A Tyrant's Will

Volume 1: Chapter 2.4 - Absolute Control

After school, I decided to proceed with the arduous process of documenting the locations of all the security cameras on campus. My next stop was Keyaki Mall. It's extremely unlikely I would find any place suitable there because it's always crowded, but it wouldn't hurt to check.

It was probably safe to assume there were one or two cameras in every store in the mall, so it would be a waste of energy to go into every little shop and check. As I walked around, I made a mental note of every camera I could see. I probably missed a few, but I didn't want to look suspicious by snooping around.

Unlike the ones in the classroom, many of the cameras were visible from the outside, although they were a little hard to see if you weren't looking for them. They were perched really high up, and covered a large area. Even still, someone could probably get away with pickpocketing or stealing if there were enough people around to create a cover.

I soon arrived at the very back of the mall on the first floor. This place was huge, to put it mildly. It would probably take me a couple of hours to finish scoping out the entire building. I was about to backtrack and head upstairs when I heard a girl's voice call out to me.

"Excuse me! Can I talk to you for a second?"

I saw a girl with short-beige colored hair with crimson eyes approach me. She was average height with very generous proportions. Her sunny and cheerful disposition, as well as the bright smile on her face, likely attracted the attention and hearts of many students.

"Who might you be?" I asked, slightly intrigued.

"Oh, I'm sorry. Silly me! I'm Kushida Kikyou, from Class D. I've been wanting to talk to you for a while, but I just couldn't find a good time. Do you want to be friends with me?"

"Friends? Why the hell would you ask for something ridiculous like that? In case you've forgotten, we just met five seconds ago," I said, raising my eyebrow.

"Well, it's true that we only just met, but I've heard about you from one of your classmates, Ryuuen-kun. Apparently you're the leader of your class, aren't you? I think that's pretty cool," Kushida replied.

Did someone seriously spill the beans? I guess with a class of 40, this was bound to happen. Some idiot probably got star-strucken by Kushida's flirtatious antics and ran his mouth.

"What a bother. By the way, who was the person that told you that I was the leader?"

"Um, I think his name was Ishizaki-kun or something like that. He didn't seem very happy when he was talking about you, though. Did something happen between you two?"

Of course it was Ishizaki. Him and his big mouth. 

"You could say the two of us have a history, but it's mostly been resolved now. And by the way, I would appreciate it if you didn't go around spreading that information."

"Don't worry, Ryuuen-kun. Your secret is safe with me!" Kushida clapped her hands in excitement. "So what about my offer? It would be nice to become friends with someone important from a different class."

"Sorry, not interested. You don't just walk up to a stranger on the street and suddenly ask them to be friends out of the blue. That's not how this works."

"That might be true, but that's such a shallow reason not to be friends with someone! The world would be a much happier place if everyone got along. So can you please accept? It would make me really happy." She looked at me with a dazzling smile and pleading eyes.

"Let me tell you something, little chick. For someone to gain my token of friendship, they have to earn it. Just because you're a cute girl that sucks up to other people doesn't mean you're worthy. Go bother someone else," I snorted, walking past her.