All or Nothing

Volume 1: Chapter 3 Part 4

Part 4

"Your appointment with me to catch you up on history is at 7pm. Because I was a little bit too busy today, I can't personally tutor you at the school so I'll tutor you in my room in the teachers dorms. Just ring the bell at the front of the teachers dorms that has my name on it and I'll let you in."

This was a text message that Kiyotaka had received not too long ago. The sender was none other than Chabashira Sae, his homeroom teacher. Kiyotaka knew better than to ignore it and at around twenty to 7, Kiyotaka left his dorm room with the teachers' dorms as his destination.

Private tutorship from teachers was nothing new. There were a lot of cases where if a student was falling too far behind on a certain subject or even more than one, tutors would set up private sessions with that student so they could improve their grades. ANHS should have been no different.

However, in Kiyotaka's case, he was not falling behind on any subject, not even history which was listed in the text message. To put it frankly, ever since Kiyotaka scored 100% on the math test back around the start of second year, he has been a top contender in the class academics, making private tutorship unneeded for him.

So, why did he get that message from Chabashira?

The answer was simply that there was a hidden message in the text that only he and Chabashira knew. Using his deduction, the contents that the actual message said was:

"I have something I wish to discuss with you privately. Since I can't meet with you in the school because I was busy, I can only discuss with you in my room in the teachers dorms at 7pm. For safety, ring the bell at the front of the dorms that has my name on it and I'll let you in without problems."

The reason this actual message wasn't sent to Kiyotaka's phone was simply that it would raise too many suspicions. A student meeting with a teacher in their dorm around the evening to talk over something was not normal. The first thing someone would think if they saw a message like that is if they had a secret relationship behind the scenes.

In other words, the message he received was an excuse to use if he got caught by someone, like another teacher.

After 10 minutes, Kiyotaka arrived at the teachers dorms. The building did not look all that different to the students dorms on the outside, but the inside would probably be quite different.

Seeing the massive array of apartment doorbells in front of him, Kiyotaka kept his eye out for Chabashira's nameplate. When he finally caught his eye on Chabashira's nameplate, he pressed the doorbell, letting it buzz to let the occupant know he was visiting.

"Who is it?"

Chabashira's voice was heard through the intercom. Kiyotaka could see a separate camera to the usual security cameras, which indicated that they were used as "peepholes" for the dorm occupants. It was likely that Chabashira could see him on the camera, but she still asked who was at the door.

"It's Ayanokouji. We have a tutorship at 7pm, Chabashira-sensei."

Sensing that she wanted him to keep up the act they have, Kiyotaka replied back with the excuse that he had on his phone.

"Door is unlocked now. Come in, Ayanokouji."

As soon as she gave her response, the sound of the building's entrance interlock unlocking was heard from Kiyotaka's side, telling him that he could enter the building. Silently thanking Chabashira, Kiyotaka opened the door and entered the teachers dorms.

His destination was room 204 on the second floor. Since that was only 2 floors above him, he made his decision to take the stairs. Around 2 minutes later, he arrived at the second floor and traversed through the corridors before arriving at room 204.