughout the examination. Or so I did. Now, let's see, I think we have huge chances ahead."

She stood up from the rock and went closer to me, almost her face touching my chest, and then she looked up.

My chest was pounding, rather adrenaline was shooting through my veins. I don't know where it came from, but such situations are insanely weird to me.

"...Has somebody ever told you how handsome you are, Kiyotaka?"

"..."

"I am sorry for ruining our friendship, I don't believe it will ever recover from what it originally was. And to avoid antagonizing each other, let's cut ties once this is over. After all, Kiyotaka~, I am still a leader, and this class is counting on me. I can't cry after a boy, who doesn't feel the same for me every day. But please remember...I am still in love with you. The time is running out, and I am scared when the day is here..."

The rejection changed her, for the better, but I couldn't help and clench my fists.

My past haunts me down until today...It tells me to use her...

It's like an inner demon fighting with my current self for control.

What if she...What does she think of me?

These 'what if' questions are useless now. I can't do anything about it. I am living in this current situation and control only future events.

Nothing more than that.

But what does she think of me right now?

A genius? A psychopath? An idiot? A brute? A crush? A friend? A sociopath?

What am I to her and what is she to me?

As many times I asked this question to myself, I was confused as to what the answer was.

And there is simply no answer...yet.

After all, it's only been a few months. Even though it's only 13 days left for us, there is still enough time to turn things on the good side.

But...

What if this time my plan fails? I have no plan B in this situation.

Does that mean...

...I have to confess to her, to buy myself some time?

》》Bonds and Betrayals《《

[A/N]

A huge change in the future of this ship. Have I killed it? Maybe.

To be honest. I have a lot to do currently, and I spend a lot of time thinking of how to increase the pace of the character development for her.

And I believe that I hit the bullseye with this, right?

7885 Words.

Also, I tried out drawing a little.