Ryuuto replies with:
1) "Leave it to me, Shunsuke. I can handle it."
2) "I'll be fine. I can handle a bit of mud."
3) "I should be alright, since I have an information beast at my heels."
4) "If I ever require help, I've got a dependable senpai, Senpai."
At this response, Shunsuke smiled and nodded in approval. “After hearing that, I believe you really can do it.” Ryuuto said his goodbyes and they headed in different directions. The sun began to set as Ryuuto made it back to his house. His mother was in the kitchen preparing dinner as he walked in and headed towards his room. During dinner, he mentioned of his eventful re-encounter with Nagisa and her brother at school, as both his parents were still on good terms with their parents. Having discussed it for awhile, it was decided that they would plan a get together in the future. Now having finished dinner, Ryuuto was in his room, upstairs working on his homework, and began to recall events at the rooftop. Suddenly glancing at the a photo on his desk, it was of both him and Nagisa standing in the rain under an umbrella. Ryuuto was smiling, but Nagisa had a bit of an unreadable expression. It almost looked like she was smiling, but there had to be something more than there appeared to be on the surface. It was also the last photo he had with Nagisa before they suddenly moved. Ryuuto smiled as he recalled the scene. He never figured out what was bothering her on that day. He had initially blamed the rain for her strange mood, then when Nagisa moved, he came to the conclusion that it was the upcoming move that was the cause.
In any case, he was happy now that Nagisa had returned and would be spending more time with her like in 3 years prior. Now that he had Nagisa's contact information, he would be able to plan out with much more confidence than he had shown to Shunsuke. Looking back at his homework, he decided to finish and go to bed. The last thing he needed was to give unnecessary worry to his parents when he takes on the role of being the student council president. Setting his alarm clock to the usual time and jumping into bed, he falls asleep fairly quickly.
Waking up the next day, Ryuuto turns off his annoying alarm clock and heads down to eat breakfast. Quickly eating and completing his morning routine, he grabs his bike and heads out. The cool, late spring air whizzes by his face as he makes his way to school. Parking his bike at the bicycle corral, he walks into the large crowd of students heading inside. Today seems a more typical day, unlike yesterday when Nagisa was handing out flyers. Akagami Ringo was as at the gate as usual, directing traffic and maintaining order. Running into Kyousuke at the shoe lockers, the two talk about trivial things as they head to the classroom. if they were to turn around, out of the crowd behind them, they would find Nakajou Yuna following them. She decided to run up alongside Ryuuto as if they were best friends. Ryuuto looks over and says, “Good morning.” Yuna returns the greeting, but suddenly grabs Ryuuto's hand. She leans over as she pulls him closer and she whispers in his ear, “The spider waits for the fly, but fails to notice the bird and the lizard nearby. Be careful of Takezawa.” She then points at the tall, lanky looking student off in the distance with her eyes.
Ryuuto chooses to:
1. say, “Thanks, I will keep that in mind.”
2. Tease Yuna
3. say nothing, grab Yuna's hand, and keep walking.
As Ryuuto says this, he briefly looks over at the tall, lanky looking student and thinks to himself. That must be one of Takezawa's lackeys. I haven't even applied to become a candidate yet and there's already someone I should be careful of nearby. Could Takezawa already have found out about my intentions? While Ryuuto was pondering this, Kyousuke interrupted his thoughts.
“Ryuuto-kyun, your thoughts are showing on your face.”
“Huh?” Ryuuto's face changed from one of concern to surprise.
“Oh. Let's go. The first bell should ring soon.”
Having responded to Kyousuke, Ryuuto proceeded on to class. He sat down and class began. Today started out with World History, a class that Ryuuto had little interest in, and would be able to pass the time pondering Yuna's earlier words, “The spider waits for the fly, but fails to notice the bird and the lizard nearby. Be careful of Takezawa,” echoing in his mind. Once I put my application in for presidency, I will eventually come under heavy scrutiny by the general affairs department. Which is why before I actually apply, I must do some investigation of my own of the general affairs department.
Having thought a bit, Ryuuto decided to investigate during lunch. Time passed quickly and it was already lunch time. Having brought his bento as usual, but wolfed it down faster than usual, leaving Kyousuke a little surprised. Grabbing his bag, he told Kyousuke to meet him in the library. “Oka, Ish gonna bef a phew minnots bepho *gulp* before I can get over there,” (Okay, it's gonna be a few minutes before I get over there) Kyousuke said with a bit of a mouthful. Ryuuto hurried over to the library. The reason Ryuuto went to the library, was to access the past student council records, as they were kept there for the student's free use. He walked over to find the librarian returning some books to a shelf. He asked her where the records were kept, and was directed over to a shelving unit that was against the wall, away from the other bookshelves. Looking it over, it was a messy bookshelf, with papers sticking out of folders, books in disarray, and papers laying in stacks unorganized. It seems that this shelf was managed by the student council, as any librarian would have already organized it by now. However, this shelf was deemed under the jurisdiction of the student council, so it was managed by the student council. For it to be this disorganized indicated either a lack of management or a lack of caring. While this shelf was handled by the general affairs and secretary departments, after reading a bit of the school's history of the student council from a bound book entitled “Student Council 2010-2012,” Ryuuto came to realize that while both departments had a shared responsibility, most of the keeping of the paperwork was done by the Secretary department, which would explain why it was in its current state.
