Conflict of the Mind

"Conflict of the Mind" (心の葛藤) is a short story from Gamers' store privilege for volume 7.5 of You-Zitsu light novel series, together with other two short stories. It focuses on Mio Ibuki's point of view during her unexpected meet up with Kiyotaka Ayanokōji in the theatre.

Summary
While ignoring the couples who were being festive due to Christmas event, Mio came to the movie theatre. Before then, when she saw off Kakeru who was intending on quitting school, she was planning on staying in my room for the whole day. However, she changed her mind just right after receiving mail from Daichi that Kakeru reverted his decision.

According to Mio, it was an unusual act for Kakeru since she has known him for being someone who has hardened his resolve to quit school. She claimed that it wasn't a situation where mere persuasion from Daichi and the others were going to make him change his mind. Her intuition is telling her that the factor must be beyond of these -- something related to D-Class' Kiyotaka Ayanokōji. She became anxious about thinking this complex matter, and so, she went out of her room for a change.

Remembering that there was a movie she had not seen yet which was almost nearing the end of its screening period, she made reservations for a seat and headed for Keyaki Mall. Just before the screening began, inside the theatre, she casually rested my arm on the empty armrest upon reaching her seat. She turned a glance after feeling a sensation of rubbing against a cloth. Perhaps, to her, that was a mistake.

Mio ended meeting up with the person the most she doesn't want to meet at the time being -- Kiyotaka, the same who had been occupying her thoughts, the same man who puts on an innocent face yet is the one manipulating the class from behind the scenes. To Mio, Kiyotaka is not just smart. She acknowledges him as a surreal existence whose fighting skills are far beyond that of Kakeru and Albert.

She doesn't want such a coincidental meeting as she felt nauseous and turned her gaze away. She noticed that Kiyotaka was also alone, thereafter. Reminiscing what happened during the summer vacation, she remembered the time when she was trapped with Kiyotaka inside an elevator. Ever since then, she felt that she had been dancing in the palm of his hand, and realizing that frustration oozes out of her. Not knowing a thing, she categorized him off as an idiotic student of D-Class. In a sense, to her, this situation is similar to that situation back then.

Mio claims that it feels like she and Kiyotaka are trapped again inside a sealed box. Desperately trying to clear up the darkness, she instead turned her gaze towards the movie that was being screened. But the contents of it barely came into her mind. Mio did think about just standing up from her seat and leaving, but it would look like she's running away from Kiyotaka. She resolved thereafter that as soon as the movie ends, she'll leave.