Chapter 4

As I wake up for school a couple of days after the incident, I ask my parents to give me an extra hundred yen to take with me to school in exchange for chores. They slipped the note in my pocket, and I skipped like a flea to school. A happy, mentally prepared for anything flea.

 As I approached the school gates, I saw the Prez greeting people as they entered the school.  I respectfully bowed to him as I started to walk in, but felt something touch my back as I was walking off. I pulled off a piece of paper that was a flyer for an open mic debate session. I turned around, and he noticed that I was looking at him out of the corner of his eye. "Interested?", he asks, his query obviously pertaining to the flyer. I nodded. "Great. See you there. We will start exactly two hours after the dismissal bell has rung. Please keep this in mind.", he says. I bowed again, gave my thanks, and put the flyer in my bag.

Later on, in the cafeteria, I was eyeballing the last melon soba bread. I had already started reaching for the money my parents gave me when "SWOOSH!". It was like a Weavile using False Swipe to bring my hopes and dreams down to 1HP, then run off like a thief in the night. Luckily, that 1HP was all I needed to catch the blonde-haired culprit.

I pounced on him, and as his legs gave way, he fell down. I told him that I had eyes on it. "Well, I had hands on it! Still want it now?" He replies, holding the bread, unaware that argument only works if it isn't wrapped in hellish layers of plastic, which it was. He then stared at my face, then back at the bread, then came up with a solution that anyone with a brain would come up with. "I'll split it.". This consensus was good enough for me, as it saves me needing to use the note in the process.

As I sit at the table with him, eating my half of the bread, he asks me a question "So, what's your name?". As much as I would normally say that you should state your own name before asking for another's, I decidedly don't, and tell him anyway. "Interesting. My name's Motonoya. Taiyagi Motonoya. I come from a family of puppies, because my mother's a bitch.", he says without skipping a beat. I continue to eat without saying a word. "Come on! What's with that response!?", he reacts. The bell for next period rings as if it wanted to stop further cringe from seeping out of his mouth. "Anyways, it was nice to meet you.", he says. I oblige, and we shake hands. I head to next period wondering if he's like that all of the time.

Afterschool, I head to the assembly hall right on time for the debate session. Between me, the Prez, and eight other attendees, topical arguments were made left and right until it was down to me and the final boss himself. He made a swift argument, I countered back in a way he couldn't come back from, but decided to bring up a flaw in an earlier argument I had made. We were tied neck and neck until it was over.

I walked off feeling victorious, although it was declared unanimously a tie. The Prez comes up to me and expresses his admiration for such worthy opposition. He says "It may have been a tie, but I still feel like I lost knowing I couldn't win, either. Victory is yours." I bow to him and say that he should not feel defeated, but the same way I feel now, as it was his win, too. He thanks me, and walks away, being greeted at the exit door by the same bread stealing smartass I bumped into earlier. He jumps up with a wide, happy face smile, and frantically waves at the Prez as he walks over. The Prez then turns around and says "Next time, I will not lose." The two proceed to exit the empty auditorium, and disappear into the dark halls of the school. I felt something on my back that I didn't notice until now: A sticky note with the Prez's contact info. I wonder how he does that...