Looking through both previous and current available student council records, Ryuuto came to the conclusion that the struggle for succession to the presidency was a common one for all of the departments. In the previous Student council, there was a scandal done by the general affairs to secretly portion out financial funding to clubs that which the general affairs favored, and funding was cut for the ones they did not favor. The Secretary department found the discrepancy in the numbers when the numbers didn't add up. The clubs that were receiving their ill-gotten funding were forcibly suspended for that year, and the general affairs that were responsible for the incident were removed from power. Looking back at the names listed in the General Affairs department, Ryuuto noticed an interesting name: Takezawa Keito. Takezawa was not that common of a name, so Ryuuto felt safe to assume that Takezawa Keito was Takezawa Kouhei's older brother.
Just as he was pondering this, Kyousuke showed up. “So, did you find anything, Ryuuto-kyun?” "...Kyousuke, didn't I already say to not call me that? It's disgusting." Ryuuto said with disgust. “Aww, don't be like that. So, did you find anything?” Kyousuke asked with a smile. “I think I found something interesting. It seems likely that Takezawa's older brother was in the General Affairs department as well. It seems he was involved in that scandal with the club funding two years ago,” said Ryuuto with a bit of confidence. “So, do you think he's trying to become president like his older brother who was unable to?” Kyousuke asked. “It's a possibility, but the reasoning is only based on guesses. After all, I've never met him to ask him.” Despite Kouhei's older brother's scandal, Kouhei is still seen as a lofty figure in school, which enabled him to even join the student council. His grades are top notch. He is pretty athletic and there are plenty of girls who would chase after him. After looking through a bit more of the records, Ryuuto decided that he had gleaned all the pertinent information he could. Lunch break was almost over anyway. Ryuuto began to clean up his mess. “Kyousuke, I'm going to be doing a bit more investigating after school, would you like to come along?” Ryuuto asks.
Kyousuke chooses to:
1. suggest tailing the lackey that was eyeing Ryuuto this morning.
2. refuse and do some information gathering from his ties to several gangs in the area.
3. think a bit more.
“I unfortunately already have some business in that area, but Ryuuto-kyun should be able to tail the person from this morning if you want to know what is really going on. Also, don't forget that the deadline for the application should be coming up soon. Itou should know when.” Ryuuto knew when Kyousuke mentioned “that” area, he meant his ties to the various gangs in the parts surrounding the school. Having decided to go with tailing Takezawa's lackey, Ryuuto said his goodbyes and proceeded to make his way toward the main gate.
Ryuuto decided it was better to maintain distance from the gate, rather than wait conspicuously at the actual gate. There was still a crowd of students socializing between the main entrance and the gate. Ryuuto decided he would wait here amonst the crowd while he believed the lackey would appear, as the east and west gates were less commonly used due to the train station being closest from the main gate. Of course, there was also the possibility the guy would be going to his club meeting, at which Ryuuto would be forced to choose other options of collecting information on Takezawa and the General Affairs department.
After looking around in the crowd and watching the gate periodically, Ryuuto noticed one of his good friends, Ueshima Kazuto, was leaving the main entrance, but wasn't heading to the main gate. Kazuto was one of his classmates from middle school; the two got along great and became good friends. When he joined Red Hawk High school, he joined the Kendo club. Ryuuto assumed that Kazuto was heading to the dojo, which happened to be near the main gate.
Ryuuto chooses to:
1. Call out to Ueshima Kazuto.
2. Continue to wait patiently for Takezawa's lackey to appear.
3. Give up on waiting and seek out other means of gathering information on Takezawa.
4. Look for Nagisa.
While he was aware calling out to his friend might draw some attention, Ryuuto determined that with the crowd around him being noisy and talkative, he should be able prevent too much attention being drawn to him. “Hey Kazuto-kun!” Ryuuto calls out to Kazuto who was walking in the direction of the dojo, hears someone calling to him and turns around. Kazuto looks into the crowd in the courtyard and notices Ryuuto emerging. “Ryuuto-kun, I didn't see you there. Walk with me for a bit.” Ryuuto smiles and walks up beside Kazuto as he begins to head toward the dojo. The even though the dojo was considered “close” to the main gate, it was still quite a distance to walk there from the main entrance. On the way, the two were talking about Kendo. Ryuuto took Kendo when he was in elementary school, but for a certain reason, quit the first year of middle school. Even though he no longer practiced seriously, Kazuto would spar with him occasionally so that he could gain a some insights into his own form and improve himself. As they arrived outside of the dojo, Kazuto invited him in.
“Ryuuto-kun, do you want to have a go at it once before you leave?”
“I only have time for one round, but sure.”
Kazuto smiled before turning around to push open the door. As soon as he walked in, he stopped, and unceremoniously dropped his bag on the floor. As Ryuuto walked in, he looked on in shock as the previously beautifully kept dojo was trashed. There were broken shinai on the floor, random garbage strewn about and broken glass.
Ryuuto chooses to:
1. Ask about the vandalism
2. not ask about the vandalism, but offer to help clean up
3. Call Nagisa's phone.
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